Dealing With an Artist's Legacy

Many books examine the works of artists, but Magda Salvesen and Diane Cousineau have edited a rare volume that addresses what happens to artists's works just after their deaths. Through 30 interviews with widows, lovers, and children of artists, as well as art dealers, foundation directors, and estate lawyers, "Artists' Estates: Reputations In Trust" (Rutgers University Press) offers a panoramic view of the complicated choices, conflicts, and difficult issues facing those who are entrusted with artistic assets and property. "Bit by bit throughout these interviews," said Ms. Salvesen, speaking Tuesday before the Dutch Treat Club, "I picked up the different approaches of what it meant to look after these estates."

Ms. Salvesen knows firsthand the various roles that an artist's widow may be asked to play - her late husband, painter Jon Schueler, died in 1992. She said that a few years ago there was a large exhibition of Schueler in Edinburgh. The director asked if she would be around when the press arrived, since they wanted a photograph of her in front of the paintings. She recalled thinking, "They're not my paintings. It's not my creativity." She said that in such a case one inevitably becomes an advocate in helping to manage one's late husband's work and asked the audience, "Do you go along with that or not?"

A quotation from Phyllis Diebenkorn, whose husband was painter Richard Diebenkorn, sums up this theme: "The widow is the memory." Ms. Salvesen said some people, when they want to know something about the artist, instead of reading or researching, "They quickly ask the artist's widow. You're drawn upon for information and interpretation. You become the short cut."

Ms. Salvesen described the experiences of other widows. On one hand there are widows who were intimately involved in their husband's careers, such as Harriet Vicente, widow of artist Esteban Vicente, who said, "I did everything but paint." But for the others who were not so involved, Ms. Salvesen said becoming the representative of the artist's estate can be an enormous jump.

Ms. Salvesen said wives who were more used to experiencing the present and looking toward the future, now - when running their husband's estate - "spend a good deal of their time looking backwards."

When their husbands are alive, she said, "we are the secondary persons, we accompany them at their openings, we stand at their side, we try to be encouraging to people" who are interested in the artist's work. But after the death of the artist, she said, a widow faces issues of how much privacy one should maintain about the late artist - as well as oneself. "How much of your life do you want to be presented? How do you draw the lines?" she asked.

Topics in the book include art law, archives, untimely deaths of artists (as in the case of sculptor David Smith, who died in a car accident), and legal conflicts.

The volume also examines what perspective an executive director of a foundation brings to an artist's estate. Ms. Salvesen quoted Jack Cowart of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, who noted, "I always try to figure out what Roy would have wanted. Largely, he would have wanted not to be troubled by a lot of our troubles."

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PETER'S PROJECT Director Peter Rosen's film "Who Gets To Call It Art?" a documentary about maverick art world figure Henry Geldzahler, will have its American premiere at Film Forum on February 1. Mr. Rosen's film features art figures such as Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, David Hockney, and many others discussing the life of Geldzahler, who became New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs after a career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

There are many entertaining anecdotes throughout. One involves Geldzahler's show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-70," which contained more than 400 works by 43 artists. Ellsworth Kelly, who painted a large color spectrum for the show, recalled how two middle-aged couples were looking at the work. He overheard one woman say she liked it and her husband exclaim, "I hate it!" Mr. Kelly couldn't help breaking into the conversation, saying, "Thanks" and "I'm the painter here." The woman asked him to talk about the painting. Mr. Kelly recollected, "So I started talking about it and how difficult it was to paint. And the guy said afterwards, 'I still hate it!'"

gshapiro@nysun.com