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#Forgotten trove of de Kooning, Calder art found in hospital storeroom

#Forgotten trove of de Kooning, Calder art found in hospital storeroom

When staffers at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital needed space for ventilators and additional hospital beds during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they ventured to an old storeroom in the dialysis ward — and were shocked by what they found.

Leaning against the dusty walls and piled on the floor amid wooden pallets was a treasure trove — more than 100 artworks by some of the world’s greatest abstract expressionists, many of whom had called the Hamptons home.

“I was shaking when I saw it,” said Vincent Manzo, an art and antiques consultant who was among the first to see paintings and prints by Willem de Kooning, Robert Dash and Alexander Calder, among others, in the long-forgotten stash.

Manzo said he was called in shortly after the discovery to help appraise the works, which are mainly lithographs, drawings and a few wood block sculptures dating to between the 1950s and 1980s.

“It was a great find,” he said, adding that he was at first reluctant to enter a hospital during the pandemic, but was so intrigued he donned a mask and went to investigate. “It was like opening up King Tut’s tomb.”

The 120 works are being catalogued before they go on the auction block and are estimated to bring in $100,000 to $1 million.
The 120 works are being catalogued before they go on the auction block and are estimated to bring in $100,000 to $1 million.

Kaminski Auctions — which is still in the process of cataloging the 120 works before they go on the block in Boston — so far estimates the cache could bring in $100,000, although one expert said it would easily fetch $1 million. Proceeds will go to both the hospital and the Southampton History Museum.

“This miracle discovery, during a time of reduced fundraising activities, is a much needed boon to both organizations,” the auction house said in a statement.

The 125-bed hospital, affiliated with the state Stony Brook University Hospital, rushed to double its capacity during the coronavirus crisis, emptying out underused spaces and at one point tripling its ICU beds from seven to 21 during the height of the crisis in April.

The Southampton Hospital Association, the non-profit that helps run the hospital, saw no contributions in 2018 compared to $3.9 million the previous year, according to its latest available federal tax filings. It ended that year with a $5.5 million deficit.

Among the “miracle” works that might bring lifesaving cash to the institution is a lithograph by Calder, a Pennsylvania-born sculptor, who spent most of his career working in Paris and was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso’s. The abstract red and white “boomerang” work on paper is expected to fetch more than $3,000, according to a pre-auction estimate. Calder’s works, mostly kinetic mobile sculptures, have fetched more than $10 million at auction.

Other prints found in the trove were made under the direction of de Kooning, featuring his abstract pencil and crayon drawings on paper, and are expected to fetch thousands of dollars each.

Most of the works had been donated to the hospital between the 1950s and 1980s by artists who lived and maintained studios on the South Fork of Long Island. Southampton was the only hospital in the area.

Abstract print, numbered 1 of 100 by Willem de Kooning.
Abstract print, numbered 1 of 100 by Willem de Kooning. The Dutch-born artist was well-known to the staff at Southampton Hospital in the 1970s and 1980s, and often donated his work for hospital fundraisers.

“On the one hand it’s surprising that the hospital owns this art,” said longtime Hamptons resident Bob Colacello, co-author of “Studios by the Sea: Artists of the East End of Long Island.”

“On the other hand there has been a thriving artists’ colony here since the 19th Century,” he said. “And the Southampton Hospital was the only game in town if you got sick.”

Many of the artists whose works were donated to the hospital settled in the area after the 1940s, Colacello told The Post. Back then, the Hamptons was an affordable place to maintain a studio.

Dutch-born abstract expressionist de Kooning became a full-time resident of Springs in 1963. The hamlet in the town of East Hampton became a de facto artists’ colony after abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock settled there with his wife, the artist Lee Krasner, in 1945. Pollock died in a car accident in 1957, and the couple’s former home and studio are now a museum run by the Stony Brook Foundation.

De Kooning donated dozens of works to the hospital’s charity events, grateful for the care he received after several alcohol-fueled accidents.

The artist — whose 1977 work “Untitled XXV” sold for a record $66.3 million at auction in 2016 — was a frequent patient in the 1970s and spent time recovering there from “various mishaps,” including alcoholic binges, said Lawrence Castagna, a Hamptons-based art conservator and painter, who worked as an assistant to de Kooning between 1982 and 1986.

De Kooning, who died at 92 in 1997, once fell down a flight of stairs while drunk in his East Hampton home and was treated in intensive care at the hospital for four days, he said. Another time, the artist wandered out drunk during a snowstorm and was found buried in a snowbank, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, and was again rushed to the hospital.

A print by US sculptor Alexander Calder, who was known mostly for his kinetic abstract sculptures. He was not a Hamptons resident, and spent much of his time in Paris where he was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso.
A print by US sculptor Alexander Calder, who was known mostly for his kinetic abstract sculptures. He was not a Hamptons resident, and spent much of his time in Paris where he was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso.

“Over the years he was in that hospital a lot, and he was known to donate a lot of his work to them,” said Castagna. De Kooning once donated a fire truck to the East Hampton Fire Department after a fireman showed up at his door seeking donations, Castagna said.

“He just took out his checkbook and wrote them a check for the truck,” Castagna told The Post. “They painted it yellow and named it after him. He was always ready to give people his work for free.”

Artists such as de Kooning and his wife, the painter Elaine de Kooning, frequently donated their works to the hospital at the behest of Elaine Benson, who owned an art gallery in Bridgehampton and was among the first gallerists to show their works in the region.

In addition to her gallery, which she opened with her art-critic husband Emanuel Benson in 1966, Benson worked part-time as director of community relations for Southampton Hospital, and organized annual galas to benefit the hospital. She was instrumental in helping them raise more than $1 million a year, according to her 1998 obituary in the New York Times.

Artist and poet Robert Dash, who had a sprawling estate and gardens in Sagaponack known as Madoo Conservancy, also donated to the hospital.

He contributed to the Southampton Hospital Portfolio, a 1982 collection of signed prints by artists such as the de Koonings, Dan Flavin, James Brooks and Esteban Vicente, organized by Benson and printed by Hamptons-based printmaker Dan Welden. The hospital sold each collection of 10 lithographs for $5,000 each. The hospital received 34 of the sets to sell during its fundraising campaigns in the early 1980s. Now, these lithographs could each be worth upwards of tens of thousands of dollars.

Some of the complete Southampton Hospital Portfolios are included in the upcoming auction, said a spokesman for Kaminski Auctions. Dash contributed a black-and-white landscape to the collection. De Kooning created a black and white abstract for the special collection.

rose-de-rose

A wood cut by Southampton artist Rose de Rose. This may be the first time anyone has seen her work. She was a reluctant socialite who turned her family’s 12-acre Southampton estate into a farm, and raised chickens and pigs. She died in 1982, and East Hampton resident Martha Stewart is particularly keen on collecting her work.

james-brooks

A two-color lithograph by James Brooks, an abstract expressionist, who originally owned a home in Montauk but transferred it by barge to the Springs artists’ colony after it was damaged in a hurricane in 1957. Springs was also the home of Jackson Pollock, who died in a car accident in 1957.

robert-dash

A single color stone lithograph by Robert Dash, a poet and prodigious gardener who turned his Sagaponack home — Madoo — into a nature conservancy.

elaine-de-kooning

Two color lithographs by Elaine de Kooning, Willem’s wife, who took care of him in Springs even though he had fathered his only child — Lisa de Kooning — with his mistress Joan Ward, an NYC illustrator.

mj-rosenbay

Abstract, oil on canvas by New York artist M J Rosenbay from 1980. It’s a recently discovered major work by the artist, according to the auction house. The painting is 80 by 100 inches.

robert-gwathmey

Print numbered 58 of 1000 by Robert Gwathmey, a social realist painter, who lived in Southampton and counted Picasso, Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh among his influences. He taught at Cooper Union between 1942 and 1968.

sylvia-carewe

Colorful abstract by Sylvia Carewe, an artist who lived on the Upper West Side, and painted semi-abstract scenes of New York City. Her paintings are very rare, and not many of them have gone up for auction. Many of her works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney. She died in 1981.

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In addition to the abstract expressionist works, a local historian also found wood block carvings by Rose de Rose, a reluctant socialite whose family owned a 12-acre estate in Southampton. After inheriting her family’s wealth, she turned the estate into a farm and raised chickens and pigs, according to the Southampton History Museum, which will feature a Zoom lecture about her work on July 30.

Although the latest finds are currently being assessed by the auction house, a spokeswoman for the hospital said no date has been set for the online auction.

“We were keenly aware of what was there,” said Barbara Jo Howard, director of marketing for Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, adding that the hospital’s board of directors has yet to approve any sale. “None of this is ready to go yet. It’s very preliminary.”

But the auction house told The Post that it had signed a contract with the hospital and that it was in possession of the 120 works, which appraisers are still in the process of cataloging.

Local residents who were told about the art by The Post were thrilled with the news. Martha Stewart, who owns a mansion in East Hampton, is particularly excited about the Rose sculptures and can’t wait for them to go up for sale, said Manzo.

“This is great news,” said Colacello. “It’s a silver lining to COVID.”

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