Читать книгу The Artist's Estate - Группа авторов - Страница 8

Most people who assume responsibility for an artist’s estate happen upon the role: they become custodians of a deceased artist’s oeuvre because they are his or her son, daughter, or grandchild, or because they were the artist’s spouse, partner, or friend. My own experience was no different. In 2009, my father-in-law passed away. Alongside his career as an art history professor, he had managed the estate of his father, Wolfgang Tümpel, a silversmith and industrial designer who had trained at the Bauhaus. This task fell to my husband, who after his father’s death found himself surrounded by portfolios and boxes that he had no idea what to do with. Although Wolfgang Tümpel’s work had been included in exhibitions every now and then, the estate had found no real structure in the thirty years since the artist’s death. We gained first-hand experience of just how hard it is, even for members of the second generation, to distance oneself emotionally from such sensitive family matters. Yet, gaining a sense of objectivity is precisely what is needed to develop a sensible approach to the estate. My husband decided that an institutional setting would provide the best context for his grandfather’s work, and set about finding a museum that would be interested. In the end, he transferred the estate to the Museum Huelsmann in Bielefeld, the city in which Wolfgang Tümpel had lived and worked for many years.

For us, this experience provided an introduction to the fascinating work with artists’ estates. In 2008, we assumed joint responsibility for the sculptor Hans Arp’s estate, and those of Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Keith Arnatt followed. Today we work together with several artists’ estates. In addition, we founded the Institute for Artists’ Estates (artists-estates.com) in order to provide estates worldwide with research findings, to facilitate networking, to make our archive on artists’ estates accessible, and to provide expert advice.

From the very beginning of our work with artists’ estates, I have been reaching out to other artists’ estates. I wanted to learn from them just what makes an artist’s estate successful. What topics are important for artists’ estates to consider? What options do they have? These conversations were the starting point for the present volume. Fifty-plus conversations ensued with estates large and small, privately managed and entrusted to museums, as well as with those whose holdings eventually formed the basis of wealthy foundations. Twelve of these conversations have been incorporated into the second part of this book. These examples make it abundantly clear that estates are as diverse as artists are brilliant and unique. The common thread among them is their commitment to keeping the artist’s work alive.

Despite differences among artists’ estates, the living artist planning for the future or the estate itself must ask the same questions in order to develop a successful strategy. How should the estate be managed? Who should manage it? How should the estate work with museums, galleries, and academia? How will it be financed? These questions provide the structure of this book. We have attempted to provide a range of possible answers to these key questions, because we understand that each estate must draw its own conclusions. Another central assumption is that estates have life cycles that may be divided into three phases:

1. Strategic and Safeguarding Phase

2. Operational Phase

3. Expansion or Final Phase

Each phase poses challenges and questions. During the first phase of strategy and safeguarding, those surviving the artist must ask which goals the estate wishes to achieve and by which means. At the same time, the estate must be evaluated, sorted, and appraised in order to ascertain what there is to build upon. Once these questions have been answered, the operational phase begins, during which the focus is on the art as art. The estate should assemble the catalogue raisonné, open its archive to outside researchers, and focus on shaping the artist’s posthumous reception. At a certain point, the estate will have had its art historical context relatively fixed, and will be positioned well enough that it no longer needs to rely upon the estate’s ongoing advocacy. The estate must then ask whether the work on behalf of the artist is finished. The work of the estate is not an end in itself; its purpose cannot be keeping roofs over its employees’ heads. In this phase, those managing the estate should ask what else they hope to achieve above and beyond the direct care of the artistic bequest.

This book attempts to help estates to find their own answers to these complicated questions. We hope to demonstrate that good management can go a long way for the artist and his or her legacy, even when the means are slim. The examples drawn from various estates, both large and small, are meant to promote dialogue between estates. When we touch upon the art market, we are referring to the structures and rules of the global art market, which is the appropriate frame of reference for most estates. Our discussion of legal questions pertains tothe EU and the United States. Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize that this book does not provide legal advice. Rather, it concentrates on the substantive questions surrounding artists’ estates. We wanted to address what comprises successful estate management, and are convinced that the answer to this question is influenced by factors above and beyond legalities. In order to consider the topic in relation to a wide range of artists’ estates, it was necessary to generalize in matters of law. However, we have attempted to mitigate this choice by providing references to relevant legal sources. The explanations found here provide an initial overview of many of the pertinent legal issues, allowing readers to enter more confidently into discussions with lawyers and tax advisors. These professionals should be consulted on all legal and tax questions.

This book came about through collaboration with Karl von Trott and my husband, Daniel Tümpel. I thank both of them for our sustained dialogue on artists’ estates, which continually challenged, expanded, and refined my own thinking—it was and is my pleasure. I am equally grateful to the many artists, their children, husbands, wives, and grandchildren as well as other estate stewards who spoke so openly with us. In the process, they discussed not only the managerial issues surrounding estates, but also the personal and emotional ones, which was a great gift. These conversations resulted in an enriching experience that we hope to carry on by maintaining similarly high standards through our work at the Institute for Artists’ Estates.

Loretta Würtenberger

Spring 2016