Stony Brook Southampton Hospital staffers discovered a treasure trove of paintings from renowned abstract expressionist artists of the 20th century including Willem de Kooning.
When Stony Brook Southampton Hospital staff needed space for additional fans and hospital beds during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they ventured into an old warehouse in the dialysis room, and were surprised by what they found, according to the NY Post.
Leaning against dusty walls and piled on the floor among wooden pallets was a treasure trove: more than 100 works of art by some of the world’s greatest abstract expressionists, many of whom had called the Hamptons their home.
Willem de Kooning, Robert Dash and Alexander Calder were some of the most well-known artists found in this secret and forgotten stash of quality art.
“I was shaking when I saw it,” said Vincent Manzo, an art and antiques consultant who was among the first to see paintings and prints
NY Post reported: Manzo said he was called in shortly after the discovery to help appraise the works, which are mainly lithographs, drawings and a few wood block sculptures dating to between the 1950s and 1980s.
“It was a great find,” he said, adding that he was at first reluctant to enter a hospital during the pandemic, but was so intrigued he donned a mask and went to investigate. “It was like opening up King Tut’s tomb.”
Kaminski Auctions , will be in charge of cataloguing the art and auctioning them in Boston claim they can bring in up to $1 million in total
Stoney Brook Southhampton was extremely busy in April during the peak of coronavirus in NY
The 125-bed hospital, affiliated with the state Stony Brook University Hospital, rushed to double its capacity during the coronavirus crisis, emptying out underused spaces and at one point tripling its ICU beds from seven to 21, NY Post reported.
Most of the works had been donated to the hospital between the 1950s and 1980s by artists who lived and maintained studios on South Fork of Long Island. Southampton was the only hospital in the area, newsdio reported.
Dutch-born abstract expressionist De Kooning became a full-time resident of Springs in 1963. The village in the city of East Hampton became a de facto artist colony after abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock settled there with his wife, artist Lee Krasner, in 1945. Pollock died in a car accident in 1957, and the couple’s former home and studio is now a museum run by the Stony Brook Foundation.
De Kooning donated dozens of works for the hospital’s charity events, grateful for the care he received after several alcohol-related accidents, Newsdio reported.
