Death and Legacy: Inside the Timely Journey of Artists and their Devoted Heirs
When I leave my studio for the day I often take one last look around. I imagine this is how my loved ones will find it if I pass before returning. The unwashed brushes, the half done sketches, the stretched paper stacked in piles against the wall, 30 pint jars half full of paint, a box of broken oil pastels, Christmas lights framing a window and half a babydoll head nailed to the easel. So precious--to me.
Now, I’m dead. What are my devoted heirs to do? My wife and I frequently joke about who gets to go first. She blanches white at the prospect of tackling my studio and all my unsold creative output and ephemera, boxes of it. Handling my death and legacy will likely fall most to my wife, my most devoted heir in this case.
In their book “Beginner’s Guide to the End,” authors BJ Mill, MD and Shoshana Berger recommend do-it-yourself death cleaning -dostadning in Swedish. They claim, “...your family doesn’t need or want most of your stuff. If they do take something it’ll be a few quirky sentimental items.”
Death, legacy and disposal
BJ Mill, MD and Shoshana Berger suggest throwing out, donating, burning or burying much of you stuff grants your heirs a gift of manageability after you’re gone. Even tubs of sketchbooks and so much finished but unsold work.? I have box after archival box stuffed with paintings and drawings. One is actually labeled: “One Hundred Bad Drawings” (a creative exercise inspired by Lynn Whipple). My storage shed holds yet more boxes of my work: 16 x 20 C prints and toys made from found junk. My artmaking has generated a wide range of work over the years.
First things first. (My wife, Eileen has already sprinkled my ashes in the reflecting pool at “Spoon Bridge and Cherry”) Now Eileen asks herself, “Compared Claes Oldenburg how famous was my husband? On a scale of 1-10 a negative number means I’ve got hard work to do. Here’s why.
After Death, Experts Say This to Devoted Heirs
According to a wide variety of experts the value of what an artist leaves behind is directly related to how much their creativity is valued in life. (And, in case you wondered, “Selling prices do not automatically go up when an artist dies. In the overwhelming majority of cases, an artist's passing has little if any impact on their prices,” according to Alan Bamberger, an art consultant and independent appraiser at ArtBusiness.com.
Hrag Vartanian, in a Hyperallergic podcast from April 14th, 2019 interviewed two artist estate experts. The experts described a surviving son calling about his fathers estate. Experts have two questions for heirs about an artist's death and legacy: Do they have an inventory of the work in their possession and did the artist have a career and what was the nature of that career?
Artists hang on to stuff, are inspired by stuff, enshrine our touchstones in delicate boxes and drawers easily accessed. The objects have little value or meaning except to the artists. I have six drawers about shoebox sized crammed with ephemera only another artist could love. It's all destined to bedevil some family member after I'm gone. Why is it's now their job to manage my stuff and why the heck I could never pitch it all myself.
In my case, I’ve made art for over 40 years but I could hardly call it a career either for financial gain or critical acclaim. Maybe I’ve been making tchotchkes every time I stepped up to the easel. My work may have given me great pleasure, allowed me to experience great fulfillment, and sometimes even saved my marriage but it’s unlikely my leaving will put any of the next generation through college.
A dear friend, Barbara Jo Borch is a Tucson sculptor with an extensive career showing and teaching art through the U.S. Her solution to accumulation is to cut up larger sculptures to create smaller work. Great for collectors with limited space.
A 2018 post on the website Artwork Archive details the daunting task facing four families of famous artists and the years-long effort to preserve their loved ones’ legacy. And, Artwork Archive has a service to help with that.
All that said, I guess I’ll go throw out some art.