Auction clears art collector’s foreclosed home

The historic former Marks Estate in Nuu anu was largely emptied of furnishings during the weekend as hundreds of people moved through the 24-room mansion, buying everything from appliances and art to furniture and fixtures.

The sale, which raised more than $200,000, was a bankruptcy auction that liquidated many personal possessions of art collector Douglas Himmelfarb, who lost the Marks Estate to a lender while struggling to authenticate and sell what he says is a Mark Rothko painting worth an estimated $40 million.

Proceeds from Saturday’s sale by Oahu Auctions will help pay expenses in Himmelfarb’s bankruptcy case, which involves ongoing legal efforts to prove the authorship of the collector’s prized painting. The auction, which lasted nine hours, was held at the estate at 3860 Old Pali Road.

Himmelfarb, a lifelong art hunter who bought many things at estate sales and thrift shops, said many of his goods auctioned Saturday had yet to be researched and could be "potential contenders" for the TV series "Antiques Roadshow" where people bring items to be reviewed by experts.

Alicia Brandt, owner of Oahu Auctions, said all but a few of the almost 500 auction items were sold.

"It was a pretty packed house," she said.

The auction attracted about 300 registered bidders and another 200 or so people who came to see the event but didn’t bid.

Among things sold were what Himmelfarb said were dishes that once belonged to Steven Spielberg and furniture made for Paul Mitchell. There also were many paintings and other art as well as more ordinary household items such as pots, pans, flat-screen TVs and power tools.

The large painting that Himmelfarb said is a Rothko and once hung in the Nuu anu mansion’s library was not up for auction Saturday, though Himmelfarb is seeking a buyer.

Rothko art has sold for as much as $87 million. But Himmelfarb, who said he bought the painting identified as "Ex. No. 7" at an auction in 1987 for $320, claims that people controlling the sale of Rothko art have conspired against what has become a more-than-20-year personal effort to authenticate the painting.

A big hang-up happened in 1998 when the world’s premier Rothko expert, David Anfam of London-based Art Exploration Consultancy Ltd., published a catalog listing the artist’s entire output of paintings on canvas without "Ex. No. 7."

Himmelfarb, who had shown the piece to Anfam and learned that a photographic negative of the painting was in Rothko’s private files, said he believes Anfam excluded his painting because he called the expert a "(expletive) imbecile" in a conversation shortly before the catalog was published.

Anfam said in an email to the Star-Advertiser that he thoroughly considered and viewed "Ex. No. 7." He also said there was no animosity between himself and Himmelfarb.

"I did as much as possible, over a period of several years, to try and help research the work," Anfam said.

Himmelfarb, who used subpoena power in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to obtain a copy of the negative, said he intends to keep gathering evidence through legal channels to validate his claim.