{"id":3685,"date":"2025-02-13T19:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T19:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dartmagazine.com\/?p=3685"},"modified":"2025-02-13T22:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T22:57:45","slug":"art-talk-with-collector-ben-woolfitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/?p=3685","title":{"rendered":"Art Talk With Collector Ben Woolfitt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Roy Bernardi and Jennifer Leskiw<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at my collection as much as I should but, I know it\u2019s around me all of the time.\u201d<\/em>  Timeless words spoken by Canadian artist and art collector Ben Woolfitt. He started collecting early in life, slowly, and most of the time without having a lot of money. There were times when Ben didn\u2019t have enough money to pay rent. Yet, he couldn\u2019t imagine having a life without art.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ben
Ben Woolfitt sitting next to his bed with (from top down) Adolf Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, (to the right) Milton Avery and Ray Mead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No truer words have been spoken. His fabulous loft proudly displays his own works of art, paintings and drawings, amidst a carefully curated collection of internationally well-known artists. The Toronto loft showcases numerous paintings, drawings, and watercolours by such notable artists as Jack Bush, Jules Olitski, Milton Avery, Larry Poons, Hans Hoffman, Adolph Gottlieb, William Ronald, John Meredith, Ken Noland, Ron Davis, Ellsworth Kelly and William Kurelek, to name a few.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ben
Ben Woolfitt in front of Larry Poons Untitled #2<\/em><\/strong>, 1972 acrylic on canvas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

File drawers contain gems of drawings including 3 Helen Frankenthaler\u2019s and collectible artists\u2019 books such as rare signed editions by Antoni Tapies. His New York Manhattan apartment showcases the same sensibility boasting a beautiful Milton Avery oil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben points to a massive Jack Bush on his wall behind his sofa which he considers to be a major piece of Canadian art.  \u201cHe\u2019s unbelievable and he\u2019s respected internationally\u201d  <\/em>Ben says. I remember going to New York in 2010 to see the Jack Bush at Christies.  In the photographic reproduction of the painting, Christies had trimmed off all the rough parts along the edges, so it looked very tight, and the image itself was very dark. I purchased the Bush, which is probably now worth significantly more than the original purchase price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ben
Ben Woolfitt standing in front of Jack Bush Bluegold<\/em><\/strong>, 1973 acrylic on canvas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Which do you prefer, the search or the acquisition?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They go hand in hand. The search is fine. I saw a Hoffman that I really wanted to buy, and I went down to the auction. I sat with my friend Ken Carpenter and the auction house brought the piece out for inspection. I just about passed out because Ken was totally convinced that the piece wasn\u2019t good.  He said you don\u2019t want to go for this one. It was a mash up of colours and the colour was off. So, I sat through the auction. The Hoffman went way over the estimates. I didn\u2019t have the money to purchase it as it exceeded my limit at the time. When you buy a piece of art by any artist, you generally buy more than one or several works by the same artist if possible.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had to pick one piece out of your collection, what piece would be the one piece that totally steals your heart?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s difficult. I have a Hans Hoffman that is just amazing. I love Jules Olitski. I bought two of them. I have a beautiful little Milton Avery in New York. I have a Tim Whitten. It\u2019s a real beauty. Collecting is an interesting thing. Some people say that collecting art is a sickness. I\u2019ll tell you what I think collecting is. You buy what you can afford but you know, it\u2019s like anything else in life. You go along and you buy a drawing by an artist and if it holds your interest, then you buy more by the same artist, and it all kind of comes together to form a collection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was one of the first pieces that you bought?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellsworth Kelly. It\u2019s a print. I paid a $100 for it. I took it home on the streetcar. It was spring of 1968 I believe. I sketched it and that\u2019s when I realized the drawing was very complex. After I sketched it, I called David Mirvish and in that conversation I told him that I had made a  decision to become a painter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"File
File drawers containing drawings, works on paper and collectible artists\u2019 books. Art work (From left to right) two small William Ronalds and one large William Ronald, John Meredith, Otto Rogers and William Kureleks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is there an artist\u2019s work that you don\u2019t own but would wish to buy to add to your collection?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well of course I would be going back to the masters, Rogier Van Der Weyden and Alberto Giacometti. I\u2019ve always had a thing for Giacometti. My early drawings were all \u201cGiacomettiish. I remember being at the National Gallery in London, England. I remember the room I wanted to enter in order to see the Van Der Weydens and all of that kind of work. It reminds me of a similar story where Grant Goodbrand, a longtime close friend of 50 years goes into a museum, and enters the room where he wants to see something in particular.  He stays there till lunch, leaves and then comes back after lunch. The next morning, he comes back and does the same thing. On the third morning when Grant arrives, the guard in that room says: \u201cYou know, we do have other  paintings\u201d<\/em>. Grant knew he might never have an opportunity to go back to that museum but, he wanted to know the work. When I focus on a particular work, that work has to be imprinted in my mind. For me, regardless of the many museums I have visited, I can actually walk back into a particular room in my head, and I can see that one piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you enter the world of abstraction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started to find out about abstraction through artists like Cy Twombly and Barnett Newman. I met Barnett at an opening in New York when I would have been around 21 years of age. We kept circling around one another and I finally approached him and said: \u201cI love your work\u201d<\/em>. I couldn\u2019t have said any more than that. At the time I didn\u2019t realize how important and how rare that moment was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ben
Ben Woolfitt in his loft with Ron Davis, Cuffs<\/strong>, 1969 diptych polyester resin and fibreglass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also love Jasper Johns. I wish I had bought Johns at a reasonable price, but that time is over. I\u2019ve known many Canadian artists. I knew most of the Painters Eleven. They were always coming through my arts supply store (Ben owned Woolfitt\u2019s Art Supplies on Queen Street West in downtown Toronto) and we were doing business. I\u2019ve also met Alex Colville and Christopher Pratt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to sell paper and I knew more about fine art paper than anyone else. I knew all the machines and I\u2019ve been to every factory. I imported 120,000 pounds of fine art paper and rag board a year. When visiting buyers and in particular, if they needed a particular width of paper, I could tell them the factory that supplied this. I could tell you what kind of water they use, how pure it is. The National Gallery of Canada, the AGO, and every museum in Canada bought from us. We were designated for this and we shipped everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things I notice looking around your space is that you don\u2019t really have any figurative works.<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do actually – just not hung\u201d. <\/em> I do have the William Kurelek up but, that\u2019s almost an abstraction too because the bulk of the piece is sky. When I look at a painting and it has a figure in it, I don\u2019t care about the figure. It\u2019s irrelevant to me. I just want to know how it works so, to me, looking at an Edgar Degas or a Jackson Pollock, it\u2019s all the same. Really. It\u2019s just a matter of whether it works or not and how people use the space within the canvas. If someone has any base knowledge of art they would know who the artist is just by looking at the image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ben
Ben Woolfitt in his bedroom with two works by William Ronald (top) Dolly,<\/em><\/strong> 1980 oil on canvas and (bottom) The Moon and You,<\/em><\/strong> 1980 oil on canvas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any interesting art stories about some of the artists you have met?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William (Bill) Ronald owed money for rent and supplies. I did a deal for him as a courtesy. There was a collector who was always going on about\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to buy this and I\u2019m going to buy that\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0He was very wealthy.\u00a0So, I said you should buy some of Bill\u2019s work in an effort to help Bill out and also receive money Bill owed me.\u00a0I remember helping Bill put something like 25 paintings around the room, all canvases. The collector walked in with a babe on his arm.\u00a0Bill probably\u00a0 bumped up the prices on the works but, Bill was on his best behaviour.\u00a0 The collector walks around the room looking from one painting to another.\u00a0\u201cSo honey what do you think?\u00a0 They\u2019re nice huh?\u00a0 Should I buy them all?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 OMG this is sick.\u00a0Anyway, the collector buys everything and says:\u00a0\u201cYou know Bill, if I change my mind on some of the pieces I don\u2019t like, I\u2019ll be able to return them.\u201c<\/em>\u00a0Bill replied:\u00a0\u201cYeah yeah of course.\u00a0I\u2018ll write it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Bill was always in need of money.\u00a0 Anyway, the collector came back about six weeks later, and he says he wants to see Bill because he wants to return a couple of paintings.\u00a0Bill is sitting in his studio as the collector walks towards him telling him he wants to return a few paintings. The atmosphere wasn\u2019t great.\u00a0 At this moment, Bill lurches out of his chair and says:\u00a0\u201cYou know I used to be a boxer.\u00a0I\u2019m going to knock your f***ing head off your shoulders\u201d.\u00a0<\/em>End of deal. End of story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Roy Bernardi and Jennifer Leskiw \u201cI don\u2019t look at my collection as much as I should but, I know it\u2019s around me all of the time.\u201d  Timeless words spoken by Canadian artist and art collector Ben Woolfitt. He started collecting early in life, slowly, and most of the time without having a lot of money. There … <\/p>\n

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