Artists' Estates: Reputations in Trust [Hardcover]

Magda Salvesen (Editor), Diane Cousineau (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2005

"This is an engrossing and valuable work for collectors, scholars, and artists, which surveys the lives of important twentieth-century American artists and the management of their accumulated works by widows, families, and dealers. It opens a window into problems of taxes, wills and trusts, the inheritors’ role in conservations, succession and interpretation, and the responsibility for preservation of our visual heritage."—Gerald Nordland, author of Richard Diebenkorn and former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum

"A completely new approach—finally we hear from those who look after the paintings and sculptures after the artist dies. Wonderfully eloquent and personal, this book is important, valuable, and totally engrossing."—Flora Biddle, author of The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made and former president and chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art

"Anyone interested in the art world and the protection of lasting values (in all senses) will be fascinated by this compilation of interviews, each of which is accompanied by a lively selection of photographs of the artist, the studio, and the heir or administrator. All sides of estate legacies issue surface here: studio situations, painting methods, tax issues, personal relations—you feel you know all the artists, freshly."—Mary Ann Caws, Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature, Graduate Center, CUNY

Artists’ Estates offers a fascinating journey into the complex and competitive art world through the distinctive lens of those who deal with the paintings, prints, and sculpture that artists leave behind after their deaths. Bringing together interviews conducted by Magda Salvesen, the widow of the second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter Jon Schueler, this unique book provides a window into the goals and desires, the conflicts and frustrations, and the emotional and financial strains that confront widows, companions, sons, and daughters as the heirs to artists’ estates. The judiciously arranged and edited interviews also address the benefits and liabilities of foundations and trusts through the insights of lawyers, gallery dealers, and foundation directors.

Readers will explore well-known estates, including those of Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Milton Avery, Romare Bearden, and David Smith, as well as the equally intriguing legacies of lesser-known artists whose work came to the fore in the forties and fifties.

Together, the passionate testimonies of families and lovers, the measured voices of art professionals, and the more than eighty photographs offer an indispensable entrée into the private and public worlds of art.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

"The imposing shadow of the artist" is cast throughout this important resource as it sheds light on questions pertaining to artists' estates. Two figures dominate: Lee Krasner, widow of Jackson Pollock, and Annalee Newman, widow of Barnett Newman, women who devoted themselves to their husbands' art when the men were alive, then shaped their posthumous artistic legacies with focus, fervor, and intelligence. "The widow is the memory," according to Phyllis Diebenkorn, widow of painter Richard Diebenkorn, and her tale typifies situations found in many of the interviews conducted by Salvesen, herself a painter's widow. Other examples involve the estates of Milton Avery, David Smith, Mark Rothko, and Roy Lichtenstein, each seen from multiple perspectives on the dynamics among artists, gallery owners, wives, and heirs in this well-illustrated and innovative volume. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Magda Salvesen is an independent art and garden historian and is coeditor (with Diane Cousineau) of The Sound of Sleat: A Painter’s Life. Diane Cousineau is a lecturer in English at Washington College, the author of Letters and Labyrinths: Women Writing/Cultural Codes, and a coeditor (with Magda Salvesen) of The Sound of Sleat: A Painter’s Life.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813536049
• ISBN-13: 978-0813536040
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An "art history" course of the late 20th century, January 3, 2007

By 

J. Landau (Orinda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Artists' Estates: Reputations in Trust (Hardcover)

This book provides a fascinating look at both some of the better known and some of the more obscure deceased artists of the second half of the 20th century and the efforts of heirs and dealers to maintain interest in the artists' work. It is fascinating and informative to read about the mismanagement of David Smith's estate by Clement Greenberg or of David Park's estate by his widow's second husband. (In both cases, the children finally stepped in to rescue depleted bodies of work and help rebuild their value.) Equally interesting are the efforts of Elmer Bischoff's and James Brooks' widows to continue to promote their late husbands' work while also trying to selling their own.

Many of the artists profiled are far more obscure, but their names come up over and over again in Stevens and Swan's wonderful de Kooning biography which provides an incredible overview of the same period. While top dealers fight over the estates of Smith, Diebenkorn, Porter or Avery, all discussed in the book, there is also an emerging group of dealers who are focusing on working with the estates of lesser known artists. They work with heirs, attorneys and archivists on the issues of conservation, documentation and promotion that are involved in boosting the value of artists who in many instances received limited recognition in their lifetimes but whose heirs (widows in most instances) continue to honor and promote their work, sometimes from financial need but always due to love of their deceased spouse. These stories are the core of this well written book.

Attorneys, dealers, conservators and archivists (such as the important Archives of American Art) are interviewed along with the heirs. This new breed of dealer effectively becomes a partner with the estate, sometimes building a position in the more obscure artist's works before making the investment, usually along with the heirs, necessary to promote their work.
In addition to several such dealers mentioned in the book, Thomas McCormick and David Findlay Jr. come to mind as galleries which have made a commitment to show lesser known artists of the '40s, '50s and '60s, for example, including some of those mentioned in the book.

Anyone interested in the art world will find this book highly interesting with its dozens of interviews and many black and white photos of the artists, their work and their heirs today. And, frankly, the gossip is great too!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent glimpse inside the post-humous struggles over artists' legacies, September 19, 2005

By 

Zazie (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artists' Estates: Reputations in Trust (Hardcover)

Despite being an outsider to the art world (and what you would call a total amateur!), I found this book completely engrossing: the widows and children interviewed in this book all have very interesting and varying ways of dealing with the enormous responsibilities associated with managing an artist's estate - their voices come to life in this book. It's fascinating also to read about the interaction between the various players in the art world and their different agendas - galleries, widows, families, museums etc all have views on what is in the best interest of the artist and their careful dance is rendered most interestingly here. Very good read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artists treat your work thoughtfully - it will outlive you - make a plan for it., July 16, 2007

By 

K. Haver "Art Cop" (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Artists' Estates: Reputations in Trust (Hardcover)

I am an arts lawyer, and art lover.

The US copyright law protects an original work of an author for the artists lifetime plus 70 years. The law anticipates the value of those copyrights and how those will exceed the lifetime of the artist for years to come. Even without consideration the copyright the body of work of an artist is only valuable to the public only if that work is valued and is appreciated. This book is filled with many stories of how an artist's work was cared for after the artist's death by individuals, family or friends, foundations or museums, which made sure that the work was treated with respect after the life of the artist was over.

If you are an artist wondering what will happen to the body of work you leave behind this book will inspire you to take steps to make that happen. If you are a museum, gallery, advocate, family member, collector or fan and you are concerned about managing the body of work of an artist this book will give you some stories about how others have handled it and what steps you might take. It might encourage you to come forward and take responsibility for the artist and while you can do it with the advice and consent of the artist.