The Collector: Marcia & Frederick R. Weisman

The Collector05.05.2025

The late Frederick R. Weisman made his fortune developing Hunt foods and acting as a distributor for Toyota when it was still a little-known Japanese auto company. He and his first wife, Marcia, began collecting art in the 1950s. Initially, he pursued European modernists—his first major purchase was Jean Arp's "Self-Absorbed." ("We bought it at a Parke Bernet auction for $6,500," he recalled in a 1985 interview. "That was a lot of money then.") Soon, Weisman was avidly collecting post war artists like Franz Kline, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko.

In 1982, Weisman purchased a Spanish Colonial in Los Angeles' Holmby Hills neighborhood to display a slice of his eclectic personal collection. Now known as the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, the villa embodies the late businessman's joyful, intuitive approach to collecting. "If something turns me on, I buy it," he once said. The home is filled with lifelike figurative works by John De Andrea and Duane Hanson. "This is a big house," he once said of his plastic companions. "I'm here alone and I like having people around." In 1991, the Weismans added a contemporary annex, designed by Franklin D.Israel, to accommodate larger-scale works by Donald Judd, Claes Oldenburg, and Morris Louis.

Image: Every room in Weisman’s home is covered in art. This one features James Rosenquist’s “Time Flowers,” 1973; John De Andrea’s “Mona,” 1984; Laura Grisi’s “Apollinaire’s Secret,” 1985; and Max Ernst’s “Lit-cage et son paravent” (“Folding Bed and Its Screen”), 1974-75.

Sandro Chia’s 1983 piece “Man on Rock” announces your arrival at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation. On the right are a mosaic by Fernand Léger and a statue of Picasso by Marisol.
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Guests are then treated to an actual Picasso, 1901’s “Mother and Child,” alongside a 1986 sculpture by Beverly Pepper and Willem de Kooning’s 1945 work “Pink Angels.” Weisman bought the Picasso from the Marlborough Gallery for over $1,000,000 USD. “How did I pay for it?,” he once mused. “Well, I try to get the best price, and the best way is to pay cash and then go home and worry about it.”
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This room includes works by Franz Kline, Isamu Noguchi, Adolph Gottlieb, Bryan Hunt, Anthony Caro, Duane Hanson, Helen Frankenthaler, Keith Haring, and Francis Bacon.
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Another view of the same space reveals a closer view of Roy Lichtenstein’s “Modern Painting with Floral Forms,” 1967 and “Studio Wall with Hanging Pencil and Three Sketches,” 1973 alongside a sculpture by Jim Dine and a painted Sandro Chia.
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A bedroom featuring Helen Frankenthaler, “Magic Carpet,” 1964; Diego Giacometti, “Square Low Table with Knotted Crossbrace,” 1929-40; Yves Klein, “Vénus,” 1982.
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From left: a late work by Paul Cézanne; a sculpture by Henry Moore; Paul Klee, “High Group,” 1931; Clyfford Still, “Untitled,” 1954. Weisman once traded this Still painting for $50,000 and a Sam Francis painting. He later bought the painting back at auction, playing in the high six figures for a work that originally cost $70,000.
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he annex is big enough for several gigantic works including Donald Judd, “Untitled,” 1967-80; Andy Warhol, “Flowers,” 1980; Ron Arad, “Sofa,” 1994; James Rosenquist, “White Dreams,” 1983; Andy Warhol, “Frederick R. Weismann,” 1974; George Segal, “Woman in Coffee Shop,” 1983; Morris Louis, “Mu,” 1961; Donald Judd, “Untitled,” 1978; Lita Albuquerque, “Reflection,” 1990; Frank Stella, “Madinat as-Salam 1,” 1970; Peter Erskine, “Slice of Heaven Series,” 1991; Claes Oldenburg, “Typewriter Eraser,” 1970-75; Motorcycle painted by Keith Haring, 1987; Duane Hanson, “Rocker,” 1972; Motorcycle painted by LA II, 1987
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