LLR Archive Research

We are searching for previous owners of artwork by LLR for our archive. Artwork primarily sold in the late 1970s through 1987 in New Jersey and New York City. Ellen Sragow was his art dealer in New York City in the mid 1980s. If you own a painting by LLR or have info on some of his paintings please contact us. Thank you.

Blog 3 – Beginning the Scenic Route of the Journey

jersey_houseWhat do I do with all this art?  After two months of clearing out Lewis’s house his art now resided in my garage plus filled a storage room.  Besides stacks of hundreds of paintings, I had files of drawings tablets with anatomy drawings, notebooks filled with abstract pencil drawings, plus various papers boxed to look through later.

You may wonder and ask, didn’t you have everything in the estate appraised including the art?

YES, of course we did, that was part of the process.

Bruce and I met with a certified appraiser recommended to us by the estate lawyer.  We will call the appraiser Mr. P for privacy sake.  He joined us at Lewis’s  Red Bank home on 40 Arthur Place.  Mr. P assured me, after my apologies for the condition of the place, he had been in houses worse than Lew’s.  We discussed how he would go about his appraisal on thousands of baseball cards and thousands of postcards not to mention the trains and toys Lew had amassed in his lifetime.

He looked at the paintings and responded by saying, “It doesn’t speak to me.” I am a nurse.  I do not know the language of art.  Mr. P saw art in the attic, the basement, and the garage full of art.  I have to admit, I was teary eyed at times speaking with Mr. P about my hope of honoring my brother Lewis’s  memory in regard to his art.

When I handed Mr. P some of the Gallery Invitations we had found, he raised his eyebrows and said,” “Very impressive.  Your brother showed with some well known artists.  Maybe I can find a buyer for his paintings.”  Amazing! After reading who Lewis exhibited his art alongside, caused Mr. P to hear the voice of the art differently.

By the time Mr. P almost had a buyer, I was hearing the voice of my brother Louie, “Dolly don’t do it, do not do it! “.   I will not share what Mr. P proposed nor the deal that almost happened.   It would have been the easier journey to have Mr. P’s buyer drive away with all the artwork. But the scenic route, while longer, is often the better choice.  The buyer decided not to purchase the collection so the decision was made for me.  Scenic route here I come!

All of Lew’s “stuff” went to several auction houses in Pennsylvania.  Morphy’s  Auction (Adamstown, PA)  handled the finest of collectibles. Horst Auction (Ephrata, PA) handled the great majority of his belongings. A minimal amount I sold online through ebay.  It was hard work getting everything ready for auction. Step by step, weekend after weekend, as a family we got the job accomplished. Except for the art.

I must mention that I showed just four of Lewis’s paintings, unframed and done on massonite, to Tom Cage at Morphy’s Auction House. Tom was encouraging and said he could show them to their New York City appraiser. The appraiser advised that I try to return the paintings to New York, if at all possible.  He suggested I try to find Lewis’s contacts from the 1980’s. That is easier said than done.  There is no “How To” book that explains the process.

When I walked out of Morphys Auction House, having left my brothers baseball cards in their care, I noticed some customer handouts.  I picked up a copy of the Paper & Advertising Collectors Marketplace (PACM) magazine.  The advertisements in the back read something like “we buy estates.”  I noticed art in the itemized  list.  Well guess what,  they do not buy THAT much art! I learned to never mention how MUCH art my brother left behind!

Through leaving a message with one of those numbers found at the back of the magazine, I was able to speak with a man named Jay Maybruck .  The comic book Jay Maybruck.  I had never heard of this gentleman, but I will tell you, Jay was kind to me over the phone. He was encouraging and I believe if he could have worked with me he would have. Jay took the time to speak with me. He too advised me to get the artwork back to New Jersey or New York.  He gave me a warning to be careful what I sign because someone will take advantage of me if I am not vigilant.   If you do an internet search on Jay’s name, you may think I spoke to a shark who warned me about sharks.

I must repeat Jay Maybruck, a stranger at the end of the phone, was only kind and helpful in this early beginning of my journey.  He helped me believe in what I was trying to do even though I still had no open doors.  He was not to be the open door, but for one afternoon he was a cheerleader for the project.  He gave me some solid and helpful advice.  We only spoke one other time by phone. His partner was not at all interested in helping with our collection of Lewis’s art so I never called Jay again.

I felt encouraged after our two conversations, BUT, I still had a garage and storage room full of art with no idea what to do with it.

One evening  my husband Bruce took all the newspaper articles from the Asbury Park Press (NJ), Star Ledger, New York Times (NJ Edition), all the art exhibit opening invitations, and Lewis’s personally hand typed resume to create a timeline of his documented work. Monmouth Museum (1977),  NJ State Museum Catalogue (1978), Beitzel Gallery in NYC (1986), Sragow Gallery (1987), a letter of interest from Master Work Associates in England (1989)…Bruce put together a notebook with all our findings along with photos of some of Lewis’s paintings.

I can not tell you how many times I have looked up and uttered “Lew, help me.”

What do I do with all this art!?!


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