That their
motivation is more aesthetic than material becomes evident when they describe
what drives their collective passion. “Our transition to being much more active
speaks to how addictive the whole process is,” Danielle explains. The more one
learns and sees, the more one wants to learn and see. The more a person studies
one artist, they say, the more that person then looks at another artist who was
influential.
Multicultural Benefactor
Marieluise (Marlies) Hessel has been collecting
art for three decades, since she was in her early 20s. Long described as one of
the most beautiful women in the art world, Hessel was born in Germany and has
lived in both the United States and Mexico. With her husband of three years, Ed
Artzt, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, Hessel now divides her time between
homes in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and New York, where works by Roy Lichtenstein, Cy
Twombly and Morris Louis fill their apartment.
Hessel, who says her wealth
stems from investments, began, as many young collectors do, buying works of the
artists of her time. Fortuitously, these turned out to be some of Europe’s most
important post-World War II figures, men such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter
and Sigmar Polke. Now, she admits, she has “developed a strict guideline as to
what I collect and deal with—art that addresses issues of identity that deal
with gender, race and nationality.”
Her other luminaries include artists such
as Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Janine Antoni and Gabriel Orozco. “I have an emotional
need to collect that leads to a need to connect to the work. When I felt lonely,
I would go the museum and look at Rembrandts or Durer to find relief,” Hessel
recalls. “While I collect many difficult works, sometimes I also like
beauty.”
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