Ambadas Khobragade

Lee Nordness Galleries, New York

Metromedia Inc Art Collection – the Private Collection of John Werner Kluge

Sloan’s Auctioneers & Appraisers, Miami, 10 June 2001, lot 137

John Werner Kluge was a German-American media mogul and philanthropist, named the richest man in America three times by Forbes Magazine. Kluge purchased stock in the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation in the 1950s and renamed the company in 1961 to Metromedia after an unprecedented expansion into holdings in television, radio and advertising. In 1986, the television station division was sold to 20th Century Fox Film studio.

An avid collector, his appreciation for the arts was extensive. His collection under the rubric of Metromedia Inc Art Collection encompassed art across diverse art genres, including Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern, Post-War, Russian, Asian, Latin American, South Asian and Aboriginal art, as well as silver, furniture and the decorative arts.

One of Kluge’s private residences was Morven Farm in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he housed the majority of his art collection. He installed sculptures by greats such as François Auguste René Rodin, Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol and Henry Moore in an outdoor gallery to enhance the historic landscape. The current lot is known to have been part of the Morven Farm Estate. In 2001, Kluge donated more than 7000 acres of the Morven property to the University of Virginia Foundation for educational and charitable purposes.