The foundation that administers the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will auction 321 items at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, to contribute to the compensation fund for 64,000 victims of sexual abuse. A first batch of 25 items will be offered for sale in October. The collection is estimated to be worth $59 million.
The collection up for sale includes paintings and illustrations belonging to the Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910. Among the 321 lots up for sale are famous works by American illustrators such as Walt Disney, JC Leyendecker and 59 paintings by painter Norman Rockwell. The sale will include the works To Keep Myself Physically Strong (1964) and Weapons for Liberty (1917) by Leyendecker.
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Homecoming1961, oil on canvas, 111.76 x 83.82 cm.
Courtesy Boy Scouts of America
The famous painting Homecoming (1961) by Norman Rockwell is part of the collection: a harbinger of American hyperrealism, it depicts a young scout reuniting with his typical middle-class American family. The painter made his first illustration for the scouts in 1912, and he subsequently contributed to the illustrations of the Boy Scout calendar for 51 years. The collection is “one of the most important of the golden age to have emerged on the market this year”said Aviva Lehmann, vice president of American art at Heritage Auction.
The BSA Settlement Trust was created after the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy in 2020 to compensate victims of sexual abuse from a $2.4 billion fund as part of a settlement agreement. “These victims have waited decades to be heard and recognized, and the sale of these works will help us bring them justice.”explained Barba J. Houser, the administrator in charge of distributing the funds to victims. The total number of complaints filed in court stands at 82,000.
Many works from the collection are currently on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Howland, Ohio, since October 2020. This was the first time
