Robert Scull ( born Robert Scull ; 1917 , New York - 1985 ) is an American art collector best known for his “world-famous collection of pop art and minimalism” [1] .
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Content
- 1 Early biography
- 2 Career
- 3 Personal life
- 4 memory
- 5 notes
Early biography
Robert Skull was born in New York in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants who anglicized their surname Sokolnikov [2] . His childhood passed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan . His interest in contemporary art showed up when he visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the age of ten [3] .
Career
Robert Skull dropped out of high school, but studied and attended a number of art courses, including performing various work. He worked as a freelance illustrator and industrial designer until his wife's father Ethel, who left them a share in his successful taxi business, passed away [1] . Scull invested his inherited share of the business in his own “Super Operating Corporation”, which employed 400 drivers and 130 cars. Later, his company became known as the “ Scull's Angels ”. Scull even hired Amy Vanderbilt , a specialist in etiquette, to teach his drivers courtesy in dealing with customers. [1]
Thanks to a successful business, Scull and his wife were able to buy the work of abstract expressionists, including works by Willem de Kooning , Barnett Newman , Mark Rothko and Franz Klein [1] . In 1965, they auctioned 25 of these works, as they switched to collecting works by pop art figures, including Jasper Johns , Robert Rauschenberg , Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist . They were assisted in this matter by an art dealer Leo Castelia [1] . The proceeds from the sale went to the creation of the Robert and Ethel Scull Foundation, whose mission was to raise money to help unknown artists [4] .
From 1960 to 1965, Scull provided financial support to art dealer Richard Bellamy and his "innovative" Green Gallery in New York [1] .
Put up for auction at Sotheby's in 1973, the “Robert Skull Collection”, consisting of 50 lots, mainly representing pop art, brought a total income of $ 2.2 million. It was the first auction of contemporary American art with one seller. Nevertheless, the New York world of art christened it as "cashing the nouveau riche" [3] [1] .
Personal life
Robert Skull married Ethel Skull , who bore him three sons: Jonathan, Stephen and Adam. The couple divorced in 1975. Robert Skull's second wife was called Stephanie. [1]
Memory
In 2010, the Robert & Ethel Scull: Portrait Of A Collection exhibition was held at the Aquawell Galleries in Manhattan, where paintings, sculptures and drawings by artists such as Willem de Kooning , Michael Heyzer , were exhibited . Jasper Jones , James Rosenquist , Myron Stout , Larry Puns , Andy Warhol , Frank Stella , Mark Di Suvero , John Chamberlain , Klas Aldenburg , Walter De Maria , Robert Morris [5] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Glueck, Grace . Robert Scull, prominent collector of Pop Art , The New York Times (January 3, 1986). Archived November 13, 2016. Date of treatment September 20, 2019.
- ↑ Robert Scull: Art Collector , Lakeland Ledger , Halifax Media Group (January 4, 1986). Archived April 11, 2013. Date accessed September 20, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 Roberta Smith . Appetite for New and Next New , The New York Times (April 15, 2010). Archived April 11, 2013. Date accessed September 20, 2019.
- ↑ How the 1973 Scull Auction Changed the Art Market . Artzine
- ↑ Robert and Ethel Scull, Portrait of a Collection . Aquavella Galleries. Archived November 13, 2016.