Art Dealer Bill Rau Comes to Hamptons Fine Art Fair
110th Anniversary
The Hamptons Fine Art Fair is back this July, and nobody is happier about it than Bill Rau, proprietor of legendary New Orleans emporium M.S. Rau that will mark its debut in-person presence at the prestigious fair with a selection of extraordinary pieces.
One of North America’s most respected fine art, antiques and jewelry galleries, M.S. Rau joined the fair two years ago, virtually, thanks to the pandemic. But Bill Rau finds that meeting clients in person is much more exciting. “We like being there, we like speaking with people, and we’d like to think we have very impressive objects, and they’re just so much better when you can see them in person,” says Rau, the third generation to run the family-owned French Quarter gallery, which celebrates its 110thanniversary this year. Among the treasures Rau will present at the Fair are works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Childe Hassam, Dali and Renoir, as well as a rare Warhol “Last Supper,” to be shown for the first time, an $8.9 million early Claude Monet, and several paintings by Frank Sinatra, which are highly prized
Warhol’s “Last Supper”
Warhol’s “Last Supper” is exceedingly rare; as it’s his last piece, there was only one set made before he passed away in 1987. It was Warhol’s final show, in Milan, across the street from Da Vinci’s original “Last Supper” mural, and drew 30,000 visitors, including the Pope. A California client commissioned specially sized copies of the five-piece series to fit a chapel at his home. Soon after completing them, Warhol died following gallbladder surgery.
“Unequivocally, Warhol would’ve made dozens if not hundreds of them, but he didn’t because he died,” says Rau. “I can’t think of any other examples where he didn’t make multiples of pieces.” If he made one, he made many, including about 800 Marilyn Monroe’s and 1,000 Campbell Soup Cans. “They weren’t all the same, there were minor differences, but he would take the same motif and just do it over.”
So, these were unique, and were authenticated by the Warhol Foundation just before the organization stopped offering authentication service. After 25 years in the collector’s home, the works were loaned to the Reagan Library, which held a show and produced a book on them, after which Rau was able to acquire them. This is the last one of those five large originals, about six feet tall.
Claude Monet landscape
The oil by Claude Monet, a depiction of cliffs, is from the impressionist’s first series of landscapes done en plein air, for which he is renowned. It was one of two Monets in the collection of a museum in Minnesota, which sold it to M.S. Rau in order to finance the purchase of another work. “It’s fresh from a museum and it’s just beautiful,” says Rau, considered one of the foremost experts on 18th- and 19th-century European and American antiques and fine art.
Frank Sinatra paintings
At the Hamptons Fair M.S. Rau is offering three oil paintings by Frank Sinatra, whose work is highly sought after by collectors of American pop culture memorabilia. “Sinatra didn’t sell his works,”
Rau says of the singer, who passed away in 1998. He gave away his paintings to friends, including presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, and to the chef at his favorite restaurant, who hung it above Sinatra’s regular table.
“In addition to being a singer and actor, Frank Sinatra was an exceptionally talented artist, and his works are quite rare,” Rau says. He recalls one of his salespeople showing a client a Monet in the gallery, and then quipping: “Now let me show you somebody really famous.” “They showed him the Sinatra, who, in some respects, is more famous than Claude Monet.”
Brangelina & The Piece That Got Away
A history buff with broad knowledge in many subjects, Bill Rau is able to reel off entertaining stories about the wide variety of rare objects he has handled over the years. A collector in his own right, Rau normally does not ever regret selling something. “I get great joy out of buying something, and I get great joy out of selling it, finding a right home for it.”
However, there is one piece that he wishes he hadn’t sold: a painting by Winston Churchill that was found in a closet and had an extraordinary backstory.
Churchill painted roughly 1/3 of his paintings before World War II and 2/3 after, but he only painted one during the war, at the Casablanca Conference with Franklin Roosevelt in January 1943, a pivotal point in the war. After the conference, Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to visit Marrakesh, which he considered the most beautiful city in the world. There, they visited a tower overlooking the city, where they drank, sang songs, and enjoyed themselves. “Both Churchill and Roosevelt later described it as their most favorite night of the war,” Rau says. The next day, Churchill returned to the tower, painted the scene they’d looked at, and gave it to to Roosevelt as a birthday present.
“We bought it and – we don’t give out names of clients, but because this later became public knowledge, we’re glad to share it – we sold it to Brad Pitt,” Rau says. He gave it to Angelina Jolie and last year, it came up at auction at Christie’s and brought close to $12 million, about six times what Brad Pitt paid for it.
“While we were just so pleased that we were able to discover where it was, I wish I had never sold it because I’m a World War II buff, and to have something that was painted by one of my heroes, given to another one of my heroes at such a pivotal moment in history, it’s something that still touches me.”
110th anniversary celebration
M.S. Rau is family-owned – Bill’s daughter, Rebecca Rau, is the fourth generation involved in the business – and celebrating its 110th anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, they plan a large exhibition of post-impressionist and impressionist art in October, in the 45,000 square-foot gallery.
In addition, they’ve approached a highly important jeweler to create a few special pieces of unique jewelry with extraordinary gems. “We don’t make jewelry, we sell antique jewelry,” says Rau. “But these will be done in the old way of making jewelry, of high quality, with antique stones that you can’t buy in the marketplace, just a handful of 110th anniversary pieces that I hope will come out spectacular.” rauantiques.com
