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Robert Indiana in front of his famous image in 2013 at the Whitney in New York. The lawsuit alleges that the caretaker conspired with a New York art publisher to ‘exploit Indiana for profit’.
Robert Indiana in front of his famous image in 2013 at the Whitney in New York. The lawsuit alleges that the caretaker conspired with a New York art publisher to ‘exploit Indiana for profit’. Photograph: Lauren Casselberry/AP
Robert Indiana in front of his famous image in 2013 at the Whitney in New York. The lawsuit alleges that the caretaker conspired with a New York art publisher to ‘exploit Indiana for profit’. Photograph: Lauren Casselberry/AP

Robert Indiana: the artist, the caretaker, the lawsuit and the $4m auction

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Key pieces from artist’s estate for sale to fund vital repairs – and a lawsuit that alleges Indiana, who died in May, was exploited

Two key artworks in the collection of the late American artist Robert Indiana are set to be auctioned this week, in a controversial sale to help fund the restoration of his home and mounting legal fees related to his estate.

The two paintings, Ellsworth Kelly’s Orange Blue and Ed Ruscha’s Ruby, are set to be auctioned by Christie’s in New York on 16 November and are expected to fetch up to a total of $4.2m.

Indiana, who rose to prominence in the 1960s pop art scene with his colorful portrayals of the word LOVE, died in May at 89.

James Brannan, the lawyer for Indiana’s estate, told the Guardian the sales would help fund vital repairs for the Indiana’s historic Maine home, known as the Star of Hope, as well as litigation costs related to the distribution of his assets.

A day before his death, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by Morgan Art Foundation Limited, an organization that had long represented Indiana, alleged that a fisherman turned caretaker, conspired with a New York art publisher to sequester Indiana in his home on Vinalhaven island and “exploit Indiana for profit”.

The caretaker, Jamie Thomas, who has lived on the island for decades, was named in Indiana’s will as the executive director for a foundation that controls the estimated $50m worth of art in Indiana’s home, and has been tasked with overseeing the transformation of Star of Hope into a museum.

The lawsuit alleges that Thomas isolated Indiana in his final years to allow Michael McKenzie, the art publisher, to forge and sell multiple works falsely attributed to Indiana, including a sculpture of the word BRAT, in honor of the bratwurst, which was sold to a sausage company in Wisconsin.

Thomas’s lawyer said in an email that his client gave Indiana a “high quality of care” and denies wrongdoing. McKenzie has also denied the allegations.

Robert Indiana at his home on Vinalhaven island in 2009, aged 80. Photograph: Pat Wellenbach/AP

Costs related to this litigation and a separate legal dispute over Indiana’s estate in Maine, including his crumbling home, have mounted significantly, Brannan said.

“I don’t want to borrow money,” Brannan told the Guardian. “So that led me to selling some items of artwork.”

Several of those interviewed by the Guardian said Star of Hope needs millions in repairs to become the study center that Indiana had envisaged before his death.

The historical home’s decrepit state, meanwhile, has ramped up costs for safely storing, and restoring, damaged artwork that had been kept haphazardly throughout the building, Brannan said.

He said: “Literally, there’s a hole in the roof, the water’s pouring through. Some of the stuff had been damaged before I came on board.

“Several years ago, there was some rustling in the attic. He went up there – there were pigeons who had gotten into the building. I don’t need to tell you what happened to some of the artwork.”

But the pieces Brannan chose to sell have stirred controversy among some who knew Indiana, in part because he and Ellsworth Kelly were reportedly lovers. Critics of the sale, which was first reported by the New York Times, say the two pieces may be key to understanding Indiana’s enduring influence.

“The Ellsworth [sale] is sad because there’s this autobiographical connection, and connection between their work,” said Susan Elizabeth Ryan, a professor at Louisiana State University, who has published a book on Indiana’s work.

“If you put Orange Peel next to [Indiana’s] Love,” she said, the colors show “there is a certain relationship.”

Ryan, who also spent extensive time at Star of Hope in the late 1980s and 1990s, also attested to the worrisome physical state of Indiana’s art collection.

“I saw a room, once, that was filled with posters. He said, ‘This is the poster room. They were not exactly being kept what I’d call … carefully.”

The disrepair was symptomatic of Indiana’s long-term difficulties in managing his administrative affairs, partly because of his dependence on those who didn’t know about art, Ryan said.

The famous Love pop art sculpture by artist Robert Indiana in New York City. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

John Wilmerding, a Princeton professor who penned several books on Indiana, told the Guardian the soon-to-be-sold works are “very important, in my view, to Indiana’s identity”.

He said: “If the estate is ever going to be preserved or studied or visited, whether it’s a museum or research center, it seems to me works like that are essential as part of a bigger picture.”

Wilmerding went on: “The point is, nobody seems to be in control or have the good of the entire estate or its legacy in mind. So, I just don’t know whether everybody’s got priorities straight here or done the necessary homework.”

Brannan says he thoroughly researched the collection before making a difficult choice on which works to sell.

“I consulted a curator of a museum, someone I respect,” said Brannan, who says there are another 14 pieces of Kelly’s artwork in Indiana’s collection. “He said, if he were the curator of Robert Indiana’s museum, it would not make or break the museum.”

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