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Philly School District Takes Art Out Of Storage For Exhibit

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- More than a dozen paintings from the Philadelphia School District's art collection are out of storage and on display - for now- in Bucks County.

Fifteen notable paintings taken from Philadelphia schools and put in storage more than a decade ago are now available for public viewing as part of a regional school art collection at the Michener Museum in Doylestown.

Exhibit curator Adrienne Neszmelyi-Romano says the Philly contribution includes pieces by Dox Thrash and Henry Ossawa Tanner.

"For this exhibition we reached out to them, knowing that they had all this glorious work that we wanted to represent in this untold history of the region," Neszmelyi-Romano said.

School District Art
Assistant curator Louise Feder (L) and Adrienne Neszmelyi-Romano, the Michener Art Museum's Director of Interpretation and Innovation, with new school art collection. (credit: Mike DeNardo)

The exhibit is rekindling the debate over what the district should do with the art, taken in 2004 from schools including the Wilson Middle school.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz has called on the Philadelphia School District to put the art back in schools.

Superintendent William Hite says the goal is to protect the art.

"Our goal now is to understand what we have to do in order to either put it back on display in schools, or to keep it on loan to museums," said Hite.

The exhibition runs through January 7th. School groups may visit for free.

The exhibit, "Dedicated, Displayed, Discovered: Celebrating the Region's School Art Collections" includes works assembled by the New Hope-Solebury, Pennridge, Souderton, and Quakertown School Districts, as well as the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

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