By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Rose de Rose was never a typical Hamptons elite. The heiress turned her 12-acre estate into a farm and delivered fresh eggs to her neighbors. Secretly, she was also an artist, and her works are now hitting auction, with celebrities eager to bid.
As reported by the NY Post, on Sunday, de Rose’s delicately carved mahogany and oak panels are going up for auction in Boston, and Martha Stewart is set up for bidding. “She is the American Grinling Gibbons,” said Stewart, comparing de Rose to the 17th-century Dutch wood carver who is renowned for his work on Windsor Castle and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. “The artist [de Rose] carved beautifully in a variety of woods and has never been exhibited before. Now is our chance to own a little bit of Rose de Rose.”
The woodworks up for auction by de Rose were discovered last year, along with other art found in storage at the Southampton Hospital. During the pandemic, workers were searching for more space to put all the COVID-related supplies. In an old storeroom in the dialysis ward, they were shocked to stumble upon over 100 pieces of art by artists including de Rose, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Robert Dash and others who had studios in the Hamptons. They had often donated art to the hospital’s annual fundraiser, and most of the discovered pieces had been donated between the 1950s and 1980s. The hospital, affiliated with the state Stony Brook University Hospital, had been the only hospital in the area.
Sunday’s auction will benefit the 125-bed Southampton hospital, said Frank Kaminski. Kaminski Auctions in Beverly, Massachusetts is managing the auction. “These are fabulous pieces of folk art,” said Kaminski, referring to the de Rose series of woodcuts of flowers and trees. “It’s like discovering a Van Gogh.”
The de Rose carvings are priced starting at $100. De Rose, had passed away in 1982 at the age of 80. She was the daughter of Edward de Rose, who made a fortune in coal, and Susan Varnum de Rose of Southampton, New York. She, however, had rejected a posh social life, even becoming reclusive. She had lived a simplistic life and never got married, tending to her pigs, ducks and chicken.
“People love a find,” said designer Randolph Duke. “This is really like a great treasure hunt, and the story behind the objects is really incredible.