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First Berkshire Museum Art Slated For Auction

New England Public Media | By Adam Frenier
Published May 11, 2018 at 3:32 PM EDT
The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
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The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Berkshire Museum / Creative Commons
A listing of 13 works from the Berkshire Museum slated to be sold at auction this month.
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A listing of 13 works from the Berkshire Museum slated to be sold at auction this month.
Berkshire Museum
Members of Save the Art - Save the Musem protest in November 2017 at Sotheby's in New York City.
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Members of Save the Art - Save the Musem protest in November 2017 at Sotheby's in New York City.
Save the Art - Save the Museum

Now that the long legal battle is over, the first two pieces of art from the Berkshire Museum's collection will hit the auction block Monday night. 

Up to 13 pieces could be up for sale at different sessions over the next two weeks, including one by Norman Rockwell.

The group Save the Art, Save the Museum, which lobbied against the sale, is planning a protest at the first session in New York.

Hope Davis said there's a lot of sadness right now among her fellow members.

"For some of these people, these are paintings they grew up with, and they feel deep attachment to," Davis said. "The Hudson River School paintings, they are of the region. It's a very painful loss."

The Berkshire Museum and the Massachusetts attorney general's office worked out a deal allowing for up to $55 million of art to be sold.

A listing of 13 works from the Berkshire Museum slated to be sold at auction this month.
Credit Berkshire Museum
/
Berkshire Museum
A listing of 13 works from the Berkshire Museum slated to be sold at auction this month.

The museum is looking to fund renovations and boost its endowment.
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Regional News ARTS & CULTUREWESTERN MASSACHUSETTSFINANCE
Adam Frenier
Adam joined NEPM as a freelance reporter and fill-in operations assistant during the summer of 2011. For more than 15 years, Adam has had a number stops throughout his broadcast career, including as a news reporter and anchor, sports host and play-by-play announcer as well as a producer and technician.
See stories by Adam Frenier
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