Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/960054
121 reveals a who's who of nightclub owners, film executives, and famous artists. is is why it was especially sad for folks in Amesbury to gather in 1986 and bid Gould adieu at the age of 33. Little was said at the time, says Meader. Gould had retreated to his home in Beverly Hills to try to fight a new dis- ease called AIDS. After he died, Harriet Gould took her son's fancy clothes, his gifts from Warhol, and his own massive art collection and kept them in Amesbury like a time capsule waiting to be unearthed decades later. "We're dealing with a very private family," says Meader. "ey were kind to this town." Harriet Gould would attend auctions at McIn- nis, says Meader—which means they were reselling some of the things she had previously bought from them. And Harriet Gould was no innocent. She knew what she was dealing with. In the place normally reserved in New England for the good silver—behind a stair- well, in a tiny closet, in a brown paper bag— Meader found a rooster cookie jar. Warhol had collected them. It was a gift, says Meader, and Harriet, no doubt, watched the auctions after Warhol died. A white beaded dress presented another challenge to be untangled. Perplexed by the lack of a label, Meader did his research, and a clue turned up. A Newburyport Five Cent Savings Bank wall calendar provided the answer. Harriet Gould had written in Septem- ber of 1983 that when she picked up Jon at the airport, he brought her a beautiful Halston pearl gown and jacket. e gown is now back with the Halston family, who bought it at the auction for $1,000. "All of these things found a special home with a new life with this history behind it," says Meader. e travels, the glamorous places around the country that Andy took Jon, the dancer, the light pole jumper, his tiger pants, his overcoat, his black monogrammed slippers—they were all up for sale. is native son who had multi- ple New York addresses and a beach house in Los Angeles—you could walk in his shoes. As for the auction item called Lot 40—the painting, sculpture, or whatever you want to call the wrecked canvas that depicts a broken heart—Meader thought bidders would decide its worth. It turns out, the Gould family thought it priceless. Sketches and works by prominent artists include Jean-Michael Basquiat, Antonio Lopez, and James Mac, as well as paraphernalia from Gould's work at Rolling Stone and Paramount. "New York Post Marine Death Toll Hits 172" synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on aluminum sheeting. 2 x 24 x 20 inches (approximately). Signed "Jon/ Andy Warhol '83." Dan Meader, gallery director at John McInnis Auctioneers holds Abstraction—A Gift to Jon Gould signed "Jon/ Andy Warhol '83." The deconstructed canvas was one of Warhol's many signed gifts to Gould. The piece sold at auction for $300,000 this past winter at John McInnis Auctioneers in Amesbury.