Court Tosses Suit Alleging Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Destroyed Painter’s Legacy

Asuitfiled by Frederick Iseman, a nephew of renowned Abstract Expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, accusing her eponymous foundation of tarnishing her legacy and its board members of carelessly spending its funds has been thrown out of court,Artnewsreports. Iseman, who himself served as president of the board from Frankenthaler’s death in 2011 until May 2023, had claimed he was forced out for resisting the self-dealing efforts of the other three board members—foundation president Clifford Ross, also a nephew of the artist; Lise Motherwell, Frankenthaler’s stepdaughter; and Michael Hecht—whom he said financially “exploit[ed] the foundation for their own individual, personal interests.” He additionally contended that the trio had kept the board from expanding, in order to keep their “neglect and malfeasance” from being discovered.

Chief among Iseman’s complaints had been that the foundation failed to properly promote Frankenthaler’s work to major art institutions, and that Ross, Motherwell, and Hecht beginning in 2019 had conspired to “cash out [the foundation’s] assets as soon as they [could], presumably as part of a plan to cover their own tracks.” According to the suit, the three committed to “donating or selling all key works by Frankenthaler by 2030, with an eye to fully liquidating the foundation’s assets and winding down the foundation by 2034.”

In dismissing the suit, New York Supreme Court judge Jennifer G. Schecter cited Iseman’s absence of standing and in a different motion ordered him to file opposition papers by September 18. Both parties must show cause for not granting permanent redactions to the case’s various exhibits by September 25.

“The foundation is pleased that the court dismissed what we have always said was a meritless case, and we are excited to again focus our full attention on honoring Helen Frankenthaler’s extraordinary work and career,” said a foundation spokesperson.