Everybody misplaces something sometime. But it is not easyfor the University of California, Berkeley, to explain how it lost a22-foot-long carved panel by a celebrated African-American sculptor, or how,three years ago, it mistakenly sold this work, valued at more than a milliondollars, for $150 plus tax. Theuniversity’s embarrassing loss eventually enabled the Huntington Library, ArtCollections and Botanical Gardens, a large museum and research center in SanMarino, Calif., to acquire its first major work by an African-American artist. The circuitous tale of Sargent Johnson’s hugeredwood relief involves error, chance and a partnership of unlikely art-worldfigures, including an art and furniture dealer who stumbled upon the panels atthe university’s surplus store; an antiques dealer who was on a first-namebasis with Michael Jackson and his chimp Bubbles; and a lawyer whose hobby isbuying lighthouses and who convinced the government that even though the artwas commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, it could still be soldpublicly…
Full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/arts/design/art-by-sargent-johnson-berkeleys-loss-is-museums-gain.html
It's only money:
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