Boy Scouts to Sell Rockwell Paintings to Pay for Sex Abuse Claims

It turns out that in addition to all the other fallout, a massive, decades-long sex abuse scandal can also be a pricey ordeal. That’s something the Boy Scouts of America is currently finding out, as the disgraced organization continues to grapple with the ramifications — financial and otherwise — of tens of thousands of sexual abuse claims. After filing for bankruptcy last year, the Boy Scouts will now sell off nearly 60 pieces of Norman Rockwell art to help cover the cost of the claims, which now exceed 82,000 cases expected to cost the organization at least $300 million, The New York Times reported.

Rockwell had a decades-long relationship with the organization during his lifetime, completing dozens of commissioned portraits depicting the kind of honor and virtue the Boy Scouts were once thought to embody. The works — bearing titles such as “The Right Way,” “On My Honor” and “I Will Do My Best” — reportedly span six decades, completed between 1916 and 1976. Rockwell was first hired by the organization to illustrate “The Boy Scout’s Hike Book” in 1912, and later became art editor of the group’s Boys’ Life magazine.

Many of the paintings have been on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Ohio since last year, though the free exhibition’s days are likely numbered. “We are obviously disappointed in this because it is a wonderful display of scouting in action for over 100 years as portrayed by one of America’s greatest artists, Norman Rockwell, who had a lifelong passion for scouting,” said Katelyn Amendolara-Russo, the museum’s associate director, who said the institution was made aware that the paintings could be sold into bankruptcy upon first entering into an agreement with the Boy Scouts back in 2019.

As for what Rockwell would make of the whole ordeal, art critic and Rockwell biographer Deborah Solomon says he probably would think it was for the best that his paintings be sold. “I am sure he would be horrified to learn of the sexual assault charges,” Solomon told the Times, “and I would guess that he would want the Scouts to sell its collection of his paintings for the purpose of starting a victims’ fund and rewarding the kids and former kids who deserve compensation.”