But the foundation did not immediately include the piece in the catalog. By the time Emmerich bought “Two White Dots,” a catalog raisonne - a definitive listing of an author’s authentic works - had been developed.Įmmerich wanted “Two White Dots” included in the catalog, and he contacted the Alexander and Louisa Calder Foundation. In the years since Calder died, interest and research into his work had grown. In 1990, the Krugier gallery sold it to Andre Emmerich, a New York City gallery owner, for $700,000 - and the truth behind “Two White Dots” soon began to unfold. There was no authority in the field of Calder, no catalog raisonne project, no Calder estate,” Weigman said. “Outside authority wasn’t available at the time. Matthew Weigman, a spokesman for Sotheby’s, said the auction house sold “Two White Dots” because it believed it was an authentic Calder. With each sale, the provenance - the place of origin that shows a work of art’s proof of authenticity - was never questioned or researched. The bill of sale repeated Segretario’s representations that the sculpture was made “under commission and supervision of Alexander Calder.” Six years after the Sotheby’s sale, Knoll International, known today as 21 International Holdings, sold the piece to the Jan Krugier Gallery, a prominent Manhattan gallery specializing in 19th- and 20th-century art. Over the next decade, a number of New York art dealers and collectors purchased and resold “Two White Dots.” Its price increased with each sale. It sold for $170,000 to Knoll International, a private corporation. The Sotheby’s contemporary art catalog stated it was “executed in 1973-1974.” In 1984, Teplitz consigned the piece at the famed Sotheby’s auction house. “I had no qualms about buying it,” said Teplitz, a dealer in Woodmere, N.Y. In 1982, Segretario constructed a 12-foot rendering of “Two White Dots.” A year later he sold the sculpture, and the model, to art dealer Shirley Teplitz for $70,000.ĭocuments attached to the piece stated it was never signed but “had been fabricated in or about 1974” and “under the supervision and direction of Artist.” Calder would initial the piece in white chalk, and a welder would then burn the initials into the metal. In some cases, Calder himself assisted in the construction of the full-size sculptures. Segre’s Iron Works would weld larger final versions, under Calder’s supervision and approval. In 1973, Calder gave Segretario a 1-foot-tall model of “Two White Dots.” Calder would often build his sculptures first on a maquette made of sheet metal on a smaller, manageable scale. The evidence, however, directly contradicts Segretario’s claim. “Sandi would be pissed,” Segretario said. In fact, Segretario said, the furor over the piece would have stunned Calder. “It wasn’t conceived in his lifetime, but it was done in the same process as everything was done in the foundry,” Segretario said. The foundry drew up the drawings from the maquette,” or model. He has no regrets about claiming its authenticity. Stephen Segretario insists that the piece is as good as any other Calder constructed in Segre’s while Calder was alive. ![]() The tight relationship between the sculptor and Segre’s Iron Works was widely recognized, but Stephen Segretario took advantage of it when he sold “Two White Dots” as an authentic piece, according to a lawsuit filed by one of its final owners. He donated about 20 pieces to the family before his death in 1976. Calder, like many artists, was generous with his works. They worked with Calder for almost 30 years. The Segretarios constructed many of Calder’s designs under the artist’s supervision, including the 50-foot “Stegosaurus” that graces the grounds of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. He relied primarily on Segre’s Iron Works, a nonunion shop run by Italian immigrant Carmen Segretario and his son Stephen Segretario. In the 1950s, when Calder began designing larger abstract outdoor pieces, he turned to several ironworks companies in the Waterbury area for construction. In a converted barn in Roxbury, a few miles from the Shepaug River where “Two White Dots” stands today, Calder worked on his famous mobiles - sculptures that philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote were “a spectacle of pure movement.” ![]() “Unless you get into it like a scholar,” Hoving said, “you take it for granted.”
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