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The Names of the Rose

January 29, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Lindsay Pollock’s Bloomberg story on the Rose Museum fiasco fills in some important blanks on the source of the museum’s economic value in one gift from Leon Mnuchin:

The bulk of the collection’s value stems from the purchase of 21 works in 1963 with a $50,000 gift from New York lawyer and collector Leon Mnuchin and his wife, Harriet Gevirtz-Mnuchin.

Mnuchin’s son, Robert Mnuchin, worked at Goldman Sachs for 33 years and is now an art dealer in New York. “He had the money and I had the inspiration,” said Sam Hunter, 86, the Rose’s founder and first director. [ . . . ] The collection is worth about $300 million, he said.

Hunter and Leon Mnuchin bought work from artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein when they were starting out, and more established names like Robert Rauschenberg — many costing $2,000 to $5,000 apiece, he said. The paintings have escalated in value. Lichtenstein’s 1963 “Forget It! Forget Me!” with a blonde woman scolding a man, is worth around $35 million, dealers said. Rauschenberg’s 1961 “Second Time,” a drippy painted collage in pinks and reds, is worth about $15 million. Both are in the Rose.

Critics Blast Brandeis Plan to Close Rose Museum, Sell Artworks (Bloomberg)

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Filed Under: Museums

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