Heckscher curbs expansion plans

Faced with mounting opposition within Long Island’s art community, the Heck- scher Museum in New York has withdrawn a proposal to expand its Beaux Arts-style building with proceeds from the $19-million sale of a famous painting.

Trustees still plan a private sale of “Eclipse of the Sun,” a 1926 work by the late George Grosz, a German American Expressionist, but now they say they will use $9 million for renovation of existing space and $10 million for art purchases.

Art experts and museum directors have voiced objections to the Heckscher plans on ethical grounds, both for using proceeds for construction and for a private sale that might remove the painting from public view.

“You’re not supposed to sell your collection to fix the building,” said Helen Harrison, director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in New York. “Otherwise, museums would sell paintings every time they had a roof leak.”