1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: When you go into a gallery, you're going to a museum, 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: and you look at a painting, you don't know what 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: the story is behind the painting. It's like seeing somebody 4 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: in the street who's an old man. You don't know 5 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: all the adventures he's had, and all the marriages he's had, 6 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: and all the divorces he's had. My name's Aaron Richard Gollub. 7 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: I'm an attorney licensed to practice law in the state 8 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: of New York, and my concentration is art world issues. 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: I had a case years ago involving a portrait of 10 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: Paloma Picasso by Picasso, and there were two precisely the 11 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: same portraits of Picasso's daughter, one owned by a dealer 12 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: in Spain and one owned by a collector in Switzerland. 13 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: They were identical. Claude Picasso came over to the gallery 14 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: and unpacked the painting that Cogozian was about to show 15 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: in a Picasso show, and Claude said, well, the nails 16 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: arrusted that attacked the canvas to the stretcher on this painting, 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: and on the other painting the nails and not rusted. 18 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: And that was his basis of saying that one picture 19 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: was a counterfeit and the other picture was not. I 20 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: don't think that's a basis to determine authenticity. Authenticity can 21 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: fall under the general rubric of fraud, but authenticity is 22 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: a world in and of itself where painting has been counterfeited. 23 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: Somebody has made a painting and claims it's by a 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: certain artist in that style to the artist, and in 25 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: fact that artist never made that painting. Now, if somebody 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: sells you that painting and claims that that painting is 27 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: by a Matisse or it's by Warhole, and it's not, 28 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: that's fraud, but it's actually really counterfeit. Is what you're 29 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: going to have to prove. People are always fooling everybody 30 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: in the art world. It's a place where that game 31 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: is played by everybody. And Friedman would never have imagined 32 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: growing up to be the most notorious dealer of the 33 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: New York art market. She might have been an art professor, perhaps, 34 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: but as her career blossomed and she came to see 35 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: just how good she was at selling art, being a 36 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: dealer suited her quite well. And not just a run 37 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: of the mill dealer, to be sure, but one of distinction, 38 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: helping artists and collectors she loved. She was born Anne 39 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: Louise Fertig in the early nineteen fifties in Scarsdale, a 40 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: wealthy bedroom community north of New York City. Her father 41 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: was a vice president of a commercial real estate company 42 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: called Williams and Company. Perhaps not by chance, Anne would 43 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: marry a commercial real estate executive herself, Robert Lawrence Freedman 44 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: real Men and told one of her staffers worked in commercial, 45 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,959 Speaker 1: not residential real estate. Two people in Ann Friedman's life 46 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: would play an instrumental role in inspiring her art career. 47 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: The first was her mother, Hilda Fertig, who first brought 48 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: Anne to New York City's art museums as a child. 49 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: The other was H. W. Jansen, the legendary author of 50 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: the History of Art, the standard text for millions of 51 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: students around the world. Jansen was a Russian emigre. Through 52 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: the nineteen forties, he taught at Washington University in St. 53 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: Louis and helped expand the breadth of these schools art collection. 54 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: He left a legacy for generations of students to admire, 55 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: though not without controversy. Not a single female artist was 56 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: described in his epic tone. Ann Friedman would become one 57 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: of those captivated new students upon her own arrival at 58 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: Washington University in the late nineteen sixties, earning a Bachelor 59 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: of Fine Arts degree in the summer of nineteen seventy one. 60 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: When Anne graduated, finding gainful employment wasn't easy. New York 61 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: was on the verge of a nasty recession. Somehow, Anne 62 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: managed to reach Robert Miller, a senior director of the 63 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: American Gallery on Street, and talked him into granting her 64 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: a job interview. Whatever she said at the meeting, it worked. 65 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: Friedman began working as a receptionist at the Emeric and 66 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: immersed herself in the color field painters for which it 67 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: was known abstract expressionists of a softer school like Maurice 68 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: Lewis and Helen Frankenthaler, with their broadwashes of color, as 69 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: opposed to the bold, almost brutal strokes of the action 70 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: painters like Jackson Pollock and William Dacooning. Here's writer Michael Schneerson, 71 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: and starting salary was five thousand dollars a year, or 72 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: a hundred dollars a week. It was typical pay for 73 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: newcomers in a world where wealthy parents who were expected 74 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: to do their part. Eager and perhaps somewhat desperate, and 75 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: began overstepping her lowly tasks and started actually selling art. 76 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: And she was successful, so much so that her boss 77 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: was thunderstruck. As Anne said herself in one of my 78 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: interviews with her for Vanity Fair, she said, Andre started 79 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: seeing more and more invoices on his desk than he 80 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: ever could have imagined. There was a sense of some disbelief, 81 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: if not resentment. No one paved the way for me 82 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: to sell, but I sought out the opportunity and I 83 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: never looked back. Her personal life was bossoming as well. 84 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: Anne would marry her fiancee, Robert Friedman, on Christmas Day. 85 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: A Long Island Rabbi Jack Stern performed the ceremony at 86 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,679 Speaker 1: Manhattan's Regency Hotel. Anne and Robert would have a daughter, Jessica, 87 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: and moved to an apartment on East seventy two Street, 88 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: where they still live. Despite her early successes, both personally 89 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: and professionally, it would be fair to say that Anne 90 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: wasn't embraced by her colleagues at the Emeric Gallery. She 91 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: glowed with ambition and showed little interest in making new friends. 92 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: Rumor had it that one of Anne's colleagues threw a 93 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: typewriter at her. Another time, the owner of the gallery, 94 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: Andre Emrick, returned to New York from a trip to 95 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: London with little gifts for his staffers. Emeric announced that 96 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: his gift to Anne was a Rose Royce. Supposedly, she 97 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: raced to the window to see if there was a 98 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: real one parked on the street. Those were the kinds 99 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: of expectations she had, the staffer said. It was, of 100 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: course a little toy. She was very ambitious. People at 101 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: the gallery hated her. Emrick's widow, Suzanne, said the galleries 102 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,919 Speaker 1: registrar once wrote to owner Andrea Emrick about Anne and 103 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: how she behaved when he was gone. She was vicious, 104 00:06:53,040 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: the registrar fumed. While Anne was rising at Emeric, another 105 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: young ambitious staffer was a step ahead of her at 106 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: the Knoedler Gallery. Leslie Feely came to Ndler in nineteen 107 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: seventy one with the legendary dealer Larry Rubin, when the 108 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: armand hammer era of Ndler ownership began. By this time, 109 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: the Knodler was no longer the most venerable gallery in 110 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: New York. Those days were long gone. By one the 111 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: gallery had slumped to a third rate institution, with artists 112 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: like Leroy Neiman, who was most well known for depicting bright, 113 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: splashy sports scenes with crowd pleasing speed. The longtime dealer 114 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: Richard Fagen famously said that armand Hammer bought a cadaver 115 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: when he bought the Knoedler. As Leslie Feely recalled, the 116 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: Knoedler had no contemporary art at that point in the 117 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: early nineteen seventies. I never thought of I don't think 118 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: it was active. Armand Hammer needed a dealer who could 119 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: help bring prestige and clients back to Knodler. In Larry Reuben. 120 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: He'd found his man. Starting with the brilliant Frank Stella 121 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: and Kenneth Noland. Reuben was proving his value to Nodler 122 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: and armand Hammer right away. He also brought in Richard Debencorne, 123 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: the great abstract landscape painter. That's why he signed up Larry. 124 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: For the artists, Leslie Pheely and Larry came in together. 125 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: That's Joe Stevens. Joe was the Nodler's art handler. My 126 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: main job was I was the shipping manager and the 127 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: head preparative of all the artwork and hanging shows. Leslie 128 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: was Larry's partner assistant. She was on a higher level. 129 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: She sold artwork. Leslie worked at Nodler for nearly half 130 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: a decade until she left abruptly in nineteen seventy seven. 131 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: As Leslie said, armand Hammer didn't keep his word with her. 132 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: He'd offered up her compensation for artwork sold. She said 133 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: yes on a Friday. On Monday, he came back and said, 134 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I can't give you that deal. With that, 135 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: Leslie left to become an independent dealer on her own. 136 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: I happened to gallery when Frank Gary built gallery for me. 137 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: I mean he was my architect. He's terrivic friend. I think, 138 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: a great architect. And it was a very beautiful gallery 139 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: on sixty eight in Madison. That was when Anne became 140 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: Larry Rubin's right hand, taking Leslie's place. And then Anne 141 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: Freedman came in and the changes were happening. She was 142 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: the receptionist, very knowledgeable woman, you know, she knew her stuff, 143 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: and she had that I always called as a gifted gap. 144 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: She was incredible talker. What change did you observe? Well, 145 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: she did move up, you know, she went move right up. 146 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: She get out, and she wand up to get Aronal office. 147 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: Since she started selling art work, often vying for paintings 148 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: with her from outside the gallery, Leslie would come to 149 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 1: know Ann friedman style of business all too well. Almost 150 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: from the beginning. It sounds like you've got a sense 151 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: of this woman not only as abrasive and difficult and unpleasant, 152 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: but someone who was, you know, willing to do anything 153 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: to make a profit. Absolutely. It was in the fall 154 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: of nine seven when Leslie left the Notler, with an 155 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: eager and Friedman stepping in to take her place. After 156 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: her departure, Leslie's dealings with Larry Reuben on works by 157 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: the artist which her Deep in Corn came from outside 158 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: the gallery. The work was beautiful, anyone could see that, 159 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: but the heat of Deep in Corns market was also 160 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: due to the way he worked. He would produce a 161 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: dozens of ocean park paintings and drawings, then send them 162 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: in one great clump to Knoedler dealer. Larry Reuben would 163 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: earmark new paintings for his favorite clients, many of them 164 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 1: dealers themselves. Leslie Feely was lucky enough to be on 165 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: that list. To Anne's intense irritation, there was nothing she 166 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,839 Speaker 1: could do to keep Larry from allocating a Deep and 167 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: Corn to Leslie when one of those batches of new 168 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: work came in. I think I bought a deepon Corn 169 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: in every Deep in Corn show. I was still friendly 170 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: with Larry, which was good, and I was friendly with 171 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: the Deep and Corns, and I loved his work, and 172 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: it was so exciting for me to buy one. One 173 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: staffer at Knoedler said that opening those Deep and Corn 174 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: shipments was like opening presents on Christmas morning. The paintings 175 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: would be all lined up. These were the days when 176 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,680 Speaker 1: an ocean park crossed maybe eighteen to twenty dollars. Larry 177 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: would let Ann Friedman have first pick. The staffer later 178 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: said to Lar why let Anne have first choice? Because 179 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: Ruben said, with a laugh, I know she'll pick the 180 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: worst one. Would she be buying Deep in Corns as well? Well? 181 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: She must have. I don't think she had a particularly 182 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:20,480 Speaker 1: good relationship with the artist, or the wife or the children. 183 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: Who were you know who ended up managing these days 184 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: soon enough, to the shock of the gallery staff, and 185 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,199 Speaker 1: acquired the title of the head of Contemporary Art sales. 186 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: She felt she'd paid her dues as the front receptionist 187 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: and demanded a position of greater distinction. The title was 188 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: quite a leap, perhaps, but her sales skills were being noticed. 189 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: She was known as the rainmaker. That's artist Michael David. 190 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: Michael came to Knoedler as a client of the gallery 191 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: in a collector introduced my work to end and then 192 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: and Larry came to the studio. There was this desire 193 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: to find young artists at that point, and I think 194 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: that Larry liked me, not so much for the work 195 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: at that point, but because of the way I spoke, 196 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: in the speed of my speaking reminds him of Frank Stella. 197 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: I know that there was a hierarchy of floors. You 198 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: go past that red velvet rope and then there'll be 199 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: one floor, and then it would be Ann's office in 200 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: Larry's office, and Larry would focus more on the higher 201 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: end blue chip and Ann would do more of the 202 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: volume selling. That was my impression. Joe Stevens remembers what 203 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: it was like handling art for private meetings with Ann's 204 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: clients at not Learn. She had a huge supply of 205 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: artwork in her office was always painted and taken care of, 206 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: and you know, she had six French windows overlooking seventy Street. 207 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: He had a big, huge office. You know, she had 208 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,080 Speaker 1: a couch in front of it, sat down with the clients. 209 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: Very convenient and well done. You know. It was always 210 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: very clean and immaculate. And we used to come up 211 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: and you know, you have the two people have to 212 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: pull out one of these big motherwells, you know, so 213 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: you know, put it right back and pull out at 214 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: all this It was kind of really cool to do 215 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: that because I'm listening to how what they're paying for 216 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: these things, and I'm going, you know, it was an 217 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: incredible mansive money that these people paid for him. Here's 218 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: artist Michael David again. There was also a thing that 219 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: you know, there was always you know, we don't sell work. 220 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: We place work, and you know we'll always take the 221 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: work back. Was it true? Could you decide you didn't 222 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: like a stella and bring it back and get your 223 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: money back. I don't think that you get your money back. 224 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: I think they would make efforts to sell it for you. Interestingly, 225 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: in my Vanity Fair story, Michael David had described Anne 226 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: rather more sharply. He said she wasn't someone you wanted 227 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: to play poker with. Or someone you wanted to cross. 228 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: He's a complicated person. She was great at what she did. 229 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: I never saw evidence of her being unethical. She had 230 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: an edge, she took no prisoners, and she could be vindictive. 231 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: I think for her it was always about making it rain. 232 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: I think that was how she defined herself. That may 233 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,360 Speaker 1: have been a fatal flaw that led her not to 234 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: be as mindful as she should have been. But at 235 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: some point after the Vanity Fair story appeared, Anne had 236 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: taken Michael David to lunch more than once and conveyed 237 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: how hurt she had been to be called vindictive, and 238 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: so David's portrait of her had softened over the years. 239 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: For k Nodler's artists, like Michael David, art was never 240 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: anything less than a business. But how did the money 241 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: change hands between the buyer, the seller, and the artist. 242 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: That's after the break. The financial arrangement between Ndler and 243 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: its artists seemed simple enough on the surface, everything was 244 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: on paper before computers. Recalled one staffer, if the price 245 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 1: for a painting just sold was say one hundred thousand dollars, 246 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: then the standards split on painting sold was fifty fifty 247 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: fifty percent for the artist and fifty percent for the gallery. 248 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: But at Nidler there was a category called report to Artists. 249 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: Instead of being recorded as a sale for one hundred 250 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, the report to artist would show the sale as, say, 251 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: ninety six thousand dollars. When the fifty fifty split was made, 252 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: the artist got fifty percent of ninety six thousand dollars, 253 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: not of one hundred thousand dollars. It wasn't a big 254 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: reduction for the artist. In fact, it was so small 255 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: that most of the artists were probably perfectly happy pocketing 256 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: their fifty percent of the report to artists that they 257 00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: failed to question the galleries accounting methods. The staffer, a 258 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: new arrival at the time, questioned one or two people 259 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: about the practice. To her, it seemed unsavory, a red flag, 260 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: as she put it, but she felt if she pushed 261 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: too far, she'd put her job in jeopardy. Donald Sultan, 262 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: one of the Knodler galleries younger artists at the time, 263 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: confirmed that Anne kept two separate sets of books. Sultan 264 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: said she told people she sold an artwork for X, 265 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: but she actually sold it for X plus y. Either 266 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: she or the gallery kept the difference Another delicate matter 267 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: at Knodler was the upstairs presence of an accountant, Dr. 268 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: Maury Leebovitz, who ran a much larger operation. He oversaw 269 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,159 Speaker 1: not just the Kndler, but also the very commercial Hammer 270 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: Gallery situated on Park Avenue, just above Street, which the 271 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: Hammer family had bought some time before. He was a 272 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: shadowy figure. The staffers seventh Maury You were not allowed 273 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: to even mention his presence because they didn't want anyone 274 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 1: to know the two galleries were run together. Why because 275 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:17,199 Speaker 1: while the Noodlers sold art of impeccable quality to wealthy collectors, 276 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 1: the Hammer Gallery over on Park Avenue sold tacky artists 277 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:26,920 Speaker 1: like Leroy Nieman with his highly commercial sports scenes to 278 00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 1: Larry Reuben and the rest of Knoedler, Nieman was an embarrassment. 279 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: In spite of this, Nieman was the biggest earner for 280 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: the two galleries combined, and his profits helped prop up 281 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 1: the galleries bottom line. There was nothing illegal about this, 282 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: It was just a way of disguising the galleries finances. 283 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: The k Nodler would disguise its finances later on too, 284 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: in a much different and very illegal way. By the 285 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, Anne had become a fixture at Knodler, selling 286 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: far more than anyone else at the gallery, and thus 287 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: accruing more power as she did. One former staffer recalls 288 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: Anne saying, I could have sold catalogs, but I chose 289 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: to sell art. Perhaps she was being facetious, but to 290 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: the staffer that sort of rang true. When I used 291 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: to go to the Nolar Gallery, which I did every 292 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: trip to New York, to see Larry, perhaps to buy 293 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: something or you know, just have Blanche whatever. Ann Friedman's 294 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: office was not an office. It was a desk in 295 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: the showroom where they had their paintings in racks. She 296 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: would be right there. That's John Burgruin, who San Francisco 297 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: Gallery remains a bastion of the art business more than 298 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: half a century since he opened it on Grant Avenue. 299 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: And Friedman was always, as far as I'm concerned, controversial person. 300 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: You know, I don't. I often wondered how Larry dealt 301 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: with her on a day to day basis. What was 302 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: striking about her presence, the fact that the fact that 303 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: she was even there in a way, but what was 304 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: her style? Well, she was aggressive. Another former staffer took 305 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: a slightly softer view, She was demanding, but not totally unfair. 306 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,680 Speaker 1: She was like that type in the Devil Wears product 307 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: that was Ann. You never felt close to her. The 308 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,120 Speaker 1: staffer added, there's an almost masculine quality, hard to read. 309 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: She was tough and a lot of people ended up 310 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: not liking her. The note was a long time manager 311 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: and art handler, Joe Stevens once stopped at her desk 312 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,400 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen eighties after hours. When she was gone, 313 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: his eyes widened. There was Anne's latest paycheck. I was 314 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 1: juned and she was already made seventies thousand dollars. It 315 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: was June and she had already made three seventy five 316 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: for the year. So far, so far. That's a lot 317 00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: of money in the late eighties. That's what I found 318 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: that these were the go go years in the contemporary 319 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: art market. Dealers like Leo Castelli and Mary Boone were 320 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 1: selling big, bold canvases of artists like Julian Schnabel and 321 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: Eric Fischel, along with David Sally and Ross Bleckner. Abstract 322 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: art was out along with minimalist art. Figurative art was 323 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: back in with a vengeance. The Kndler wasn't quite at 324 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,399 Speaker 1: the heart of all this once again it was selling 325 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: the art, no longer quite of its day under Larry Reuben. However, 326 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: it did well enough when Larry was the head of 327 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: the gallery. We weren't in trouble for money. It was 328 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: it was a name armand Hammer died in leaving his 329 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: grandson Michael as chairman of Ndler as well as head 330 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: of the tacky Hammer Gallery on Park Avenue. Michael Hammer 331 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: was an elusive figure, known mostly for his born again 332 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,640 Speaker 1: evangelical zeal, his deep affinity for tanning machines, and later 333 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,239 Speaker 1: for his two dozen or so vintage automobiles. But he 334 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: was smart enough to let Larry Reuben keep running the 335 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 1: Noteler gallery, and though the whole art market suffered a 336 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: major recession in the early nineteen nineties with the galleries 337 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: closing right and left, Knoler survived due in combination to 338 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: the revenues from the Hammer Gallery and blue chip artists 339 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: who stayed loyal to Larry Reuben. What Michael Hammer failed 340 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: to sense, however, was that Anne was no longer a 341 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: docile salesperson for Knoler. She felt she was the one 342 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: keeping the gallery afloat. The major sales were hers, and 343 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: yet the gallery wasn't giving her the credit she felt 344 00:22:54,520 --> 00:23:01,199 Speaker 1: she deserved. The more underappreciated she felt, the more resentment 345 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: she radiated. It was about that time in the early nineties, 346 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: said Larry Reuben started planning his exit. I didn't understand 347 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: him leaving the gallery, but he missed Europe. He had 348 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: a house in the south of France, and then he 349 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: had the house in Italy. He wanted a semi retire. 350 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: Joe Stevens recalls Larry's departure. I knew something was wrong now. 351 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was because the galery was 352 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: taken over by Michael. I couldn't figure it out. Reuben 353 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,879 Speaker 1: wanted a life of European travel, yet he still wanted 354 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: to retain control of the gallery. He would manage to 355 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,120 Speaker 1: do just that by bringing in a successor, one who 356 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: reported directly to him. This was an expert in multiples 357 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: named Donald Staff. Multiple does mean any art made in 358 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: more than one copy. Usually it's a numbered and signed edition. 359 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,239 Speaker 1: Lithographs are multiples, for example, so we're engravings, which were 360 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 1: part of the origins of Noeler Back in the eighteen forties. 361 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: Donald Staff had done multiples for the great pop artist 362 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: Roy Lichtenstein, and the two had grown close. It was 363 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: a good chance that Staff might get Lichtenstein to join 364 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: the Notlar gallery. Larry Reuben thought he had talked Michael 365 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,959 Speaker 1: Hammer into adopting this plan. Larry would direct the gallery 366 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,879 Speaker 1: from Italy, where he had a country home, and Larry 367 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,400 Speaker 1: and Donald Staff would run it together, and Friedman would 368 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: be the hard driving salesperson. I'm sure at that point 369 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 1: she was saying, I'm making all the sales. He's not 370 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: doing anything. You don't need him, You'll do just as 371 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,159 Speaker 1: many sales, which was probably true in a sense. No, no, 372 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 1: but she had no connections to get Liechtenstein or Ralschenberg. 373 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: The other guy had better connections. Donald aft it. Yeah, yeah, 374 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: And so even though Notally didn't yet have Rauschenberg or 375 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: there was a hope of it, whereas there was no 376 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,120 Speaker 1: hope if if Anne was the head of the gallery 377 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: she didn't know any of these artists. I mean, what 378 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: what sort of self delusion you've called it? The news 379 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: of Larry's retirement and Staff's imminent arrival in the fall 380 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:31,399 Speaker 1: of infuriated Anne. Later she said she just wanted to 381 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,919 Speaker 1: know what Don sass Roll would be That seemed to 382 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: cause a problems and put it dryly to me, she 383 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: wanted more than that. She wanted to know why she 384 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: shouldn't be made director of the gallery after seventeen years, 385 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: when she was the one who sold the art and 386 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: shored up the company's bottom line. Like a heat seeking 387 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,360 Speaker 1: missile and shot into Michael Hammer's office on a mid 388 00:25:55,400 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: November day in and took him on directly. She could 389 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: do everything Reuben and Saff could do, she pointed out 390 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: to Hammer. She could cultivate new artists, organized their shows, 391 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: and run the business. At the same time. She would 392 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,719 Speaker 1: sell a lot more art than Reuben or Staff put together. 393 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: Why not let her run the gallery with Michael Hammer's help, 394 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:23,880 Speaker 1: of course, and send the old men packing. And must 395 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: have been persuasive because Michael Hammer changed his mind on 396 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: the spot and gave her the job. He did that 397 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: even though sav had just been formerly hired as co 398 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: director and was sent a letter detailing the terms of 399 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: his employment. According to Staff's lawyer, the letter was signed 400 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: by Staff and sent back to Knodler to be countersigned. 401 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: It was sitting in an inbox at the Knoedler when 402 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: Hammer changed his mind and seized it. Staff's lawyers accused 403 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,200 Speaker 1: Hammer of preaching an oral agreement, but the charge went nowhere. 404 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: There would be no more talk of Staff and rubenous 405 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: co directors. There would be just one director and Friedman. 406 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: We'll be back in a minute. Ann's new title seemed 407 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 1: to assure her great success, but Leslie Feeley since the 408 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: story would turn out badly, if only because of Anne's temperament. 409 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: She was not a people person. She would try to 410 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,160 Speaker 1: you know, sway people gush over people, but a lot 411 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: of people didn't go for her. One collecting couple who 412 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: resisted her charms was the mayer Hoffs. Wonderful, fabulous collect 413 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,320 Speaker 1: According to one person in Baltimore, they would have nothing 414 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: to do with Anne. A lot of people had that reaction, 415 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: like me, Yeah, whether collectors or dealers, anything so interesting 416 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: that she should alienated them all and yet still get 417 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: this job. So thanks to Michael Hammer, I guess right. 418 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: So the amazing thing to me about this story at 419 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: this point is that you know, Anne gets her wish, 420 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: and be careful what you wish for, because now there's 421 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: no one to guide her and to keep her from 422 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: making truly calamitous decisions. Making a calamitous. I don't I 423 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: think she wanted to make more money, so she didn't 424 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: care how she did it. I mean, don't you think 425 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,200 Speaker 1: it was in her blood? She wasn't making enough money 426 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: to carry the gallery, and now that she had gotten 427 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: this job and this power and pushed aside any chance 428 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: of these other artists coming in, also having artists leave 429 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: because of her deep and colorin gone. Wow, when did 430 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: that happen? I think Rodway, I think she was pushed 431 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: out of Stephen Corn right away because they never liked her. 432 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: Joe Stevens got an earful of Larry Reuben's fury that 433 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: Stevens drove Larry across town that day. We're coming back 434 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: from Frank Stella's studio and you got a call. It 435 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: might have been a treasury. He spoke to me. He goes, 436 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: dad fucking and now he's boiling. He wants to kill him. 437 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: He says, what the are you fucking fitting me? And 438 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: he just rent and raved. So he says, I says, Larry, 439 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 1: what's going on? He says that bitch, and but he 440 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: didn't get into it. He just says that you'll you'll 441 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,720 Speaker 1: hear about it soon enough. So I had said to him, 442 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: Mrs Larry, do I have to get another job? He says, 443 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: I don't know, Joe, he is things are happening right now. 444 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: I don't know. He didn't specify it, like say, if 445 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: you get along with an you'll be around for a while, 446 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: you know. But he was absolutely furious, and within a 447 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: month he was gone and had seized power in the 448 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: last ticking moments she had while that letter from Donald 449 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: sav lay in Michael Hammer's inbox. With that move, she 450 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: changed the course of her life and ultimately the Knodler 451 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: Galleries too, But it came with a drawback. The problem 452 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: was that the art market of the early to mid 453 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:51,680 Speaker 1: was terrible like all her rivals, and needed top quality 454 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: art to sell. It wasn't so easy to find, especially 455 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: for a dealer who lacked a lifetime of friendships with 456 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: famous artists. Anne's predicament was actually worse than it seemed. 457 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: Her harsh personality and the swiftness with which she had 458 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: grabbed her prize had alienated many of the galleries living artists, 459 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: along with the estates that represented deceased ones. The Adolph 460 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: Gottlieb Foundation was alarmed, so was the David Smith Foundation. 461 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: The Robert Motherwell Foundation and the Richard Deepencorn Foundation. Upon 462 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: Anne's coup, they all left the gallery. Joe Stevens recalls 463 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: Anne's rise to leadership with mixed feelings. She became an 464 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: officer of the company. You know, she became like a 465 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:49,040 Speaker 1: vice president. So she changed. Now she had authority to me, 466 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: she just became bitchy because she knew who she was. 467 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: She sold a lot of all work. She was a 468 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: big time salesperson. I had really good working with her 469 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: the very beginning, and then she became the borce. She 470 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 1: never really said nothing much to me in the beginning 471 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: because she knew. I knew my job I do. I 472 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: took care of everything. I took care of everything that 473 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: had to be taken care of. I was the top 474 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: sergeant in that place, and it's in physical I took 475 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: care of the building everything. If a window cracked, I 476 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: had have it fixed, the air conditioning. I did it all. 477 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: But my main job was I was the shipping manager 478 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: and the head preparative of all the artwork. I don't 479 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: care if you the precedent the company, I deserve respect. 480 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 1: I take care of this whole gallery from the minute 481 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: it opens to the minute it closes, and I handled 482 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: all the artwork, every bit of it. In that capacity, 483 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: there was a lot that Joe would see as the 484 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: gallery began to sink and money became an issue. Even 485 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: as an began wielding her new power, as noted as Director, 486 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: sales were plummeting, and aggressive and ruthless tactics had pushed 487 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: away the gallery's best clients and the staff were turning 488 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: against her, and Friedman was now totally on her own 489 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:21,160 Speaker 1: to decide which artists to promote and sell. Her standards 490 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: became the galleries standards. Her eagerness to close these deals 491 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: conveyed a clear message, sell, sell, sell, no matter what. 492 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: This guy, I think his name was Bud Larkin. He 493 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,200 Speaker 1: used to be a directive of like Bewitched. He bought 494 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: this Pollock. Now, if you remember, Michael, do you go 495 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: back when Cartier was sending out empty packages so people 496 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,479 Speaker 1: don't have to pay taxes? Absolutely, Okay, here's the scam 497 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: that Joe is referring to. Cardier, the world famous jewelry brand, 498 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: was helping its customers evade sales tax. At the time, 499 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,960 Speaker 1: those taxes in New York's city were eight point to 500 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: five out of state buyers were exempt from those taxes. 501 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,759 Speaker 1: So the scam was when a customer came in and 502 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: purchased an expensive item, cartier would ship an empty box 503 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: to a bogus address and the customer would walk out 504 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: of the store with their merchandise. And it worked for 505 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: a while. Time Magazine reported in April that at least 506 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,720 Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty thousand dollars in taxes went unpaid 507 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: on a hundred and twenty five sales over three years. 508 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: Similar scams at the time were estimated to have cost 509 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: New York State and local governments more than a hundred 510 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: million and tax revenue annually. Well, this guy here had 511 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:48,280 Speaker 1: to go and delivered his painting to Kauai, Hawaii. Hid 512 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: I jumped on a plane in North flew Non stopped 513 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,920 Speaker 1: to Honold, got in another plane and flew Kauai and delivered. 514 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:01,279 Speaker 1: It took me seventeen hours, seven million dollars US. You 515 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: know why, because she saved dollars in taxes by me delivering. 516 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: It was your sense that that was common place at Noler. No. 517 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,360 Speaker 1: I did it once, and I said I'll never do 518 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,040 Speaker 1: it again. In the aftermath of Larry Ruben's departure, the 519 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: changes at Ndler were profound with the gallery still struggling 520 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,600 Speaker 1: through tough times, and became more demanding and sharp tongued, 521 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: even imperious. Even Michael Hammer, the galley's owner, seemed to 522 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: defer to Enne more often than not and was always 523 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,960 Speaker 1: screaming at everybody. One staffer recalled, always screaming for himI Andratti, 524 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 1: her assistant. If she didn't have the right pen, she 525 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:51,760 Speaker 1: would call to himaid to get her more. As personal 526 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:56,920 Speaker 1: assistance came and went in dizzying succession. If you unwrapped 527 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,279 Speaker 1: her sandwich, she wouldn't eat it, says one former assist. 528 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 1: If you answered the phone in the wrong way, she 529 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: would pounce on you. One woman was fired after three 530 00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 1: days for having too strong an Eastern European accent, a 531 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 1: staff are recalled. Another lasted two weeks for being too 532 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: young and inexperienced, So the next assistant they hired was 533 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,439 Speaker 1: older in her forties. She was fired after a few 534 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: months because Anne seemed threatened by her. One staffer recalled 535 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,719 Speaker 1: that she and her colleagues kept a list of all 536 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,520 Speaker 1: the assistants who came and went during the years she 537 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,720 Speaker 1: was there. As she said, if you made it past 538 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: the hazing rituals. You became part of this dysfunctional family. 539 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: The most memorable of that long line of the demoralized 540 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: was a fragile Southerner straight out of a Tennessee Williams play, 541 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: and would call her five or six times a day. 542 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,360 Speaker 1: One staff are recalled, they would be crying and screaming, 543 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,720 Speaker 1: and Friedman's Nodler Gallery was in free fall. Help would 544 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:12,359 Speaker 1: come not long after Anne's ascension at a Soho art 545 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: gallery opening, surprisingly in the form of a demure Mexican 546 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: art dealer in her mid forties named La Rosalis. Anne 547 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: had never met Rosalee, and upon learning that she had 548 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: something to do with a gallery and Great Neck Long Island, 549 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,800 Speaker 1: she might have given the woman a pain to smile 550 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 1: and moved on. But Rosalves had sailed up to Anne 551 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,440 Speaker 1: on the arm of the Nodler's own him Andrade, and 552 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:47,120 Speaker 1: so Anne was intrigued. From such a casual meeting, the 553 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: whole art market would be seismically altered, leaving the Knodler 554 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:59,720 Speaker 1: itself devastated and ultimately doomed, depending on who you asked him. 555 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: And Ratty was either a long trusted employee of the gallery, 556 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: harmless and endearing or an agent provocateur who saw a 557 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:12,400 Speaker 1: way to put Ann Friedman together with hero Rosalee, ensuring 558 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: that all three of them would profit from their endeavors. 559 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: Oh please, that's not a connection. I mean, that's just 560 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:25,480 Speaker 1: trying to push the guilt onto this poor, uneducated sweet man. 561 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,479 Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with I mean, Anne would 562 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: say that, of course, But I take your point. I 563 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: mean it sounds like she was just just naming someone 564 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:38,840 Speaker 1: else besides her. Okay, he introduced her. So what she 565 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 1: made the judgment? She That's right, She just nothing else. 566 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:51,440 Speaker 1: I mean it was totally her call. Next time on 567 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 1: art Fraud, she swears that she didn't know, which seems 568 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 1: hard to believe. Should she have known? Yeah, I believe 569 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,839 Speaker 1: from the beginning she knew these were fakes. They had 570 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:13,880 Speaker 1: no provenances. She made up provenances. Every Day, Art Fraud 571 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: is brought to you by I Heart Radio and Cavalry Audio. 572 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:23,400 Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Matt del Piano, Keegan Rosenberger, Andy Turner, myself, 573 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:28,400 Speaker 1: and Michael Shnayerson. We're produced by Brandon Morgan and Zach McNeice. 574 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: Zach also edited and mixed this episode. Lindsay Hoffman is 575 00:39:33,360 --> 00:40:00,960 Speaker 1: our managing producer, our writer is Michael Schneerson. I can 576 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: can't be anything in add