artdirector@sfreporter.com
It might sound obvious to those who catch the new short documentary about Ginny Williams, The Art Whisperer, from director Flemming Fynsk, but it turns out listening to one’s heart—or gut, anyway—is almost always wise.
Williams was, of course, that late, great, Santa Fe-based art collector who rose to prominence in the collection and institutional arts game(s) by amassing one of the world’s most notable stockpiles of art. A former senator’s wife, Williams found herself single and broke in the 1980s, but with a seemingly boundless curiosity and bizarrely spot-on internal divining rod for the good stuff. Somehow, she made it work, but rather than hoarding all the best art for herself, we learn through the film, her generosity was legendary, from a staggering number of donations made to the Guggenheim and other notable visual arts repositories to her own brief stint as a photographic gallery owner.
Williams’ collection, in fact, was so full of notable names—Georgia O’Keeffe, Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin, Louise Bourgeois and so many more—that she started to tip the scales of commerce, bringing lesser-appreciated artists into the limelight and jump-starting various careers; she even paid a world record price for a Frankenthaler (world record at the time, anyway). Perhaps even more impressive, she did it all without succumbing to the academic hodgepodge or commercial desires; “If I’m still thinking about it two days later, I go back,” she says in Flemming’s film, describing her methodology—a wise reminder for us all that figuring out how to inhabit the same space as the art we love can sometimes be a must.
Flemming glosses over the cost specifics of putting together a massive collection, and we only get to meet Williams’ family briefly. Still, with talking heads from Sotheby’s and the aforementioned Guggenheim among others who chime in to sing her praises, we get a feel for the woman. Even better, we see her in her natural element, prior to her 2019 death, and she seems like the kind of tough art lover we all aspire to be.
8
+Brisk and enjoyable; Williams was a treasure
-Wish it had been longer
The Art Whisperer
Directed by Fynsk
Jean Cocteau Cinema, NR, 44 min.
