Heiress Huguette Clark leaves art museum to Santa Barbara

24 June 2011

Aerial view of Huguette Clark's Bellosguardo estate

(Photo: John Wiley)

Paintings by such artists as John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, and Renoir will take residence in a new public museum on a California beach bluff.

The will of reclusive copper heiress Huguette Clark, who died last month at 104, was made public Wednesday. She stipulated that one of her homes (which she had not visited in 50 years) –- the 24-acre Santa Barbara estate known as Bellosguardo, for "beautiful view" –- will host her extensive collection of paintings, rare books and musical instruments in a museum. About three-fourths of her holdings, now valued at $400 million, will go to a foundation that will maintain the site.

She left a Monet "Water Lilies" painting, valued at $25 million, to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. where her father's art collection was given decades ago.

Read more at LA Times

More News Feed Headlines

Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American. Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.

First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum

A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.

'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.

Virtual Art Buying Gets a Boost From New Websites

A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.

An installation view of the new Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Home of the Westervelt Collection.

New Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to Showcase Important American Art

Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. Several key works were sold by the Westervelt Co. at auction and privately. Now, more than 800 pieces...

Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior, painted about 1666, by Eglon van der Neer (Dutch, 1634–1703). Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Seth K. Sweetser Fund.

Museum Curator as Art Detective

At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...