Over the past year, Catherine Grenier, the former deputy director of the Musée national d’art moderne at the Centre Pompidou, has been streamlining the Giacometti Foundation, working to repair years of scandal and controversy over the artist’s legacy.  “I’m not interested in archaeology, in digging up the past,” she says. “I’m only interested in progress, in moving forward in a positive way.”  (more…)

Gagosian Gallery has announced that it will represent the estate of artist Walter de Maria, continuing a relationship the artist had with the gallery during his life, showing there several times.  The gallery’s first step is assisting in establishing a Foundation to oversee his estate and work.  “Walter so wished to establish his own foundation, but sadly, he did not accomplish this during his lifetime,” says Elizabeth Childress, former director of the artist’s studio. “It is an important step to have as a protection and a promotion of his legacy.” (more…)

A recent US Fifth Circuit Court decision over the estate of collector James A. Elkins Jr has considerable implications for collectors leaving behind works after their death.  The court decision allowed a considerable discount on the the Elkins Family’s collection, which included pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore and Jackson Pollock, as the works were owned partially by the collector’s children, and not wholly by himself.  “Finally we have an applied fractional discount based on the facts,” says art lawyer Joy Berus,  in Newport Beach, Calif. “These are major discounts. It’s a huge affirmation that opens the door to help art owners reduce their estates.” (more…)

In response to the efforts of Lucian Freud‘s son, Paul McAdam Freud, challenging the secrecy of the painter’s will, a High Court judge has ruled that the will’s contents are to remain undisclosed to the public and most of his 14-odd children. When he died in 2011, Freud left behind his estate equally to his solicitor and one of his daughters, with the understanding that they were to hold the estate in trusts for undisclosed recipients. The secrecy of the will has been a point of contention among his many children and beneficiaries. (more…)

Sotheby’s has announced that it will be auctioning off the estate of collectors Paul and Bunny Mellon, including a number of impressive artworks by Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn from the couple’s extensive collection.  Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Gerald B. Lambert Foundation. (more…)

Court proceedings regarding the lawsuit filed by members of the Robert Rauschenberg Trust, demanding they receive up to $60 million in compensation for their work maintaining the foundation, are nearing their conclusion.  The plaintiffs claim that their work has grown the value of the Rauschenberg estate, and they should be paid accordingly. (more…)

Jay DeFeo, White Shadow (1972), via Osman Can Yerebakan

Jay DeFeo’s most seminal work in her career took eight years to be completed and weighs more than two thousand pounds. A monumental embodiment of extreme orientation to detail and experimentalism, this work of DeFeo has been the artist’s most recognized part of her oeuvre, but a year after her retrospective at The Whitney, the legacy of Jay DeFeo is growing in New York City, as Mitchell-Innes & Nash presents a body of fifty works spanning the years 1965-89.

Jay DeFeo, Tuxedo Junction (1965-74) via Osman Can Yerebakan (more…)

A collection of 62 artworks, among them pieces by Van Gogh and Monet, have been donated to the National Gallery of Art from the estate of museum benefactor Paul Mellon, who passed away in 1999.  Of particular note is the Van Gogh piece Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves, created shortly after the artist cut off his ear, and suffered a break in his friendship with Paul Gauguin.  “It’s this very emotionally wrought period of time,” says curator Kimberly Jones. “I think this still life, of all the still lives, is the most Gauguin-like in terms of the pallete, the symbolism.  I can’t help but wonder, looking at this, if Paul Gauguin’s presence isn’t being very much felt in this painting.” (more…)

In lieu of paying an inheritance tax, the estate of Lucian Freud has donated a selection of 40 works by Frank Auerbach has been donated to the United Kingdom, covering an approximate £16,250,000 tax bill.  The works will be divided into 11 groups and distributed by Arts Council England to various public collections. (more…)

The passing of Merton J. Simpson, a notable artist and prominent dealer of African art, has set his inheritance into a state of uncertainty, with familial infighting leaving his estate without the money to bury his body, and the future of his impressive collection of works up in the air.  “I knew that when he passed, it was going to get really ugly,” said Luna Devin Crystal, a friend and employee of Mr. Simpson’s. (more…)

The New York Times has published a profile of the recently deceased Lisa de Kooning, daughter of 20th Century American painter Willem de Kooning.  The article traces her youth in New York City, her active championing of her father’s estate after his death in 1997, and her struggles with alcohol and drugs, which ultimately led to her early death.  “She had an immense amount of talent,” says actor Alex Kilgore, “but she knew what genius was and she could never free herself from her own eye.” (more…)