“The sleeping giant of philanthropy”
How artist-endowed foundations are growing in number and financial strength
By András Szántó
Solid foundations: (left to right) Joan Mitchell, Keith Haring and Willem de Kooning
The economic crunch notwithstanding, artists today are more prosperous than ever. For those who are successful, affluence can lead to generosity. Many artists donate works to worthy causes and institutions. Some support younger artists or serve on non-profit boards. Damien Hirst’s “Red” auction, in early 2008, co-hosted with Bono, raised an epic $43m for HIV/Aids relief in Africa—a signal event in the upsurge of philanthropy that accompanied the recent global boom.
All that generosity, however, pales in comparison with giving by artists after their lifetimes. Significant philanthropy—in the art world as elsewhere—typically happens posthumously, through foundations. A large proportion of the starting assets for such “artist-endowed foundations” takes the form of works of art, archives and ephemera from an artist’s estate. These assets are deployed through donations, licensing and copyright fees, as well as sales on the art market to perpetuate the artist’s creative legacy, and in some cases, to raise funds for grant-making programmes.
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