The Institute for Artists’ Estates is a new organisation committed to enabling and supporting best practice in the posthumous preservation and development of artists’ estates, founded by Dr Loretta Würtenberger and Daniel Tümpel. The Institute, which is the first of its kind in Europe, has been established in response to a need for a centralised source of information and professional support for artists, their descendants, and others charged with structuring and managing an artist’s legacy.

As Dr Loretta Würtenberger describes: ‘When considering managing an artist’s legacy in the long term there are many issues which arise at different points in the process. 

There are legal and financial realities as well as curatorial, ethical and emotional concerns to take into consideration. We are building something for which there is already a great demand: a central source for advice and an opportunity for those facing similar questions on best practice to share information.’

The Institute comprises consultancy and management services, training and seminars for estate managers, networking opportunities and a research archive which is continually updated. Central to its activity is a strong commitment to education, with particular emphasis on increasing academic activity around the subject of artists’ estates. As it develops, the Institute will also fund annual research fellowships for academics, researchers and curators focusing on this field.

The peer-to-peer advice offered by the Institute is built on first-hand understanding of managing an estate. Founders Würtenberger and Tümpel have a decade of experience advising and managing artists’ estates, including of Sophie Tauber-Arp, Hans Arp and Keith Arnatt, and Daniel Tümpel has managed the estate of the Bauhaus artist Wolfgang Tümpel, his grandfather, since 2006.

The combined expertise represented by the Institute covers legal and tax frameworks, academic and curatorial approaches, a close association with the art market, and appropriate handling of specialist areas such as authentication and archiving. The Institute also provides sustainable and responsible management of estates, including the development of a catalogue raisonné, selection of appropriate galleries, creation of a museum strategy and formulating academic concepts for the estate.

A new book on artists' estates will be published in June 2016, combining case studies with practical advice and best practice models. The Artist Estate: A Handbook for Artists, Executors, and Heirs, written by Loretta Würtenberger and Karl von Trott, published by Hatje Cantz, includes interviews with Richard Calvocoressi, Rainer Judd and Michael Ward Stout.

On 14 and 15 September 2016, The Institute will launch its inaugural conference, held in Berlin, entitled “Keeping the Legacy Alive” A Conference on Artist Estates. This is the first of a biannual conference programme designed to foster exchanges on potential approaches to artists’ estates and establish networks between artists, heirs, and executors.

For more information on The Institute for Artists’ Estates, please visit www.artists-estates.com

The Artist Estate: A Handbook for Artists, Executors, and Heirs
Andy Warhol bequeathed us the words “Death can really make you look like a star.” But death per se is not a catalyst for the relevance of an artist. What is of crucial importance is the proper management structure for the posthumous preservation and development of an artistic estate. This handbook by Loretta Würtenberger presents the possible legal framework and appropriate financing models, as well as the proper handling of the market, museums, and academia. She has advised artists and artists’ estates for many years in their structuring and in the development of estate concepts as well as in operative questions. Based on numerous international examples, the author explains the different alternatives for maintaining an artist’s estate and makes recommendations on how to ideally handle work, archives, and mementos following the death of an artist.

About Dr Loretta Würtenberger
After studying law, philosophy and art history, Loretta Würtenberger earned her doctorate in international copyright and patent law at the Max Planck Institute, subsequently becoming the youngest ever judge in Germany at the Berlin district court. Würtenberger has been managing the estates of Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp since 2009, and the estate of Keith Arnatt since 2012, together with Matthew Arnatt. She is a co-founder of Fine Art Partners, a finance partner for the art world, since 2008, and the co-founder of Contemporary Art Alliance, a non-profit organisation supporting young contemporary artists in Berlin. Würtenberger has been lecturing regularly at universities across Europe for over fifteen years. She is the author of the book The Artist Estate: a Handbook for Artists, Executors, and Heirs, published in June 2016 by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

About Daniel Tümpel
Daniel Tümpel has managed the estate of his grandfather Wolfgang Tümpel since 2006. After studying economics and history in Amsterdam and Birmingham, he subsequently worked for MeesPierson in Amsterdam and Morgan Stanley in London and Frankfurt. Tümpel comes from a family of art historians and artists: his father, a professor of art history was an internationally leading Rembrandt expert, whilst his mother was a museum director. His grandfather was a student at the Bauhaus and lectured in industrial design at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. Tümpel co-founded Fine Art Partners, a finance partner for the art world, in 2008, and has been managing the estates of Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp since 2009.