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| Passion Investments: Art |
Desire Writ Large
Daniel DelRe
06/01/2005
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Monumental sculpture is literally larger than life. So too is the spirit of
the collectors who love it. Sydney Besthoff, 77, a Louisiana businessman who
once owned the chain of K&B drugstores, reserves 10 weeks each year to visit
New York and meet with museum curators, attend auctions and visit galleries and
studios. Besthoff became hooked on monumental sculpture in the 1970s, after he
hosted an exhibit of George Rickey’s pieces in the plaza outside his New Orleans
office. Following the exhibit, Besthoff traveled to Rickey’s studio in Chatham,
N.Y., and commissioned a 39-foot-high, stainless steel abstract with parts that
sway in the wind. When it was finished, Besthoff shipped the work in pieces to
New Orleans on a flatbed truck, and had Rickey and a crew assemble it outside
his office.
 | | SCULPTOR HENRY Moore conceived Large Interior Form in 1951, and cast it
in 1981 in an edition of six.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby's.) |
After nearly three decades, Besthoff and his wife, Walda, are
still avid collectors, having recently traveled to Paris to purchase a piece by
French sculptor Aristide Maillol. The 5-foot female figure will go directly to
the New Orleans Museum of Art, which houses a separate section and sculpture
garden to exhibit the works donated by the Besthoffs. Their home remains a
veritable museum itself, with pieces situated inside and in outdoor
gardens.
Collectors typically display monumental sculpture in a garden or on
a lawn on their property. These bold pieces awe guests and arouse emotion.
“There’s something spiritual, exciting and sensuous about these works,” says
Nancy Berman, the daughter of prominent art collectors and curator emeritus for
the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “They make a very dramatic
statement about the artist, as well as the collector.”
When hosting
visitors, monumental sculpture aficionados enjoy showing off their latest
acquisitions while discussing a piece’s provenance and the history of its
creator. Berman’s parents, Philip and Muriel Berman, often hosted gala events at
their home in Allentown, Pa., entertaining presidents and foreign dignitaries,
in addition to the artists whose pieces they purchased. In quieter moments,
their sculptures assumed an altarlike appeal, offering Berman and her siblings a
place for solitary meditation. “They became a focal point for reflection and
contemplation, something to learn from, to ponder and interpret,” she says.
Today, Berman admits that she has never considered herself a monumental art
collector. “I just don’t have the bug,” she says.
 |  | | TOP: SEATED Woman by Fernando Botero was cast in 2004. Bottom: Two
Forms (Divided Circle) by Barbara Hepworth, is inscribed with the sculptor’s
signature, dated 1969 and numbered 316. (Photography courtesy of Sotheby's.) |
Philip Berman began
collecting art with the fortune he amassed leasing trucks and warehouse space to
Bethlehem Steel and other northeastern businesses in the 1940s and ’50s. Decades
later, he bought Hess’s Department Store and expanded the chain from a single
outpost in Allentown to several locations in Pennsylvania and New York. In 1989,
he assumed the chair of the board of trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
During his tenure, he facilitated the museum’s acquisition of numerous important
pieces, including 43,000 prints acquired from the Pennsylvania Academy of Art
that otherwise would have been sold at auction. “The Bermans were true
collectors in that they acquired what they loved, they lived with it and they
shared it with others,” says Lisa Tremper Hanover, director of the Berman Museum
of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. In the 1980s, the Bermans donated
much of their collection to Ursinus, where Philip Berman studied for one year.
(He dropped out, but the school later awarded him an honorary degree.)
The
topics of valuation and appreciation for monumental art are inevitable. At a
recent auction in Paris, Besthoff purchased a piece by Maillol for a price “in
the upper six figures.” Beyond the purchase price, collectors face daunting
insurance and transportation expenses for such grandiose works. The insurance
appraisal process alone can extend for days, at a cost of several hundred
dollars per hour. Moreover, monumental sculpture is particularly susceptible to
abuse. On several occasions, vandals have spray painted the sculpture in front
of Besthoff’s office.
Big Risks
Naturally, a piece’s value will vary according to fashion
trends. For
artwork dating to the 18th century or earlier, such as the
Baroque-era sculptures of Bernini, public tastes are generally stable. Contemporary pieces, however, succumb much more easily to popular whims, posing
a threat for buyers. Besthoff would never recommend art as an investment. “It’s
just not profitable.” People’s tastes, he argues, are simply too capricious. The
demand for modern sculpture is hot and prices are soaring, leading some to
wonder if today’s buyers may be entering the market at its peak.
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