ROBERT GLENN's THE PAINTERS KEYS
"Yesterday, Jamillah Ausby of Brooklyn, New York wrote, My husband, the abstract artist Ellsworth Ausby, passed on March 6th. I have a lot of his art which I would love to sell. He wanted exhibitions in Europe, Africa, and all around the world. His one request was to divide the money between his three daughters and son. I plan to clean out his studio, take photos, set up a web site and hopefully I'll find a dealer or a gallery to sell his work. What do you suggest?"
First I send my thoughts to Ellsworth's family. I want to share what I am in the process of dealing with my own legacy. I have been working on setting up a non-profit organization to be the vehicle to hold my art activity during my life, after my passing and hopeful for my artist legacy.
One of the problems is the family sells the art for almost nothing and then, after in time the prices grow without the family being involved. I have 2 daughters and possibly a sister's daughter who I want to be involved in my art legacy.
This is the feedback I received from attorneys and business professionals:
1) Create the non-profit with a thorough enough scope to grow bigger later. Going back and changing your objectives later is near impossible so be thorough for the non-profit vision to have levels.
2) Have the original pieces continue to be owned by the family in some contract form. Then lease to the non-profit the permission to use for free the exhibition and possibly the resale of limited edition reprints for the benefit of the non-profit.
3) By keeping the ownership of the originals outside the non-profit, ownership is maintained by the family.
4) Don't break up the exhibition by selling it. It can be of more value as a traveling exhibition. There is a serious challenge going on with museums and their budget. They usually want a really expensive exhibition but can't afford it, unless they crimp on other less expensive exhibitions.
5) This became an opportunity for talented artists. If you package your exhibition correctly, numerous places across the country will pay to rent it at a very affordable price. The proceeds go back into the not-for-profit to grow the non-profit.
6) The images of your art can be placed on trinkets for sale at these exhibitions. Meanwhile the originals are under the family's control.
7) A couple of closing thoughts... Did the artist want to leave an art legacy? Do you have a family friend or family member who wants to invest emotional with passion needed for this plan to work? Can the family members wait for gains years and accept not reaping the benefits now? Can the heirs get along to make this work?
In my opinion, Ellsworth's images are very marketable. I live in Italy in an apartment above the famous deceased artist Sol Lewitt's SPOLETO art studio. A crew from Holland showed up this week to film a movie about his life.
Sol Lewitt passed the 8th of April 2007 and the filming began last week, April 2011. They are filming his study for this documentary. Based on this, I would suggest to his wife to get some film people in there when she is ready to start documenting his life's story. Call in some local camera people and newspaper when she is ready.
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