Cosmetics tycoon and philanthropist Leonard A. Lauder has donated his $1 billion collection of Cubist art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection includes 78 Cubist paintings, as well as drawing and sculptures by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braques, Fernand Léger and Juan Gris, many of them signature and historically significant works.
Cosmetics heir and art collector Leonard A. Lauder donated his collection of 78 Cubist works valued at more than a $1 billion to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Arts, its director said on Tuesday.
He gave chic new definition, boosted the New York art scene, and went to such brazen lengths as to deliver artwork unrequested to the Museum of Modern Art and simply send a bill. He was known to have commandeered a gondola with his pals to transport art in time to compete in the Venice Biennale. He even vowed he would break down a gallery door rather than cut an artwork in half. Few dealers were ever so devoted to their artists as Leo Castelli.