Print edition: 
Come August, art enthusiasts will have the chance to purchase from a collection of pieces by Kansas artist Birger Sandzen — a collection that's full of significance, said Charla Nelson, gallery director at Manitou Galleries.
"This grouping is by far the most important that's ever come up at one place at one time," she said.
Lindsborg's Bethany College announced Tuesday that Manitou Galleries will auction 11 of the college's Sandzen pieces and a collection of its Native American pottery on Aug. 13 and 14 at the gallery in Santa Fe, N.M.
Sandzen, who immigrated from Sweden to teach at Bethany in 1894, is one of the most well-known artists who did most of his work in Kansas, said Ron Michael, curator at the Sandzen Memorial Art Gallery in Lindsborg. Sandzen traveled around the state and the nation with his work and often featured the Kansas landscape.
"Most people, when they see a Sandzen work, they recognize it for the heavy use of paint that he would use and the very dramatic brush strokes," Michael said.
The collection carries significance because of the number and quality of the pieces, but also the time span — from about 1910 to 1940 — that the works cover, Nelson said.
"You can actually see his very distinctive style develop over the works that we've got," she said.
Bethany's board of directors decided to sell the artwork after a donor gave the college a piece in 2009 with the intent that the college sell it. The college is not selling any items whose donors won't allow it, said Bob Schmoll, Bethany's vice president for finance and operations.
The money raised will finance student scholarships, which amount to more than $6 million each year.
"That number has increasingly grown over the years, so this is a way to fund some of those dollars," Schmoll said.
About 600 students attend Bethany College.
Bethany's Art Committee selected the pieces to sell. Schmoll said the committee tried to choose works that were not specifically used by professors and students. The college had some of the pieces on display and some in storage. It will still have art to display, he said.
"We still have a lot of art and different things left on campus, so it's not as though were selling all the art that the institution has," he said.
Schmoll said it is the largest deaccession that he knows of that the college has done. Bethany's current deaccession policy took effect in 2000. In the past, the college sold certain items but not collections on this large a scale, he said.
Michael, who works at the Sandzen Gallery, said that though the college found it difficult to take care of the art, the choice to sell the pieces wasn't easy.
"I hate to see them leave campus, but I certainly understand the reasoning behind it," he said.
However, he said the college also knew that students would still have access to Sandzen pieces at the gallery, which is separately owned and operated from the college. It is located on a corner of campus.
Michael said he expects people to buy the Sandzen pieces quickly, especially since some of the items have not reached auctions before.
"I think collectors of Sandzen's work will be pretty excited about this," he said.
Ever since Manitou Galleries sent an e-mail last week announcing the auction, several interior decorators and art collectors from around the U.S. have contacted it and expressed interest in the Sandzen collection, Nelson said. She expects even more responses as the gallery continues to promote the auction.
"We expect all of the pieces to do well," Nelson said.
The gallery is also selling about 100 pieces of Pueblo pottery for the college, all dated before 1905. Nelson said several pottery collectors have expressed interest in the pieces.
Bob Nelson, gallery owner and Charla Nelson's husband, is a Bethany alumnus and credits the college with his love of art, his wife said.
"The whole point of this is to help further the mission statement of the college, and they've entrusted us with these pieces to do just that for them," she said.
Though people seem interested in the collections, Schmoll said Bethany has no idea what to expect from the auctions. Though the college has not received calls about the art so far, he said he thinks several calls will start coming in the next few weeks.
"In the end, I think it's the best for the institution and the students and the artwork," Schmoll said.
