Heirs Sell Celebrated Artwork to Cover Estate Taxes

The following is from Carol Vogel, A Colossal Private Sale by the Heirs of a Dealer, NYTimes.com, April 4, 2008:

In what experts described as the largest private sale of art ever, the heirs of the legendary dealer Ileana Sonnabend have parted with some $600 million worth of paintings and sculptures in two transactions to cover their estate taxes.***

Ms. Sonnabend’s art trove, which includes seminal works by artists like Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, is valued at more than $1 billion. Taxes on the estate amount to more than half the value of the assets, experts said.***

Known for a shrewd eye and sure taste, Ms. Sonnabend was among the world’s most powerful dealers in the 1960s and ’70s, as was her first husband, Leo Castelli.***

In addition to selling art Ms. Sonnabend enjoyed holding on to her favorites, and over the years she amassed hundreds of works of art and outstanding examples of 20th-century furniture. Much of it travels on loan to museums around the world, but a good deal has also been in storage for decades.***