BORIS LURIE ART REFERENCE ROOM
sponsored by Gertrude Stein
TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART | 27 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, POB 33288,
The Golda Meir Cultural and Art Center | Tel Aviv, Israel
► Views +++ Report
Remember Boris Lurie's ►NO!art STATEMENTS

NAMEPLATE AT THE ENTRANCE DOOR

VIEW THROUGH THE DOOR

FILESHELF

THE STAFF IN FRONT OF THE DOOR

REPORT:
On August 14, 2012 Amikam Goldman wrote:

Dear Dietmar, finally, I was at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Walking through the new impressive building they opened about a year ago, my first thought was about your saying in the film "they should only put one picture in the museum, then the people would ask questions...". I went quickly to the Library, walked through the place and down to a lower level and found the "Lurie Art Reference Room", it took about a minute, that's the only reference room in there. I took those 3 pictures.

Then I went upstairs to the librarian and asked to know what material they have on Boris. She asked if I mean the same person that the room downstairs is called after, I said yes. She asked if I know the artist and I told her I made a ►film about him. And she looked in the computer and saw they have this film. She gave me a short list of all the references about Boris in the library, and said she will tell the head of the library I'm there, because she thinks she will be interested to talk to me.

5 minutes later, I went to talk with Ms. Yaffa Goldfinger, the head of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art Library. Ms. Yaffa Goldfinger asked me if I knew that Boris Lurie had a family. I told her he didn't and she said he did - and began talking about Gertrude Stein ... The story is this: About a year ago the Tel Aviv Museum of Art got a call from Gertrude Stein, telling she would like to donate money to the museum. The museum directed her to Ms. Yaffa Goldfinger in the Library, who at the time worked hard on the new location and the transfer of the place. Yaffa and the museum people told Gertrude Stein that they want to invest the donation in the "Israeli Art Reference Room" — that is the archive room of all Israeli artist since 1920's until today, all these blue and yellow folders include material about different Israeli artists, catalogs, newspapers, etc. — Gertrude agreed to this idea. The first part of the plan was the transfer and arranging of the new room — the second part which they are working on it now (and that's were they need most of the money), is to scan and digitize ALL this material.

Gertrude Stein is giving the money for all this project. Ms. Yaffa Goldfinger was in New York in Gertrude Stein's place on Central Park. She had the impression of a some strange about Gertrude Stein who told her about the ►Boris Lurie Art Foundation, told her she was Boris's lover all these years, even when her husband was alive and that she was Boris closest friend, in other words, she was like a family to him [1]- many details she did not mentioned.

I talked to Ms. Goldfinger about 20 minutes, telling her some details about the relationship they had, about the fight over the foundation, about Boris’s art and money, about your NO!art website, and the lack of trust I have in Gertrude. But the facts are facts, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is getting money from her. Ms. Goldfinger didn't know to say if the money comes from Gertrude Stein herself or from the foundation - but I’m sure we know the answer for that — one thing she mentioned was that the Library had few visits from Gertrude’s people, one of them was that lawyer Dr. Geo Campanovo. Another thing she mentioned, was one hard time she really got from Gertrude Stein was about the placard "Boris Lurie Art Reference Room", she had to replace it 3 times, until Gertrude was satisfied with it.

I told Ms. Goldfinger, that the one thing Boris would like in that room, is that most folders are old and yellow ... I also asked if she knows about any plans to show Boris art in the museum, but she didn't know about any such plan. And I doubt this is in Gertrude's mind. I also had the impression that Ms. Goldfinger is not a "fan" of NO!art ... But I suggested her to check the NO!art website, which she never heard about before.

By the way, in the last photo of the room from Gertrude, in the group of people ►Yaffa Goldfinger, is the red headed woman, standing next to the door, black dress and white shirt.

On my way out, I took a look at the material they have on Boris. Very little. I found the ►"Bleed" catalog from Janos Gat Gallery, Estera’s ►NO!art and the Aesthetics of Doom catalog, and the ►NGBK catalog. I was happy to find inside photocopy of all the guest book from the exhibition!!  A little folder had few papers on Boris - which most of them were sent to them by me, when I sent them copies of my film NO!art man, some years ago.

So this is it — the room is there — the money of Boris found its way into the big museum ...

There is not a single moment when I think about you, that I’m not furious about the woman that does not give a hand to the real and important archive.
My best,
Amikam

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[1] If Gertrude was Boris's closest friend why she did nothing for him in the art scene betwenn 1966 and 2010 [= 44 years]? I remember, that she was very angry about our activities and the shows at Janos Gat Gallery and Clayton Patterson's Gallery. ---►Dietmar Kirves

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