Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in Virginia has been served a sanction for selling off a key artwork in order to fund college operations. George Bellows’ painting Men of the Docks from its collections was sold for $25.5 million to the National Gallery London.

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an organization representing 236 directors of North America’s leading art museums, issued a statement on March 12 that it would be sanctioning the Maier Museum for the sale, and for "continuing sales of works of art" to provide general operating funds to the college.

The statement continues, "The prohibition against the sale of works of art from museum collections for such purposes is a violation of one of the most fundamental professional principles of the art museum field. That Randolph College, which is responsible for establishing policies for and overseeing the operations of the Maier Museum, continues to take such actions is a matter of grave concern to AAMD, art museums everywhere, and the public they serve."

Randolph College students raised funds to purchase the painting in 1920, and it hung for years at the college's Maier Museum of Art. 

In 2008, Randolph College sold a Rufino Tamayo painting from 1945 titled "Troubadour" for $7.2 million, sparking debate over the sales of the museum's art to fund the endowment and operations, and resulting in a censure by the AAMD.

The AAMD sanctions will include instructions to its members to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaboration on exhibitions and programs with the Maier Museum of Art.