Glenstone

‘Gravity Doesn’t Work at Glenstone’

December 14, 2017 by Marion Maneker

In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ. magazine profiled Glenstone, the private museum Mitch and Emily Rales are building in Potomac, MD. You’ll want to read the whole piece to get a sense of the size and scope of the museum but here’s reference point:

“The scale of it is kind of mind-blowing—it’s got more exhibition space than the Whitney. It dwarfs the Beyeler [Foundation],” says dealer Larry Gagosian, in reference to the Swiss museum established by the late Hildy and Ernst Beyeler. “It’s pretty much unprecedented from a private collector.”

Size isn’t the only factor. Rales became interested in collecting art when looking for a outlet beyond his business but that doesn’t mean he left his business practices behind:

With methodical precision, the Raleses have quietly assembled the largest individual holdings of works by more than 20 contemporary stars—including [Vija Celmins], Roni Horn, Martin Puryear, Sherrie Levine, Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Jeff Wall—often spanning their entire careers. They also have important works by the likes of David Hammons, Robert Gober, Ellsworth Kelly and Jason Rhoades.

“In our businesses we like to be the No. 1 or No. 2 player in everything that we do,” says Mitch. “I would reckon to say that we are the No. 1 or 2 player in most of the artists we collect.” Emily adds, “If we know we can’t acquire a masterpiece of an artist—for example, of Barnett Newman—we won’t even go there.”

The Most Influential Art Collectors You’ve Never Heard Of (WSJ)

Gorvy’s Look Back at Heller, Rothko & Rubin Stirs Ancient Rumors

January 6, 2017 by Marion Maneker

A photo posted by @brettgorvy on Dec 30, 2016 at 4:23pm PST

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Brett Grovy has been reminiscing about the legendary collector Ben Heller on his Instagram feed recently. Over the New Year holiday, he posted about Mark Rothko’s No. 9 (White and Black on Wine) which is one of the centerpieces of the Glenstone collection, one of the world’s leading private art collections.

In his enthusiasm to post a celebration of a great picture, an amazing provenance and a career highlight, his musings eventually came to this:

The painting carried with it a curse. For some unexplained reason, Bill Rubin had spread a rumor that the work was damaged, perhaps jealous of Heller’s sale at Sotheby’s. The picture could not shake this rumor mill, despite several examinations by the top Rothko conservators.

We also brought in the experts to allay any lingering doubts. Nothing was found. But on the night of the auction itself, someone actually called a renowned Rothko dealer in the sales room, just as the Lot was being offered, knowing that he would be bidding on this masterpiece. Fortunately the dealer was not swayed by the repeated claims, and went on to buy the work for a record $16.4 million. He was acting on the behalf of the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, where it resides today amongst other seminal Abstract Expressionist masterpieces.

David Nash chimed in with his own war story:

Bill Rubin was absolutely adamant that this painting was badly damaged when he lent it to an exhibition, unwillingly, but at Rothko’s express request. When it came back from the exhibition it had a huge area of damage, according to Rubin. At Rothko’s suggestion the damage was repaired by a conservator named Lebron who was notorious for completely repainting works by AbEx artists. Rubin sold the painting to Heller who put it up for auction many years later at which time Rubin vigorously denounced Sotheby’s (and me!) for not making any announcement about the condition. […] Rubin’s unyielding position about the damage to his painting has remained one of the unsolved mysteries. This man was the powerful chief curator of MoMA and not somebody to dismiss lightly!

These musings have had the unfortunate effect of raising questions about the Rothko’s condition when it was sold by Christie’s in 2003. Though the condition of the painting should not be an issue at this point. Glenstone is an ambitious collection that has already been established as a private museum. The collection’s trajectory is most likely institutional meaning that it is unlikely that a tentpole work like the massive Rothko would ever be on the market again.

As an institution, Glenstone also has access to the best conservators (and would have satisfied itself before the sale with independent reports that work was in acceptable condition.)

The Rales Lobby Locally for Glenstone Expansion

June 26, 2013 by Marion Maneker

The Washington Post has an interesting story covering a semi-private event Mitchell and Emily Rales held to preview plans for their new museum in Bethesda, MD. The couple are not yet breaking ground on the new museum but deliberately building a coalition of local politicians and national aesthetes:

Mitchell Rales, who grew up in Bethesda, declined to discuss the price tag, but people with knowledge of projects of this magnitude said that it could easily top $125 million.

The new building is designed by New York architect Thomas Phifer and Partners, and the 200-acre estate will be newly landscaped by PWP of Berkeley, Calif.

The publicity-shy couple spoke briefly to about 200 people who attended the invitation-only ceremony, which included only two news media organizations. Rising nearly 40 feet behind them was “Split Rocker,” a recently installed Jeff Koons sculpture with a stainless steel hull that is dotted with 27,000 flowering plants and its own irrigation system.

Emily Rales, the museum’s director, said the sculpture exemplifies what the couple is trying to accomplish at Glenstone.

“It is possibly the best embodiment of our mission at Glenstone to combine art and architecture,” she said. “Here we turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.” […]

Former New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who is working with the Raleses on the project, described the collection and setting as “more than a place of great and beautiful things. It is also at its very core, a place of ideas.”

Rales family unveils plans for major new Glenstone museum in Potomac (Washington Post)