The nephew of one of America’s most important female artists is being accused by his own family of turning his foundation into a $10 million “pay-per-view” scheme to showcase his own “middle-of-the-road” art in top venues. .
The family of Clifford Ross, nephew of the late abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, included an extraordinary “crime map” detailing how he allegedly funneled his billion-dollar foundation into prestigious institutions such as Yale, the New York Public Library and the New York University to promote his own work, including poetry that was given to subway hangers.
The detailed claims are the latest twist in a bitter family feud first revealed by The Post in November, in which rival members of the Frankenthaler family accused each other of “abstract expressionism” in a case before the New York Supreme Court.
In a new filing, Frederick Iseman, another of Frankenthaler’s nephews, claims that Ross “looted” his foundation, of which he is president, along with the artist’s stepdaughter, Lise Motherwell, and Michael Hecht, the foundation’s director and accountant. , all to further Ross’s own “ordinary” career.
Iseman accuses them of making six-figure donations totaling $10 million to venues that then showcased Ross’s work, invited him to speak, or raised his profile in other ways, including publishing his books.
A graphic in the complaint breaks down where the grant money went and the ways Clifford Ross allegedly benefited. NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT Clifford Ross is being accused of turning his aunt’s foundation into a “pay-for-show” scheme. fake images
Ross “bullies museums into showing his work as a condition of mounting a Frankenthaler exhibition,” the papers allege.
There is no suggestion in the lawsuit that the institutions it names were involved in a quid pro quo with Ross.
In a statement, the Foundation’s board of directors called the allegations “baseless and spiteful” and said: “Mr. Iseman’s latest complaint is as baseless as his first filing.
“Apparently, simply filing a baseless and spiteful lawsuit was not enough, and now he is resorting to new attacks against the three directors, the foundation’s executive director, and their lawyers.”
Attorneys for the plaintiff and named defendants did not respond to requests for comment.
Frederick Iseman claims that his cousin, Clifford Ross, along with others, “looted” his aunt’s foundation. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
In the “pay to display” scheme described in court documents, Iseman alleges that Foundation grants went to institutions such as New York University, which received $675,000 between 2015 and 2022, and which then displayed Ross’ works at New York University’s Abu Dhabi Gallery in the United Arab Emirates in 2023.
“Ross obtained an exhibition there from February to June 2023. The exhibition was made after significant donations from the Foundation to New York University,” the newspapers state.
Other examples cited include $500,000 donated to the New York Public Library, from 2020 to 2021. Ross then hosted a discussion about his artwork there, Iseman alleges.
He also “sponsored” an exhibit there, dedicated to Lou Reed, “which contained Ross’s work,” Iseman says.
Helen Frankenthaler founded her foundation during her lifetime. The artist hoped that she would safeguard her legacy. fake images
Yale received $890,000 in grants, according to the lawsuit, and Ross later placed his own works there, even though they were “unsolicited and undesired.”
Ross is also accused of using “Foundation assets to buy recognition even outside the art world,” with $150,000 in grants to the independent Film Forum in Greenwich Village between 2017 and 2022, accompanied by him in a documentary that was screened in 2020.
And, Iseman alleges, Ross even arranged a $250,000 donation to an arts publication called Brooklyn Rail, which distributed a broadsheet arts newspaper to L train commuters.
In exchange, Iseman claims, he published an interview with Ross, an article of his, and one of his poems.
The lawsuit says that “the Brooklyn Rail was not what Frankenthaler had in mind” when he bequeathed his own art, his large collection of other artists and his personal investments to the Foundation trust, beginning in 1984.
Helen Frankenthaler with two of her precious paintings. fake images
The lawsuit names a number of other institutions that it says received donations in the “pay-for-show” scheme, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The American Scholar in Rome; Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York; and the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, none of which are accused of wrongdoing.
He died in 2011, at age 83, and the Foundation was instructed to use his assets to keep his work “alive,” the lawsuit states.
Frankenthaler was an innovative artist in her own right, originally influenced by Jackson Pollock, whose work is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The Foundation’s collection of his work is worth $250 million, with the other $750 million coming from works and investments by other artists.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn