“Edward Albee is, of course, best known for his plays (the most famous is: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”). However, he was also a collector, and visitors to his Tribeca loft were often struck by the museum-like array of tribal sculptures and contemporary paintings.”
Edward Albee died in his sleep on September 16, 2016, at the age of 88. The New York Times is reporting on the revered playwright's $9 million museum-worthy collection of fine art. The proceeds from the sale will go to The Edward Albee Foundation, an institution that provides residency to emerging artists in New York.
Broadway World says in its recent article, “Sale of Edward Albee's Estate Will Benefit His Foundation,” that the Chairman of Sotheby's fine arts division, Amy Cappellazzo, said:"Edward lived with the collection in a very special way. He lived with it deeply. Everything was placed in an open loft environment, and how they were hung was interesting and specific to him, so we're going to try to do justice to those ideas."
Albee’s estate will sell his art collection to raise money for his foundation in Montauk, N.Y. Sotheby’s is planning to auction more than 100 works from the playwright’s collection, which it anticipates will sell for more than $9 million. The work is mostly 20th Century fine art, such as Jean Arp, Milton Avery, Wassily Kandinsky and Lee Krasner, but it also includes some African and pre-Columbian pieces.
“He really loved objects, and he really loved painting,” said Cappellazzo. She noted that Albee amassed the collection over many years and across many genres. Some works were acquired based on his relationships with the artists, some were connected to devotional practices that interested him and some simply caught his eye.
“That eclectic taste is a mark of his curiosity,” she said. “He had tremendous reverence for the process of artmaking of all kinds, and the collection is definitely that of a collector who was interested in the minds of artists.”
Cappellazzo said Albee’s popularity is expected to increase sales.
Edward Albee was the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes for “A Delicate Balance,” “Seascape” and “Three Tall Women.” In 1996, Albee received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts and in 2005, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.
Reference: Broadway World (June 25, 2017) “Sale of Edward Albee's Estate Will Benefit His Foundation”
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