{"id":62536,"date":"2018-04-09T05:05:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T05:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=62536"},"modified":"2018-04-09T05:05:53","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T05:05:53","slug":"art-collector-and-bon-vivant-dies-in-trump-tower-home-he-couldnt-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/art-collector-and-bon-vivant-dies-in-trump-tower-home-he-couldnt-sell.html","title":{"rendered":"Art Collector and Bon Vivant Dies in Trump Tower Home He Couldn\u2019t Sell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Art Collector and Bon Vivant Dies in Trump Tower Home He Couldn\u2019t Sell<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Todd Brassner, who died in a fire at Trump Tower on Saturday, loved fast cars, electric guitars, expensive watches and making long, erudite pronouncements about art and art history. He was an art dealer with health problems and a 2015 bankruptcy that listed his apartment as the location of more than $3 million worth of artwork and other collectibles, including a 1975 portrait of Mr. Brassner painted by Andy Warhol.<\/span><\/p>\n

Friends of Mr. Brassner said he had been trying to move since the election of President Trump in 2016, which brought increased security and activity to the building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, but he could not sell his 50th-floor apartment, which he estimated to be worth $2.5 million in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt haunts me,\u201d said Stephen Dwire, 67, a musician and music producer who had been friends with Mr. Brassner since they were 14-year-olds in Harrison, N.Y., in Westchester County. \u201cHe said, \u2018This is getting untenable,\u2019\u201d Mr. Dwire said. \u201cIt was like living in an armed camp. But when people heard it was a Trump building, he couldn\u2019t give it away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Brassner, 67, lived alone amid a collection of about 100 vintage electric guitars, 40 guitar amplifiers dating to the 1930s, 150 ukuleles and artwork by Robert Indiana, Mati Klarwein, Jack Kerouac and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials from the Fire Department declined to comment on the damage to Mr. Brassner\u2019s extensive holdings. On Sunday, they had not determined the cause of the blaze, which also injured four firefighters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Brassner\u2019s apartment in Trump Tower, built in 1983, did not have sprinklers, which were not required. In 1999, after two deadly fires in high-rise apartments, New York City enacted legislation requiring sprinkler systems in most new residential buildings and existing properties that were extensively renovated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Real estate developers, including Mr. Trump, fought the sprinklers, arguing that they were unnecessary and would add $4 per square foot to the cost of an apartment.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Long, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said on Sunday that residents in a fireproof building, like Trump Tower, were safest inside their apartments rather than evacuating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Damage from the fire was visible from Madison Avenue and 56th Street. Fifty floors up, facing east, a pair of large horizontal windows were punched out, and the glass and metal facade above appeared scorched and sooty. A metal work platform lowered from the roof hung beside the gutted apartment.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Mr. Brassner, the building was a prestigious address for dealing art, and his early years there echoed his successes in the nexus of the art and music worlds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe led a very out-there life,\u201d said Jodi Stuart, who was Mr. Brassner\u2019s first girlfriend and had been in and out of his life since. \u201cOut there in sports cars, out there in rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, playing Hendrix on guitar, bigger than life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For much of Mr. Brassner\u2019s life, she said, \u201cYou never saw him without his Jaguar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to go to the Fillmore East and Max\u2019s Kansas City,\u201d Ms. Stuart said. \u201cTodd got right in with the Factory and Andy Warhol. He picked em: Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol, Jaguars, beautiful homes, beautiful women.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Brassner was one of two sons born to an art dealer and lighting manufacturer named Jules Brassner, who introduced him to Warhol. Todd Brassner fit right into the Warhol orbit, and often went shopping with the artist, said Stuart Pivar, a collector who was very close to Warhol.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like two 14-year-olds, seeing the world,\u201d Mr. Pivar said. \u201cAnd he was very knowledgeable about pop art.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Mr. Brassner enjoyed the high life, \u201che was a very family-oriented guy, and we often talked about our parents,\u201d said Howard Murray, a television director who grew up with Mr. Brassner and reconnected about a decade ago. \u201cHe always talked about his mom talking Yiddish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But in recent years, Mr. Brassner started leaving the apartment less and less frequently, and he resisted offers from friends to visit or bring food. Blake Gopnik, who wanted to interview Mr. Brassner for a biography of Warhol, said he set up a number of meetings. \u201cBut he always made some complicated excuse,\u201d Mr. Gopnik said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Brassner\u2019s struggle with drugs brought him into contact with \u201cshady characters, who snookered him out of masterpieces,\u201d Mr. Pivar said. The apartment was so cluttered Mr. Brassner could barely move, Mr. Pivar said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He filed for bankruptcy in 2015, but soon after he inherited money from his father. \u201cHe showed up at my house the next day in a brand-new red Lamborghini,\u201d Mr. Pivar said. \u201cThat was Todd.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Stuart said she thought Mr. Brassner did not want his friends to see him in declining health.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried very hard to meet with him or have lunch or dinner with him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe wanted us to know the Todd that was before. Not the Todd who was impaired. He suffered a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/08\/nyregion\/trump-tower-fire-art-collector.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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