MIAMI — Last month, the Cuban-born, Miami-based art collector and philanthropist Rosa de la Cruz died at the age of 81. A few weeks later, the museum that housed her private collection in the city’s Design District closed permanently. A portion of the artworks were consigned by Christie’s, where they will go under the hammer in a series of sales kicking off this evening, May 14, in New York City.
The 30,000-square-foot de la Cruz Collection, open for 15 years, reportedly contained 1,000 pieces. To date, Christie’s has obtained over 200 works acquired by Rosa and her husband, Carlos, and the inaugural 26-lot sale, with works by Ana Mendieta, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Glenn Ligon, Mark Grotjahn, and Peter Doig, among others, is expected to fetch over $30 million, according to Julien Ehlrich, head of Post-War to Present. As major artworks leave Miami, perhaps never to return, questions have arisen regarding the city’s over-dependence on private art collections for its cultural ecosystem, whether other models should be explored, and why artists get the short end when works hit the auction block.
De la Cruz, a patron and supporter of Miami artists and students, fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba with her husband and began buying artworks in 1988. An important portion of her collection centers on contemporary Latin American pieces, including conceptual art and avant-garde abstraction by established and emerging artists.
The Mendieta works in the collection in particular are “incredibly rare and special,” Ehlrich stated, adding that tomorrow’s sale will see the first sculpture by the artist at auction. From her Serie Mujer de Arena (Sandwoman Series), “Untitled” (1983) is a testament to the artist’s constant play between permanent and ephemeral, its curved line patterns traced on a solid sandy base evoking the silhouette of a female body. It’s estimated to fetch anywhere between $300,000 and $500,000. The centerpiece of the sale is the iconic light string sculpture “Untitled” (America #3)” (1992) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who was also exiled in Miami from Cuba, estimated to sell for up to $12,000,000.
These sales will, in the words of Carlos de la Cruz, help realize Rosa’s wish for “each of the artworks she loved so dearly to find new homes where they can enter their next chapter.” But in Miami, many in the art community see the sale of leading Cuban American artists’ work as an invaluable loss.
“Keep in mind that these works were always a private collection that Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz displayed to the public out of their generosity, which most private collectors don’t share,” Ehlrich stressed, clarifying why these pieces were not immediately acquired by a museum, as some expected.
Hyperallergic has contacted the de la Cruz Collection for comment.
According to 2023 data gathered by Larry’s List, Miami ranks in tenth place on the list of cities with the most private museums — seven total, including the de la Cruz Collection (while New York is ranked fourth, with 10.) However, such dependence on the “generosity” of a few aging collectors, which has certainly lured international audiences to Miami’s art scene, may also indicate a weakness.
By 2009, this satellite of institutions run by the wealthy, displaying their impressive permanent collections, became so notorious that critic Tyler Green called it the “Miami Model.” Most recently, in March, local collector Martin Margulies sold about 450 photographs to fund his private foundation.
“When these collectors pass, what happens to the collections of Martin Marguiles, the Rubells, or the Bramans who financed the ICA Miami? What happens to these institutions that take such an enormous platform in the art world when the wealthy people who underwrote them are gone?” Jordan Levin, a longtime Miami-based cultural critic and former Miami Herald arts writer, told Hyperallergic.
“And what’s the next giant luxury brand that is going to buy the building?” she added, referring to the now-closed museum.
Nevertheless, others argue that the city is much more than its private collections, and this is not just a Miami problem but reflects the global realities of the market.
“I know we are losing access to these artworks, but museums and galleries go out of business and close all the time, and this doesn’t mean all culture is gone. Otherwise, we continue perpetuating the false narrative that Miami has no culture.” Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, artist and co-director of the artist-run space Dimensions Variable, told Hyperallergic. Contesting the stereotype of Miami being a playground for the rich or a place-holder for Art Basel, Rodriguez-Casanova expressed: “If we look into our own backyard instead of elsewhere, we have unique access to Latin America, the South, and the Caribbean, and there are so many amazing artists here right now.”
Elisa Turner, art critic and contributor to Artbust Miami who won the 2020 Rabkin Prize, sees this occurrence as a wake-up call. “We need to find out what it would take for these major collections to donate more to our public museums,” she told Hyperallergic. “But it’s also important to emphasize that we have matured as a cultural arts center beyond these collections,” Turner, who is working on a book about Miami’s art history, added, giving the most current example of Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) participating in the Venice Biennale this month.
“It would be great to see public and private institutions think more strategically and discuss what will happen to these collections in the future,” Marie Vickles, senior director of Education at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), told Hyperallergic. Billionaire collector and philanthropist Jorge Pérez has safeguarded many pieces from his private collection El Espacio 23 to PAAM (though the fact that PAMM is his namesake may have something to do with that.)
But this is just one model, Vickles stressed, and moving forward, she thinks it’s important for artists to protect themselves and their art given that, generally, collectors are not required to follow buying guidelines, and no-resale contracts are infrequent.
“When putting their works on the market, who they sell to, where their art may go, who can see it, and what happens once the owner sells need to be considered. It does make a difference. This also brings in galleries, to a degree, and [determines] how they represent their artists,” Vickles said.
Gladly, not all works from the collection have left to Christie’s, as the de la Cruzes donated to local institutions throughout her lifetime.
“There are works from the collection that remain in South Florida and continue to enrich museums in Miami,” said Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator of the Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale and former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami. Clearwater met Rosa de la Cruz in 1992 and had a long-time friendship with her.
“Rosa and Carlos were always very generous from the beginning. I know they donated to MOCA, and 63 works to date have been donated to NSU since 2019 through Rosa’s lifetime,” she added. Ten of those gifts include art by José Bedia, Jorge Pardo, and Jason Rhoades. Along with other acquisitions by NSU, these works are shown in a tribute exhibition to Rosa de la Cruz titled To Be as a Cloud, up through June 28.
Still, some works are, indeed, headed to Christie’s in an arguably challenging global art market in which sales fell to a three-year low in 2023, according to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Auction houses are not obligated to inform artists that their work is on sale, and those who created the artworks don’t profit from these gains.
Miami-born and based artist Eddie Arroyo, whose art about his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Little Haiti was acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2019, sold four paintings of that series to Rosa in 2022.
“I remember she showed up to my solo exhibition at Spinello Projects in her walker and, giving me Latina-mom vibes, asked to buy one of my works right there,” Arroyo fondly recalls. Two of his works were displayed in the de la Cruz Museum until it closed.
A few weeks ago, Arroyo found out via social media and then through a representative from the de la Cruz collection that those pieces were now headed to auction. Christie’s verified with Hyperallergic that his work will be in the July and December catalogs.
“I put a lot of care into where my art goes,” Arroyo said, adding that he is left with a feeling of “great anxiety and frustration” as the final destination of the artwork is uncertain.
“I have no control over where my work ends up once I sell it. No artists do,” he added.
*Hyperallergic left a voicemail and emails to the de la Cruz museum requesting comment but has not heard back.
