Recent public comments by Bellosguardo Foundation chair Dick Wolf begin to offer some insight into the nonprofit’s plans for the 23-acre Clarke estate. While the foundation has stated since its formation more than four years ago that it intends on honoring Clarke’s will by opening the property as a public arts institution, few details about the ambitious undertaking had previously been disclosed.
During last month’s inaugural fundraising gala, according to attendees, Wolf expressed a desire to turn the estate into “the most important cultural stop” between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Wolf said he and the foundation had found a way to solve their “content problem” ― meaning the property’s conspicuous lack of valuable artwork ― though he stopped short of fully articulating their solution. Wolf did, however, reference The Frick Collection in Manhattan, explaining it was his “absolute favorite museum” growing up and that Bellosguardo “is literally a Santa Barbara version of The Frick.”
Located in the opulent Upper East Side home of late 19th-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, The Frick Collection features some of the best-known paintings by major European artists, as well as 18-century French furniture, Oriental rugs, and numerous works of sculpture and porcelain. Admission tickets cost $22. It hosts regular exhibitions, including the current showcase of two masterpieces of early Netherlandish painting. In a coincidental connection to California’s Central Coast, both works feature St. Barbara.