# Eric Estorick

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{{Short description|American art collector, art dealer and author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Eric Estorick
|image       = Eric Estorick.jpg
|birth_name  = Elihu Estorick
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1913|2|13}}
|birth_place = [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), New York City, United States
|death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1993|12|25|1913|2|13}}
|death_place = London, England
|occupation  = {{Flatlist|
* Art collector
* art dealer
* author
}}
| spouse     = Salome Dessau
}}
'''Eric Estorick''' (13 February 1913 – 25 December 1993) was an American [art collector](/source/art_collector), [art dealer](/source/art_dealer) and author, who lived in London and ran the Grosvenor Gallery.<ref name="Times" /> He and his wife Salome endowed the [Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art](/source/Estorick_Collection_of_Modern_Italian_Art) in [Canonbury](/source/Canonbury), north London.

==Early life and education==
Eric Estorick was born Elihu Estorick in 1913 in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), New York City, the son of Jewish émigrés from Russia.<ref name="Times obit">{{cite news|title=Obituary: Eric Estorick|newspaper=The Times (London)|date=14 January 1994|page=17}}</ref>

He studied at [New York University](/source/New_York_University) where he obtained a PhD in Sociology, and at the [New School for Social Research](/source/The_New_School) in New York. He later taught at New York University and at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University).<ref name="Times obit" /><ref name="Sue Bond">{{cite web|title=Estorick Collection|url=http://www.suebond.co.uk/events/release.php?eventid=16|work=Sue Bond Public Relations|accessdate=6 November 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1947 he married Salome Dessau (1920–1989), the daughter of a German Jewish refugee who became a textile manufacturer in England.<ref name=Melikian/> Salome had studied art in London, and was involved in some of Eric's art collecting. Salome worked as a textile designer and invented stretch [lace](/source/lace). She was employed by the clothing retailer [Marks & Spencer](/source/Marks_%26_Spencer), which was a customer of her father's business.<ref>{{cite web|title=Education Resource – Primary Schools|url=http://www.estorickcollection.com/content/Teacher_Pack_-_Key_Stage_1_and_2.pdf|work=Estorick Collection|accessdate=7 November 2013|format=pdf file|archive-date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101203539/http://www.estorickcollection.com/content/Teacher_Pack_-_Key_Stage_1_and_2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Norman/> Eric Estorick also subsequently worked for Marks & Spencer, and wrote a history of the company.<ref name=Norman />

==Career==
During the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II) he joined the United States Government Service, and became head of the British Empire Division of the US [Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service](/source/Foreign_Broadcast_Intelligence_Service).<ref name="Indi obit">{{cite news|last=Giardelli|first=Arthur|title=Obituary: Eric Estorick|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-eric-estorick-1470112.html|accessdate=6 November 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=31 December 1993|location=London}}</ref>

In the 1940s he wrote several books on politics, including two biographies of [Sir Stafford Cripps](/source/Stafford_Cripps).<ref name="Estorick Collection">{{cite web|title=About the Estorick|url=http://www.estorickcollection.com/about.php|work=Estorick Collection|accessdate=6 November 2013|archive-date=25 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025234840/http://www.estorickcollection.com/about.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1964 he used his contacts in [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia) to arrange for the recovery of 1,564 Jewish [Torah](/source/Torah) scrolls that had been confiscated by the [Nazi](/source/Nazi) authorities when the Czechoslovak Jews were [exterminated](/source/Holocaust).<ref name="Burghardt">{{Citation |author=Linda F. Burghardt |date=5 May 2002 |title= 100-Year-Old Torah Gets New Life|work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |page=8 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/05/nyregion/100-year-old-torah-gets-new-life.html|accessdate=7 November 2013}}</ref> Estorick had the scrolls transferred to [Westminster Synagogue](/source/Westminster_Synagogue) in London,<ref name="Burghardt"/> and they eventually were distributed to Jewish congregations worldwide.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jewish scrolls as memorial|newspaper=The Observer|last=Lederer|first=Lajos|date=2 February 1964|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.czechmemorialscrollstrust.org/czech_scrolls_museum_10.htm|title=The Czech Memorial Scrolls Museum|accessdate=6 November 2013|archive-date=10 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110030745/http://www.czechmemorialscrollstrust.org/czech_scrolls_museum_10.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Shortly before his death in 1993, Eric Estorick set up and endowed the ''Eric and Salome Estorick Foundation'', which founded the [Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art](/source/Estorick_Collection_of_Modern_Italian_Art) in London. In addition to providing the works that form the core of the collection, Estorick gave paintings by [Chagall](/source/Chagall) and [Kandinsky](/source/Wassily_Kandinsky) to be sold to fund it. London was chosen as the home for the collection in spite of offers to acquire it from the Italian government and from museums in the United States and Israel.<ref name="Sue Bond" /><ref name=Norman>{{cite news|last=Cork|first=Richard|title=A Home for the Future|date=21 October 1994|newspaper=The Times (London)|page=37}}</ref><ref name="Estorick Collection"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Norman|first=Geraldine|title=Art Market: A Home for the Futurists|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-market-a-home-for-the-futurists-1321080.html|accessdate=7 November 2013|newspaper=The Independent|location=London|date=25 February 1996}}</ref>

==Art collecting and dealing==
While a student in New York, Estorick met the American photographer and gallery owner [Alfred Stieglitz](/source/Alfred_Stieglitz). Estorick later said:<ref name="Sue Bond" />{{quote|Meeting Stieglitz was one of the most important experiences of my life, bringing me to the heart of the world of art.}}

During their honeymoon in [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland) in 1947, Eric and Salome Estorick met [Arturo Bryks](/source/Arturo_Bryks), a former teacher at the [Bauhaus](/source/Bauhaus), who introduced them to [Umberto Boccioni](/source/Umberto_Boccioni)'s book on Italian [Futurism](/source/Futurism).<ref>{{cite book|last=Boccioni|first=Umberto|title=Pittura, scultura futuriste |trans-title=Futurist painting and sculpture |year=1914|publisher=Edizioni futuriste di 'Poesia'|location=Milano}}</ref> Before returning from their honeymoon they visited [Mario Sironi](/source/Mario_Sironi) in Milan from whom they bought a large quantity of his work. Estorick wrote:<ref name=Melikian /> {{quote|I just bought hundreds of drawings, and as many pictures as I could get into my [Packard](/source/Packard) convertible roadster.}}

In the aftermath of [World War II](/source/World_War_II), twentieth-century European art could be bought very cheaply and Estorick bought works by many artists including [Picasso](/source/Picasso), [Braque](/source/Braque), [Gris](/source/Juan_Gris) and [Léger](/source/Fernand_L%C3%A9ger).<ref name=Melikian>{{cite news|last=Melikian|first=Souren|title=Eric Estorick: The making of an art collector|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/arts/15iht-melik16.1.10082746.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&|accessdate=6 November 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 February 2008}}</ref> The price of modern Italian paintings was particularly low because of the taint of [Fascism](/source/Italian_Fascism); Estorick bought heavily and became friends with several artists.<ref name=Norman/>

Estorick started [art dealing](/source/Art_dealer) in the early 1950s, initially by buying work by well-known European artists and selling it in Hollywood. [Anne Douglas](/source/Anne_Buydens) ([Kirk Douglas](/source/Kirk_Douglas)'s wife) became his business partner and his customers included [Tony Curtis](/source/Tony_Curtis) and [Burt Lancaster](/source/Burt_Lancaster).<ref name=Norman/> In 1960 Estorick opened the new Grosvenor Gallery in London (unrelated to the [Grosvenor Gallery](/source/Grosvenor_Gallery) of the 1880s), which became the centre of his business as an art dealer.<ref name="Times">{{cite news|title=A New Grosvenor Gallery|newspaper=The Times (London)|date=17 October 1960|page=6}}</ref>

Estorick lent work for temporary exhibitions at several public galleries, including all the works for an exhibition of Italian art the [Tate Gallery](/source/Tate) in 1956.<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian Art From The Rise of Futurism|newspaper=The Times (London)|date=21 November 1956|page=3}}</ref> In 1963, Estorick lent several paintings for the filming of [Carl Foreman](/source/Carl_Foreman)'s [''The Victors''](/source/The_Victors_(1963_film)). The [Vlaminck](/source/Vlaminck) and [Braque](/source/Braque) paintings seen in the film are the real thing. Eric Estorick is credited in the film as ''art consultant''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Paintings in a Film|newspaper=The Times (London)|date=15 November 1963|page=17}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |people=Foreman, Carl (Director) |year=1963 |title=The Victors |medium=Motion picture |oclc=423396222 }}</ref>

Before the [fall of Communism](/source/fall_of_Communism) Estorick made several visits to the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) to buy artwork, negotiating export permits from the [Soviet Ministry of Culture](/source/Soviet_Ministry_of_Culture).<ref>{{cite news|last=Pendennis|title=The Shadow Commonwealth|newspaper=The Observer|date=12 August 1962|page=8}}</ref>

In 1967, Estorick met [Erté](/source/Ert%C3%A9) in Paris. Estorick became his exclusive world agent, creating business worth $100 million annually.<ref name="Indi obit"/>

==Publications==

*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=Stafford Cripps: Prophetic Rebel|year=1940|publisher=John Day Company|location=New York|lccn=41022004}}
*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=The British Social Credit Party (Extracts from an article appearing in Dynamic America)|year=1940|publisher=Social Credit Party of Great Britain|location=London}}
*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=Stafford Cripps: a biography|year=1949|publisher=Heinemann|location=London|oclc=400539}}
*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=Stafford Cripps: Master Statesman|year=1949|publisher=John Day Company|location=New York}} (The two Stafford Cripps books published in 1949 in London and New York may be different editions of the same work)
*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=Changing Empire: Churchill to Nehru|year=1950|publisher=Duell, Sloan and Pearce|location=New York|oclc=561038724}}
*{{cite book <!-- |last=Estorick|first=Eric --> |title=Erté: The Last Works|isbn=978-0525934394|year=1992|publisher=Dutton Studio Books|location=New York}}
Estorick also wrote ''A History of Marks and Spencer'' (c. 1953), which was printed privately,<ref name="Sue Bond"/><ref name="Indi obit"/> and an unpublished novel in collaboration with [Dora Russell](/source/Dora_Russell) (the wife of [Bertrand Russell](/source/Bertrand_Russell)).<ref name="Indi obit"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estorick, Eric}}
Category:1913 births
Category:1993 deaths
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American expatriates in England
Category:Writers from Brooklyn
Category:Museum founders
Category:American art dealers
Category:New York University alumni
Category:The New School alumni
Category:New York University faculty
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century American art collectors

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eric Estorick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Estorick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Estorick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.