Heather James Fine Art is pleased to announce our partnership with Crocker Art Museum to represent the artist estate of Wonner Brown
The Crocker Art Museum recently announced a gift of more than 1,800 works of art by Paul Wonner and William Theophilus “Bill” Brown and the establishment of the Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown Endowment Fund. When Paul Wonner died in 2008, he bequeathed his remaining works (approximately 800) to William Theophilus Brown, who in turn left these, along with 1,000 pieces of his own, to friends Susan Lang and Robert Levenson. The majority of the works are on paper, though there are also collages and paintings on canvas.
Until recently, all the artworks were held by the Social Profit Network, a public benefit corporation created by Lang and Levenson as they determined how to best use this resource to fulfill Wonner and Brown’s desire to help emerging and gay and lesbian artists. The artwork has now been transferred to the Crocker Art Museum, which is working in partnership with the Heather James Gallery, to fulfill this goal.
“We are honored to assist the Crocker in achieving Paul Wonner’s and William Theophilus Brown’s mission to help emerging and LGBTQI artists,” says James Carona, owner of Heather James Fine Art.
“Paul Wonner and Bill Brown were trail blazers, both individually and as a couple,” says the museum’s associate director and chief curator, Scott A. Shields. “It is wonderful that their legacy will live on, not only through their own art, but through their forward-looking support of other artists. It is what they wanted, and everyone at the Crocker is honored to be able to realize their vision.”