Rosamond Benton by Rosamond Benton
Capturing Beauty
by
John Presco
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Above is an AI Art piece I found on the internet. It reminds me of a Rosamond, which was the middle name of my late sister, born Christine Rosamond Presco, in 1947. Drew Benton was eight when her mother ended up in the ocean and drowned, How this happened – is a real Mystery! The accounts of how a world famous artist met her end – are not rea! The Liars that surrounded Rosamond, lied in order to make millions of dollars, on a book, and on a movie.
Artificial Intelligence is a great threat to Art, Literature, and the Film Industry. This is why I cross over the barrier between computer and human, and create a real entity that is capable of murdering a human, being murdered, and taking their own life. How Drew’s mother died – has not been resolved! This is when The Human Artist saw into the future and created Rosamond who was no mere shield against what was coming, but a Weapon.
Here is an illustration Vicki Presco showed me after our sister’s funeral. Drew and Shamus Dundon were playing video games. Vicki left the table for ten minutes, then came back and showed it to me. She said she asked our niece to get in touch with her feelings by drawing a map of the cove at Rocky Point. We had just finish doing our map. Vicki said Drew moved a stick figure over three feet with a hyphen in order to get her work – right! All of a sudden, Shamous Dundon is not down in the cove. Drew was an accomplished artist – and later a computer expert. She designed avatars for computer games.. Vicki had no talent. Where did she get the permission to – play God? That she expected me to believe Drew stopped play video games to draw these stick figures was a great insult to art and my intelligence! I lost my family there and then. A child was used to tell a great lie. This art fraud led to the death of Drew Taylor Rosamond Benton. Her death was degrading beyond belief! It is alleged she stabbed herself in the thights twenty times, then jumped over a balcony dressed in her underwear.
I sent a copy of the art fraud to the Sherriff of Monterey, and he gave the coroner a copy who changed his report because Vicki did not tell them there were guests at a residence. I supplied the address! Outrageous! When you read the Police Report on how Drew died, you will see a very long horror story, the greatest mystery and fraud the art world has ever known. For the reason I need a good attorney to get to the truth, I am asking $327,000 dollars, the amount Garth Benton sued Ann and Gordon Getty for. This drawing may be the first prime example of Artificial Intelligence, rendered to hide – a murder?
On this day, November 18, 2024, I raised Drew Taylor Rosamond Benton from the dead. The above portrait is liken to the portrait Christine would have done of her youngest daughter, who died a horrible death. I have copyrighted the name Drew had on her Driver’s license. I am going to talk to an attorney about licensing forms of Drew’s NAME. Applying a name to an art work – give it value!
Drew Taylor. Drew Benton. Drew Rosamond, Rosamond Taylor.
I see a dozen artists with names entering a world where only an artist – and pet can enter?
Drew’s death was like a crucifixion. She suffered – for her art – like no other! I am putting Royal Rosamond Press ‘A newspaper for the arts; up for sale. I suggest an honorable high tech company pay $20,000,000 dollars for a Real Letter of Authenticity!.
It blows my mind that Drew’s ex-boyfriend of four years did not know who she was, nor did the police, who tracked down Shamus Dundon, who wanted nothing to do with his niece’s dead body. He gave them the phone and address of Shannon Sidle, who never called back, or answered a letter. Shamus and Shannon – threw away the creator of the Fake Death Scene! She served her purpose. The surviving family artist, and teacher of Rosamond was diverted from The Truth! Art is Truth!
When you read the account of the destruction of Benton’s mural, you are seeing a portal into AIArt. The Getty’s are the world’s greatest collector of art. The Pelosi’s and Newsom family partied in front of a Benton mural. How many famous Patron’s of the Arts admired the work of the cousin of Thomas Hart Benton? Here is where my movie would begin.
I applied for a credit card to pay for Drew’s cremation. I am on SSI. No one helped me the cost. No family member called me. They three Rosamond Benton – away! Is it possible the First Name Artificial Intelligence Artist…….would seek revenge?
Below is Drew Benton (left) enjoying the faux grapes her father rendered, when he was hired by the Getty to be a Co-Creator at the Getty Villa.
****
It’s 4:30 P.M. 11/18/24 and I just had my Rosebud epiphany. A male nurse just called me, and told me very clearly what is going wrong with me. I have a urinary infection and might have to go to the hospital in the coming hours. I thanked him for his very clear assessment. I told him because of my abusive parents I do not go to outsiders for help if I am hurting. I got his permission.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Drew.”
I fought back my tears, and hung up. This is a real Victory over AI Art. We have broken through – from beyond the grave! How long had Drew – been really hurting?
I need money to pay for my cremation because no family member or friend will do so. I never made a dime from Rosamond’s Art. I was never that tempted. I was a candidate for the artist Sara Moon after his/her fans discovered she was – a man! My grandfather was Royal Rosamond. As Rosamond Benton, I will immortalize select and qualified individuals. They will live forever in the World we have overcome. Drew did everything she could think of to leave this world that she grew to hate. She had stopped telling other human beings who she was. And now…….we are!
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Welles argued it was simply a name, long forgotten by the conscious mind, signifying a defining moment in Kane’s life.
He said: “My character had never made what is known as ‘transference’ from his mother. Hence his failure with his wives. In making this clear during the course of the picture, it was my attempt to lead the thoughts of my audience closer and closer to the solution of the enigma of his dying words.
“Rosebud is the trade name of a cheap little sled on which Kane was playing on the day he was taken away from his home and his mother. In his subconscious it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother’s love, which Kane never lost.”
Sara Moon = Rosamon
Posted on December 4, 2011 by Royal Rosamond Press
There is an old Iranian man who has been imitating Rosamond since 1976. He signs these knock-offs ‘Sara Moon’. Everyone thought he was a woman. He kept his true identity a secret for years. Some folks thought I was Moon. Last night I saw how similar the name SARA MOON is to the name ROSAMOND. Drop the D and you have seven of the letters that are in the name Sara Moon.
Gettys Settle Over Mural ‘Whiteout’ / Their lesson on state law may keep other art safe
By Ken GarciaDec 5, 2000
The capacity of some people to give back to the community is truly awe- inspiring, and as far as San Francisco is concerned, the Gettys are in a world all their own.
As if the local standard bearers of high society had not done enough in the areas of philanthropy, culture, music or family planning, now the Gettys have ventured forth in a new and unexpected arena: art education.
Their first project is to remind us that when you decide to “upgrade” an artist’s work, you may want to call the artist before getting in touch with your inner Monet. And it’s better, and cheaper, if your cubist leanings don’t involve someone else’s cube.
Late last week, Ann and Gordon Getty quietly settled a lawsuit — as if for them there could be any other way — that had been hanging over their estate for several months. Under the agreement, the Gettys have agreed to pay Garth Benton, an internationally acclaimed muralist, a sizable but undisclosed amount in exchange for the artist’s agreeing to drop his suit against one of the country’s richest families.
Benton’s lawsuit centered on an obscure California law that protects the work of artists, giving them the equivalent of copyright ownership of their work even after the work is sold. The 20-year-old law makes it a crime to alter, destroy or deface a work of fine art and holds that doing so can be “detrimental to the artist’s reputation.” In Benton’s case, however, the art wasn’t so much defaced as actually erased.
It seems that the Gettys, once enamored of Benton’s work — to the point they commissioned him to do a series of murals for their Pacific Heights mansion — grew tired of the large canvas paintings. Rather than removing them,
the famous art patrons had them painted over — in the words of one attorney close to the case, they were “whited out.”
When this happened isn’t exactly clear, but it apparently took place about seven years ago. Yet the Alabama-based Benton, who did the murals from 1986 to 1988, found out about it only early this year, when by chance, he called his onetime San Francisco clients.
It seems Benton telephoned his former patrons to request photographs of the murals, titled “The Works,” for inclusion in a catalog. A few days later, he discovered “The Works” had been worked over. And as they say in polite society,
the artist was not pleased.
Benton, whose clients have included Bob Hope, Aaron Spelling and former President Gerald Ford, sued Ann and Gordon Getty for $500,000 — about $170, 000 more than he was paid for the original murals. Attorneys involved in the negotiations say he will not receive that much in the settlement. And in return for the payment, the Gettys will be free to do with the murals what they want — keep them in their current repainted state or remove them from their walls.
Why they weren’t simply removed rather than painted over is a matter of some contention among the parties involved. Benton’s attorney says the murals were painted on specially prepared canvasses for the explicit purpose of allowing the Gettys to move them to another home or property if they so desired.
But the couple’s attorneys say they didn’t realize that the works could be removed — and didn’t know they lacked the authority to, shall we say, reconfigure them.
“The Gettys certainly weren’t aware of the law protecting the art,” said their attorney, Virginia Crisp, a partner with Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass in San Francisco. “It’s not a well-known statute, and they simply weren’t aware that there would be any problem painting over one of the walls in their home.”
Crisp said the decision to paint them over was not meant to impugn the artist’s reputation or work. The Gettys just happen to use the atrium area where the murals were located for numerous parties. “And the parties often have themes — themes that didn’t necessarily work well with the art expressed in the paintings.”
And having been to the Getty home on a day when scruffy journalists like myself were invited, I can say that with the general eclectic art theme that ranges from Polynesian to Picasso, it would be difficult to throw an Italianate mural into the mix.
Yet to the Gettys’ credit, said Benton’s attorney, David Paul Steiner, they called in experts after being informed of their gaffe, to see if the murals could be restored. But the cost of trying to restore the giant paintings would have been prohibitive, Steiner said, at least twice as much as it cost to paint the original works.
“It’s a pity that the works have been destroyed, and it’s somewhat ironic that this would involve the Gettys, since Benton has done a great deal of work for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles,” Steiner said. “But we’re just happy to have the matter resolved.”
Yet now that the Gettys are keenly aware of the art protection statute, the art community can breathe a collective sigh of relief, because it should spare the other works in their collection, including paintings by Renoir and Pissarro.
Certainly they have provided the public with a stirring lesson in art preservation. Indeed, my children have already informed me that their football montages, their Marvel Comic knock-off panels, and even their rather hurriedly constructed skateboard sketch series are not to be touched or removed without their prior authorization.
Because you just can’t be too careful in assuming that something is not fine art.
Just a few years ago, another muralist, Kent Twitchell, received a $175,000 settlement from a motel owner who allowed a billboard company to whitewash a painting of an old woman overlooking the Hollywood Freeway — not realizing it was actually “The Old Woman of the Freeway.”
Better just to work out your artistic urges on your own canvas. Or maybe avoid theme parties altogether.
Dec 5, 2000
Overlooked State Law Pushes S.F. Gettys to Reverse Mural’s Defacing
By Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff WriterAug 2, 2000
Citing an obscure California law that protects fine art, an Alabama artist is suing San Francisco socialites Gordon and Ann Getty for destroying a wall mural they commissioned him to paint for $327,000.
Garth Benton‘s lawsuit accuses one of the country’s wealthiest families of slathering paint over his untitled mural, which for years decorated a wall inside the Getty mansion in Pacific Heights.
In response to the lawsuit, filed July 24 in San Francisco Superior Court, the Gettys have hired a team of art experts “to make a good faith effort to restore the mural,” said family spokesman Larry Kamer.
“It appears that it can be restored to its original condition,” Kamer said. The Gettys could not be reached for comment.
The mural was painted on canvas and bolted to the wall. It portrays a balcony overlooking a field, with a girl feeding a monkey in the corner.
Benton, whose works have been purchased by people ranging from Bob Hope to novelist Sidney Sheldon, is asking $327,000 in restitution, attorney’s fees and unspecified punitive damages.
His suit cites a little-used 1980 state law that holds defacing art to be “detrimental to the artist’s reputation.”
Benton, who lives in Headlands, Ala., could not be reached for comment.
The 15-by-40 mural was painted in 1986 and later installed in the Getty home.
“It covers a good part of the wall,” Kamer said.
Kamer said an overzealous house painting crew apparently did not know the mural could be removed and painted over it during a renovation of the Getty home several years ago.
The Gettys knew of the blunder but apparently weren’t terribly upset by it.
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“Did they view it in the same way the artist did? I don’t think so,” Kamer said. “But having had the issue raised, their reaction was to get the mural restored.”
Benton discovered in March that the mural had been destroyed when he asked the Gettys for an opportunity to photograph it for inclusion in a catalog of his work.
It is ironic that the Gettys, renowned art aficionados whose collection includes works by Renoir and Pissarro, are being sued by an artist. They are, after all, the son and daughter-in-law of the man whose vast fortune bankrolled construction of the J. Paul Getty Museum of Art in Los Angeles.
“Mrs. Getty certainly understands and respects the need to restore and preserve art,” Kamer said.
Royal Rosamond Art
Posted on June 2, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
Fair Rosamond by John Presco 6/2/23
On June 2, 2023, John Presco and Royal Rosamond Press entered the realm of Artificial Intelligence, and rendered works of art, that will be published as Royal Rosamond Art. I generated images from a photograph of Rena Easton who wanted to be place in my Muse Hall of Fame. The art piece of Rena getting a cat out of a tree, is superb. I have pondered many times about putting an object in her hand. A lantern was one choice. That a computer can ponder over this puzzle, and come up with a solution, with no prompt from me, convinces me that AI is real – and creative! What was done with the images of the Rosamond Daughters, reminds me of Fanny Corey, who encouraged Royal Rosamond to write. The name Rosamond is connected to Grimm, and Walt Disney. I am their realm.
Ten years ago I set out to do a painting of Fair Rosamond because I liked nothing that I had seen, so far. I started a painting from the photograph Rena Christensen had given me, but never completed it. Today, I have finished rendering that truly inspires me! Below are my creations as I learned my computer craft.
All my images are copyrighted.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Art & Press
Desecration of Drew’s Death
Posted on September 25, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
“Called KEZI at 6:30 PM 8-12-24 Talked to Noah”
I should have received a copy of Drew Taylor Rosamond Benton’s Death Certificate – TWO WEEKS AGO! When I talked to officer Holstrom she knew Drew had been in a cold icebox FOR 23 DAYS! Is this – the norm? What is the average time it takes to SPEED the dead to yon hither side?
Holstrom knew Drew’s relatives could not be found. Why would she say “Why do you want a report?” Is she suggesting there might be a delay, if I want the report BEFORE I PAY? Did she know there was a problem, and thus I best whip out one of my credit cards, PAY, and walk away? Let the Bosley Boys do what they will.
I became a member of the Oddfellows a year ago. This is what I DO NOT want to know……
Was Drew Benton tortured and crucified with a blunt and sharp instrument, then thrown over a three story balcony? She survived the impact that broke her pelvis, and was crawling on the ground when fellow tenants saw her. She was talking. Did she say she was thrown over the railing, and name anybody? Did this person say she tried to kill herself? Did she tell the rescue people in the ambulance someone tried to murder her? Did they wonder if she was on a drug that drove her crazy? Did they strap her down in a padded room because she is screaming? Did they hook her up to any monitors? Was she in handcuffs? Did she die of a heart attack, and is found ten minutes later when the screaming stops?
I am just WONDERING! I have a right to WONDER! I have an obligation – TO WONDER! Did anyone know she jumped and severely broke her pelvis? Did the rescue people pick her up – and she is screaming in pain? Is she swinging at them telling them to – STOP? Do the police – put her in handcuffs. Is she strapped down which causes more pain – that causes her to have a heart attack at 38 years of age? Cardiac Arrest can be caused by very rapid heart rate. When was it discovered my niece had a broken pelvis – at her autopsy? When did the idea she took her life – come up?
Under the circumstances Holstrom should have given me getting this report – TOP PRIORITY! Why didn’t the Bullhead Police Department give this Death Report – TOP PRIORITY? Do you think this is a good question? I mean, most people don’t want to get involved in anything controversial. Right? They tend to walk away, or turn their backs. My niece Shannon Rosamond Benton – DID NOT – respond to my Facebook messages informing her half-sister was dead! WHY? Would you like to know?
On September 25, 2025, at Noon, I left a message for Noah, who is a reporter for KEZI News in Eugene. On 8-12-24 Noah said he would call officer Holstrom and get her to talk to me.
John Presco
EXTRA! I just sent this message. I wondered why officer Holstrom did not look in Drew’s phone and computier for her relatives. Maybe some did repond, and got a cold reception. Holstrom had to know Drew died of Cardiac arrest. I believe she told me she took her life. I have notes all over the place.
Forty-three days ago, Noah, a reporter for KEZI. said he would call the Bullhead City police and get the officer who handled the death of my niece to call me. She is kin to Senator Thomas Hart Benton. This was forty-three days ago. Several days later I request a police report that I have not received. I got Drew Benton’s ashes with a death certificate that says she died of “Multiple blunt and sharp force injuries”. Her autopsy says she died of cardiac arrest in the hospital at thirty-eight years of age at midnight. The certificate says she died at 10:P/M. two hours earlier of an attempted suicide. I don’t buy it. Here is the case# 24-242
John Presco
Close Your Big Eyes – Bitch!
Posted on September 24, 2017 by Royal Rosamond Press
‘
When You Close Your Eyes’ was published in September of 2000. The hit movie ‘Big Eyes’ came out fourteen years later. Our aunt and uncle were good friends of Walter and Margaret Keene. Jim Bigalow owned ‘Sam’s Anchor Cafe’ in Tiberon located in Marine County, thus my DNA is entrenched in Beryl Buck’s Blessed County, where no worthy poor person can be found in order to receive a smiggen of the $1,700,000,000 billion dollars of the Trust that Robert Brevoort established. It’s a Cinderella’s Slipper kind of thing. Bob’s Boys go about the land with this image in their wallet.
Sydney Morris of the law firm of Heisinger, Morris, Rose, and Buck said in a legal document he did not object to a biography and movie being made by Stacey Pierrot in the hope there would be a renewed interest in the general public purchasing Rosamond prints that my two nieces, and my daughter own. Today, you can’t give these images away. No one wants them. What I suggest, is, there exist a Breach of Verbal Contract because this movie should have been made. It is never too late!
The motive Morris owned, via his odd creative permission, was to discourage me from publishing my autobiography, or, raising monies to make my movie! In writing an artists biography it is common to mention other artists that are germain to the artistic identity of the protagonist, such as Margaret and Walter Keane, who Tom Snyder missed. ‘Big Eyes’ was the most important movie made about an artist – in many years! It was a success! This success should have been exploited by members of my family who own Rosamond prints. This of course might invite readers and viewers to own a negative opinion of the cunning business folks who surrounded my late sister and abused her psychologically. Is there any evidence of this? Yes! I believe it is my right to produce and use this evidence without honoring Tom Snyder’s copyright. There exist a dream, within a dream, within a dream. Just look into the Magical Rosamond Mirror, and see what you will see. Do you see the light at the end of dark alley? Is this a harbinger of things to come?
Here is Non-Artist, Jacci Belford, who called me a month after Christine died and told me she made an offer to purchase the entire estate, and pay off the creditors. Who did she make this offer to? The probate was having trouble getting underway, because Jacci and Vicki Presco, refused to serve as named Executors. Can Bob Buck tell Rosamond’s fans how uncommon this is? Non-Artist, Vicki, came to own a shit-load of Rosamond’s – before she dropped out as No.1 Executor, and nominated Ex-Husband, Garth Benton to be Special Executor, as did Sharp Business Woman, Sassy Jacci. Are those movie lights on the horizon? Or, is that Artist Garth coming back into the Rosamond Gallery, he cast in an angelic light, now, in order to make it all work for Jacci&Friends?
“Having all these gallery and family problems coming down on her was a lot for her to deal with. And giving my persepective on things – good, bad, or indifferent – could have had a lot to do with the end of her marriage to Garth. At the same time, it was the best thing that could have happened. It seemed to me he wanted her to have no involvement in her own business while he ran everything in a way that seemed best to him.”
You just read real Art&Movie History -folks!
Above is a photo of Bijan and the man who exposed him, a Rosamond Imitator, who signed his big-eyed prints ‘Sara Moon’. It never occurred to Sydney Morris to find a Facsimile to crank out more CASH on the Rosy Money Making Machine. Instead, we get the Legal Art Report. Giving me a woman’s name, then hiding me behind the curtain of Oz, was not a option for some strange reason. I can only fail!
“If you loved Rosamond, you are going to love her long lost sister ‘Violet’.
When I got my lost daughter back into my life, I made her an offer she could not refuse. We would render computer aided images of beautiful women – in the Rosamond style. My genetic material could sign her work ‘Heather’ as in the flower. This would include an image of Rosemary and Lillian taken by her great grandfather. She took this to her drunken aunt Linda, and Linda’s drunken attorney husband, and they told her she is guaranteed ten million, at least, and – she doesn’t have to do jack-shit! Was there talk about starring in Bob Buck’s movie?
What I suggest is, Bob fund – my movie – that can be made for $50,000 dollars. ‘Close Your Big Eyes – Bitch’ will be filmed entirely in the infamous closet Julie Lynch talks about. It is February 3, 1994, two months BEFORE the killer rogue wave took this world famous woman out to sea, and deposited her in Never Neverland!
The Art Gods have brought us together, to hash it out, because they see much damage being done to The Art World – in the future! There will be a classic swinging lightbulb in this closet that sways back and forth, reminiscent of ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’. This movie, and other movies about artists will be broadcast on the closet wall. The Closet of Art Despair will be located on the grounds of the Buck Institute Against All Aging – And The Idea of Eternal Life After Death! Where else!
Lillian’s son, Randy Molnar, will be hired to play one of the ‘Closet Caretakers’ along with Tylor Blake ‘A Key Holder’ and Admirer of Rosemary.
Here is the opening narration of my movie, ‘Close Your Big Eyes – Bitch’
“Two creative siblings entered the Dark Closet of Eternal Fame, and, only one would emerge, a true immortal!”
“Those who rejoiced at the death of my famous sister, now wished I had died, instead. For Rosamond was the just the preview, the anti-chamber – to hell! No one could stop me from writing. Day after day, month after month, my fury and revenge rained down on them all. I swore I would outlive them. All the attorneys started dying of old age. The only thing that could stop my wrathful pen, was…………The Ghost of Rosamond! For it was now clear I was her Mentor, and she, was my Little Yellow Bird….. I had captured in a gilded cage.”
Bob’s partner, Sydney Morris, entered his law firm in the Movie Making Business in order to pay off the creditors and give my Genetic Material some cold hard cash. ‘The Caretaker’ was sold all the Bragging Rights – for starters! Stacey Pierrot hired the obscure ghost writer, Tom Snyder, to author HER tell-all book, that lines up one Rosamond Business Handler after another, and rags on her ass. While her ashes still float out to sea, Art Attorney, Daniel I. Simon tells the world how difficult it was to get Christine to produce more women with BIG EYES, and meet her financial obligations. Instead, she turns on all ‘Her Caretakers’ in a savage manner.
I refrain from ragging on my sister, unless I have something redeeming to say. With my last post, I have met my obligation – and fulfilled my own expectations! Here are Rosamond’s last words to me, uttered in 1991.
“I demand you tell me where you live because I am going to have you killed!”
After the failure of Tom’s piece of trash, ‘The Caretaker’ hires to really trash my life – and Christines! But, ‘The Rosamond Handlers’ did not go far enough, or, do their job! If only Sydney Morris had left more detailed instuctions on how to make a Killer Movie & Book.
“The way I see it, is, we got to throw the business folks under the bus – and the attorneys should be made to walk the gang plank. As for Garth, he should be buried in a ant hill and smothered with honey!”
As for the other Male Presco, Mentor Jon Gregory, we got to cut him in on the action – before we demonize him any further. Not that he will ever own any power to hurt us, but, he can make money for the estate, and get Larry Chazen off our back. How about we have Rosmond and Jon engage in a knife-fight in front of the Rosamond Gallerry – if the price is right?”
“You were always jealous of my art!”
“Shut your lying mouth, bitch, or I slash your other cheek!”
The screenwriter and producers of ‘Big Eyes’ go it right. You put the WOMAN ARTIST on a pedestal, and butcher everyone around her. But, THEY just couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t make themselves LOOK BAD – for the money! Instead, they disappear Rosamond’s autobiography, and put shiny armor on THE EX as he stomps Christine into the ground!
Walt Disney turned over in his grave! This is not the formula for a successful and magical movie about Rosamond ‘The Lover of Big Eyed Unicorns’ and her Dark Brother – which can not be Dark Mark! What I am saying, is, When You Close Your Big Eyes – Bitch, is PROOF the business folks and attorneys, were, and are – INEPT!
“Do you think Jon will forsake his principles and agree to be the villain for $800 dollars? How about a thousand bucks?”
“I don’t want my brother in on this deal. He’s a BUM! He’s been a BUM all his life. My life’s work is to prove this!”
You SEE………….it’s not too late to do this story up right!
“What do you mean he’s the new Walt Disney? He told you that? He’s a BUM – and insane! His dumb daughter – agrees! He must FAIL – at all costs!”
For a week I have been considering abandoning this Rosy Genealogical Quest, and finish my Theological Books. This morning I found my Dreamboat! As fate would have it, she is the richest woman in the world. She’s got 47 billion dollars. We share the same interests. If we could ever be united in our cause, we would be way more than best friends and lovers! We would be Fantastic Fellow Fanatics who are absorbed in the study of the Bible and Genealogies. She would gladly get on board my ROSAMOND STUDY, and even bankroll my Atlantis in Larkspur Dream. but, she would fall victim to the Ancient Curse of the Greek Gods……….
“Don’t give that bastard any money! Keep him away from money!”
“Are you going to come see me so we can work on Jesus ‘The Moabite’ some more?”
“Sure! But, I don’t have plane fare. I think I can sell my food stamps on the black market!”
“How long will that take?”
“About a week.”
“You know, let’s not do this. It is obvious you do not care about me and MY study!”
I talked to my friend Chris in New York last night. She said it is too bad I can not earn money as a genealogist – like Dan Brown? She told me she had physically fought off another woman at the art gallery, who tried to hug her man, Stefan Eins. I am doing their portrait, and want to write a book about their relationship, that is similar to the Keane’s. I suggested Chris come out of the closet, and become an artist herself, so she can have Art Power of her own! She and my sister had the same lover.
Stefan suggest ETs (with big eyes) leave messages in sidewalk cracks. I am going to research how many sidewalks are in Margaret Keane’s work. Did she have a close encounter?
Jon Presco
Copyright 2017
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has shunned the glittering social life that her late mother, Liliane Bettencourt, once embraced. Bettencourt Meyers is known for playing piano for several hours a day and has written two books — a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of the Greek gods.
“She really lives inside her own cocoon,” said Tom Sancton, author of “The Bettencourt Affair,” who noted that even when she was a little girl she appeared uncomfortable in the world of rich people. “She lives mainly with the confines of her own family.”
Big Eyes & Big Lies
Posted on December 27, 2014by Royal Rosamond Press
On December 26, 2014 at 4:45, I entered the Cinimark Theatre in Springfield Oregon, and started filming the most pivotal two hours of my life. Unfortunately, I did not fully hit the record button, and I missed the shot of a life time, when at the ticket window filming the purchase of my ticket to creative freedom, a large Store Marshal says;
“You can’t film in the mall without permission.”
Let me begin this review by thanking Margaret Keane for alas confessing. If she had not told the truth, the movie Big Eyes would not have been made, and, my new therapist would be seeing a shattered and angry old man come next Wendsday. Now, when I walk into her office she will be seeing a jovial and robust Santa look-alike, I full of good cheer, and goodwill for all living things, because – I’M FUCKING FREE OF THE LONG NIGHTMARE!
When Big Eyes ended I knew I owned what I longed for, a point of reference, and credibility. Alas, I will be believed when I tell my story about being crushed by the insane success of a highly commercialized woman artist who turned our family against me because I had accidentally come upon the secret of her success when I went in search of the bathroom, and opened a closet door. To see people close to Margaret about to open the door to her studio, and own the truth, gave me chills. I knew from my own personal experience that there was a monster on the other side, that could kill you. In my last conversation with late sister, the world famous artist, known as Rosamomd, she said;
“You were always jealous of my art!” Christine lied.
“What art? You cheated! You took………………..”
I had had it, the evil bio without end had attacked my art, directly, and I let her have it, the truth, what we knew was – THE TRUTH! Here is what I got for my effort;
“I demand you tell me where you live because I am going to have you killed!”
Walter Keane threatens to have his wife “whacked” if she reveals their secret. Was this threat made in REAL LIFE? What real life? Because I am a educated artist who has gone through what the Keanes went through, I know Margaret is not the complete victim. She understood a female artist was a treat to a male dominated art world, thus she allowed her promoter to alter he true identity. Christine had asked me to be her manager months after her overnight success, but, she did not tell me how much of identity crisis she was having. Being on a Spiritual Path, I could not see myself as a business manager helping sell Pure Illusion. When Christine asked Vic to be her manager, I almost changed my mind.
I just talked to Marilyn and she told me she read an article on Susan Keane, Walter’s daughter. She reveal’s Margaret’s secret.
“My father was an avid photographer, using a cutting edge Hasselblad. A very large opaque projector was purchased for Margaret, set up in a dark room adjoined to the sunny painting studio. With this tool, a highly detailed image could be projected on canvas from a photograph. A skilled illustrator, Margaret was able to trace a portrait in 15 minutes. This projection method has frequently been utilised in art forgery, as it facilitates replication of fine brush strokes.”
What I found in that closet was a large projector. I looked up and saw Christine down the hall, looking very guilty. In five minutes she made me an offer that I will reveal in my book. When Christine saw my painting of Rena, she took up art. Rena’s sisters were fashion models, as was Marilyn. I have never read in Art History, where one artist threated to have another artists killed because he knows – THE SECRET!
This morning, I am sitting in the catbird seat. I can now challenge anyone who has cast aspersion on my character and my motives. I want to know the truth about the Special Executor, Sydney Morris, who gave his legal permission for Stacey Pierrot to author the worst biography of an artist ever written. It was a major flop! Morris then gives Pierrot permission to make a movie about her late employer via another ghost writer. The director Ronald Schwary bought the movie option for this eyeful of big lies. Has Ronald taken that script out of trashcan, dusted it off, and is now looking to produce the answer to Big Eyes? I know I got the better motion picture with ‘Capturing Beauty With Big Lies’.
I begged Morris not to let outsiders own our creative legacy for the reason we all suffered from alcoholism, and only Christine and I got sober. I told Morris that Christine died on her first sober birthday, and members of our family will need our sober story for generations to come. My daughter had yet to come into my life. When she did, the real evil nightmare began, for unbeknownst to me her manager was her aunt Linda Comstock, who was married to a seventy-five year old attorney who was a lush with a lot of Republican friends. Heather proudly describes her aunt as a “Gold Digger”.
Her aunt gave her lessons on how to look down on me, and go around me to get to the Money People. Linda and her husband depicted me as the enemy, the locked box that had to be cracked, because their surrogate child deserves the fame and fortune produced in my family, for I am a mentally ill parasite who will never get his deluded autobiography published, for who would believe all that insane crap happened? They tried to trick me into getting a blood test. That my daughter anointed Flip, a skid-row drunk, to be her champion against The Bad Dad, utterly destroys my relationship with my daughter and grandson – and all the pretentions of the pretenders who were allowed to feast off the dead!
This shit should have been over the day Christine drowned. The executor allowed more imposters in the door, and more Art Fraud, to take place. That there exist an old Iranian Man doing Rosamond knock-offs, then signing these fakes, Sarah Moon, marries my late sister and I to the Keane story.
I just talked to Marilyn who told me about the time she took several of my paintings to the Ira Roberts gallery. Ira Cohen wanted my landscapes. Marilyn is My Witness, that may one day take the witness stand – and tell the truth as to who was the real artist in the family.
Before the lights came back on I had a vision of the Price List Garth Benton sent to past customers of Rosamond’s images of beautiful women. Aunt Lillian was shocked at this Dead Artist Sale brochure. The probate had not begun. A new executor had to be appointed after Vicki and Jacci Belford dropped out and nominate Garth, who had just gone through a terrible divorce from Rosamond, who took out a restraining order. I am put in the dark, and so is my niece, Shannon, who a couple of years later has trouble convincing Jack Keller she is Rosamond’s daughter. Jack sends me an e-mail asking me if I know my niece. Meanwhile, there is Pierrot, strutting around the Rosamond gallery in Carmel, she invited to be a member of several civic foundations, after giving herself the title of “Caretaker” of our creative family legacy. In some respects she is another Stage Mother, doing what is best for my nine year old niece. Here is a list of Stage Mother who employed our children in order to look good. Not one of them CAN PAINT!
Stacey Pierrot
Vicki Presco
Patrice Hanson
Linda Comstock
After last night, it’s all good for me. I might contact that T.V. show ‘Extra’ and see it they want to compare Big Lies to Big Eyes. I now own a Immunity Card. I can’t be kicked off Rosamond Island. All my distracters and attackers, are good to go, good to be in my movie! Belle and her savage girl gang! My muse calling the sheriff on me. Rena, you are a real Star!
My kin, Reese Witherspoon almost got the role of Margaret. She is in the movie ‘Inherent Vice’ written by my ex-wife’s ex-husband who is a Jazz freak. Pynchon has slipped in references to famous Jazz artists in his writing. The scene that drops you in the basement of groovy-things, past, to listen to Cal Jader, is one of the best scenes in the movie. My uncle, who owned Sam’s in Tiberon, and Crushon’s in Berkeley, was a good friend of the Keane family, and had them over for dinner.
Another amazing parallel. Lana Del Rey does several songs for Big Eyes. She looks like a fashion model – a Rosamond Woman! Here is Rena and her sisters.
Marilyn and her sister, Shanah, may go to see Big Eyes tonight. Shanah was married to Jazz Drummer, Ron Jeffers, and co-wrote ‘Fela, This Bitch of a Life’ that was made into a off-Broadway play. When Marilyn was fifteen her older sister would take her to see Jazz Greats in Watts.
Here is my recorded review of Big Eyes”
Have you ever emerged from a movie, and, your mind is blown? No one has ever captured that common state of mind, that movie makers worked hard to achieve. So, for the first time in movie-making history, I present the man with a blown mind!
A week after my sister, Christine Rosamond, drowned, my mother, Rosemary, told me there was talk of a movie being made about Christine Rosamond and her family. A week later, my sister, Vicki Presco, showed me the two hundred and eighty page autobiography Christine had authored. It began with a fight we had over the last of the milk when we were children. Christine’s first sentence proclaims how my family and our mutual friends thought I would be a famous artist some day, but, it was not to be. What happened to the rough draft of this biography, written in the hand of a world famous artist, is a mystery. When alas we had a Executor, I wrote Sydney Morris and told him about this autobiography, claiming it was a part of the estate Christie Rosamond left her two daughters, and thus the movie, Stacey Pierrot, had in the works, belonged to the estate of Christine Rosamond because this movie would be based upon Rosamond’s autobiography.
This was not to be! When alas the biography Pierrot’s hired ghost writer authored came out, Tom Snyder, claims there exist very few papers written by Christine, and what papers he read, were the ideations of a woman who was not well when she wrote them. Surely Stacey Pierrot read these writings of a world famous artist before she handed them over to Snyder to read. Too bad they did not appear in Snyder’s terrible book so we could read just how mentally ill my late sister was. After all, Van Gough was mentally ill, and we read his wonderful letters to his brother.
I have to conclude that Stacey Pierrot did not want to share proceeds from her movie with my two nieces. This appears to be the case of Pierrot’s good friend, Jacci Belford, who was the gallery manager, and No.2 named executor after Vicki Presco. Both Vicki and Jacci refused to serve, and did not respect Christine Rosamond’s last wishes. Vicki was very busy, and knew little about the Art World. However, Jacci Belford, did. She claimed she was Christine’s best friend, and Pierrot’s best friend, who she brought into the gallery. Three weeks after their boss was dead, I have a conversation on the phone with Ms. Belford. She informs me she has made an offer to pay off all the creditors, and then purchase Rosamond’s Artistic Legacy. Belford tells me “Shannon will destroy the estate.” She then says;
“I’m glad Vic is not going to get his prints back.”
Jacci Belford is talking about the four images that were produced by the Family Partnerhsip, Rosamond Publications, in 1986. Maggie was one of these paintings that had a face value of $3,600,000 dollars. We see Maggie peeking from behind another Rosamond at the Rosamond Gallery in Carmel. This is curious, because Stacey Pierrot Simons told me she had nothing to do with these four images in an e-mail. She and her ghost writer wanted me to contribute to the first biography. I said I was considering it, but, must first know what happened to my father’s prints. Here is another lie made by Stacey Pierrot so she can make a million bucks off a movie.
From: Stacey :Jon Presco , vpresco@i…Subject:
Re: Rosamond BiographyDate: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 23:21:49 -0800
Dear John, I am delighted to hear from you and to know that you are willing to
participate in this project! In response to your concern with the 1988 American
Express editions that your dad and Vicki invested in, please know that neither
Rosamond Publishing nor I have any legal interest in the ownership of those
prints. I acknowledge that your father willed some or all of his interest in
those editions to you. Therefore, neither Christine’s estate nor Rosamond
Publishing has any legal ownership to the prints owned by you. Just so you know,
Rosamond Publishing deals primarily with the publishing, marketing and sale of
new editions; new imagery. This agreement between you, Vicki and Christine’s
estate in no way involves Rosamond Publishing. If any part of this is unclear,
please let me know. I would be very happy to discuss anything you have questions
or concerns with anytime. We are eager to move forward with the project and so
happy you will be part of it.
Thanks again John,
Stacey (end of e-mail)
I never received these prints. A year ago another book comes out about Christine Rosamond written by Julie Lynch. Lynch claims Rosemary forbid Christine to draw at home lest she steal my spotlight as ‘Family Artist’. This is to say, Rosemary suppressed Christine’s talent because of me. If not for the gifts I exhibited at a very young age, then there would exist Rosamond’s childhood drawings – that would prove I was not Christine’s teacher when she took up art for the first time when she was twenty four. Christine gave me full credit for her success. but, this would not look good in Stacey Pierrot Simon’s movie – that was not based upon Rosamond’s autobiography.
What we get instead, are the ancient memories of Christine’s kindergarten teacher who somehow was found, and testifies about what a genius Rosamond was at the age of five. The name of this teacher is not divulged. She has to be in her late 80’s. If she was forty when she taught Christine, she would be 99 years old! I wonder if she was my teacher, also. She would surely remember my artwork, too. I wonder why Rosemary did not save my early work, being I was the apple of her eye, she having some sick design on me, she not able to bright herself to be the Proud Mother of two gifted children!
This is insanity! This carp is an egregious lie! I called up Stacey Pierrot and gave her three days to remove this machination deigned to suppress and destroy my art and artistic reputation, as well say my biography so it can be a movie someday, wherein I am not painted as the Villian.
A week ago I asked my childhood friend, Marilyn Reed, to manage my families Artistic Legacy – for the sake of family members – and not the parasites who attached themselves to my family the very day Christine Rosamond drowned.
Above is a photograph of Marilyn at my wedding reception. That is Shannon and Christine Rosamond next to Marilyn – who can and will testify to the truth Christine never painted or drew. Marilyn will employ her own words to describe the day Rosemary beat her up, after telling her; “you’re taking my son from me!” She was sixteen. She was my first girlfriend.
My mother claimed I got all my talent from her. I was all alone in my creative struggle to keep this parasitic monster from consuming me, the same way Stacey Pierrot consumes all the Gifted Children in my family. I left a message on Stacey’s phone telling her to leave my family alone – or I will hire an attorney!
Here is the list of surviving artists in the family;
Shannon Rosamond
Drew Benton
John Presco
I married Maryanne Thoraldsen who majored in architecture at Cornell where she became god friends of Thomas Pynchon and Richard Farina, who married Joan Baez’s sister, Mimi. Maryanned became an artist, and did a lifsizeportrait of Mimi. My fried Brya McLean sang at my wedding, he a member of the famous rock group, Love. Bryan dated Liza Manilla in Junior High.
Above is a photo fo two of Christie’s lovers crosing a bridge. Tim O’Conner is the son of the famous actor of the dame name. Keith Purvis is next to him, and never stopped loving Christine.
The other photos are of Gloria Ehlers who majored in art at the University of Wisconsin, and Karen Holly, who was also an artist. Bryan and his mother were artists. Here is a list of Christine’s peers and lovers that do not appear in any of Pierrot’s authored lies! Here are people who loved the two Gifted Children -and their works of art!
Maryanne Presco
Maryilynn Reed
Gloria Ehlers
Karen Holly
Bryan McLean
Keith Purvis
Tim O’Conner
John Presco
Above is a photo taken of family members at the Rosamond Gallery in May of 94 – tow months after Christine drowned! But for Shannon Rosamond, none of these are artists. I was not invited to the Grand Reopening.
Stacey Pierrot no longer owns the Copyright to the Rosamond prints. Alas, the two Heirs own them – twenty one years later! This is why Parasite Pierrot is desperate to sell he movie. She lothes being out of OUR limelight!
Get a life – freak!
Below are words that appear on Keller’s webpage, he a devoted fan of Rosamond before her death.
Rest in peace, Dear Sister!
Jon Presco
Copyright 2011
On April 4th, 1997, I requested a biography to use on my web site from Rosamond’s former husband. He sent me a single-sided sheet of paper containing a bio, which I modified and displayed on this web site to over 117,000 viewers until I was contacted by Rosamond Publishing on March 1st, 2000 and asked to remove it and all images of the artist and her work. I have done so, but sincerely do not believe Christine would have acted in the same manner as they were displayed to show the public the genius of the artist. So, if you want to see what she or her work looks like, you have to contact the people who just may be more interested in the copyrights they control than the legacy of the late artist. You can contact them at:
http://rosamond.fineartstudioonline.com/about
http://rosamond.fineartstudioonline.com/collections/33008
Represents the works of world-renowned artist Christine Rosamond, including original paintings, limited edition serigraphs and etchings. Her negative use of space has become her signature, inviting the viewer to participate in the painting by requiring his own completion of the image.
Although her work is represented in more than 40 galleries across the country, it is here, in the Carmel gallery, that each new release is unveiled before distribution.
http://www.carmel.com/rosamond-gallery-b266237
They don’t just sell a few portraits of “big-eyed waifs”; the paintings become a national sensation. Despite the work being derided by serious art critics as kitsch, Walter, with the aid of a columnist pal (Danny Huston), gets it seen and admired by movie stars. He goes on television. The masses who can’t afford a painting are soon buying cheaply produced posters. Even Andy Warhol approves. Meanwhile, trapped in a darkened studio in their new googie-style mansion, Margaret slaves away creating more “Keanes”.
There’s something a tonal challenge at the heart of Big Eyes, the biopic of Margaret and Walter Keane. Penned by the Ed Wood team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski,
Read more: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/big-eyes/33465/big-eyes-review#ixzz3N7MLh7Ck
What on earth could have drawn Tim Burton to Big Eyes, the story of an artist who’s trapped in a cycle of cranking out the same old crowd-pleasing kitsch for profit? Intentionally or otherwise, the latest of Burton’s regrettably rare personal films might be his most personal yet.
So it was with Margaret Keane, a San Francisco-based artist whose portraits of children with shimmering, saucer-sized eyes became a money-spinning sensation. Keane’s ambitions ran further than spending 16 hours a day painting waifs in a shuttered studio, but for eight years, her confidence-trickster husband Walter browbeat her into churning out this popular, highly profitable work.
Celebrities snapped up the originals, while the general public covered their walls with posters and prints. The name Keane became famous – except it was Walter, not Margaret, who sponged up the acclaim. While Margaret toiled thanklessly indoors, her husband was in the spotlight, taking full credit for her art.
Perhaps the bluntness of Big Eyes’ dramatics can be partly excused by the heightened nature of the story, but that doesn’t come close to explaining Christoph Waltz, who goes frantically overboard in the role of Walter, giving the kind of performance not normally seen outside of a Nineties Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy
Margaret finds a stable provider in Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), a real-estate man and “Sunday painter” of dull street scenes. What he lacks in artistic spark he more than makes up for in loquaciousness and hucksterism. He can’t get his or Margaret’s work exhibited in art galleries, so he works out a deal to get the paintings shown in the Hungry I jazz club. When Walter argues with the club owner (Jon Polito), he is fortunate enough to do so while the press is watching. Amid the confusion, the paintings start selling and the next thing you know, Walter is taking credit for Margaret’s work.
In the performing arts, a stage mother is the mother of a child actor. The mother will often drive her child to auditions, make sure he or she is on the set on time, etc. The term stage mother sometimes[when?] has a negative connotation, suggesting that the individual is prone to obnoxiously demanding special treatment for her child, or suggesting that the individual has placed inappropriate pressure on her child to succeed. Some[who?] believe that a “stage mom” is vicariously living out her own dreams through her child.
http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/lana_del_rey-featuring_big_eyes_soundtrack_released
A stage mother may also be the official manager of her child (e.g., Rose Thompson Hovick, Dina Lohan, Ethel Gumm, Teri Shields, Susan Duff, etc.) — representing her child in negotiations for the professional services of her child. Such managers have often been referred to as “momagers” in the film industry.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_mother
A variant of the term has been a “script mother”, or a woman writer who sees her children as a means for writing books or screenplays based on humiliating events in the child’s life, to the detriment of the child, or exaggerating a child’s personal problems.[citation needed] Script mothers can be writers, comediennes or cartoonists.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/point+of+reference
| bench mark, benchmark – a surveyor’s mark on a permanent object of predetermined position and elevation used as a reference point |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_of_reference
Rosamond, a self-taught artist, exhibited her first two paintings in Los Angeles in 1972. Within six months she would achieve national acclaim. By the time I discovered her, she had become the most published artist in the world, surpassing even Norman Rockwell and Salvadore Dali. And yet, her name is not nearly as well-known as many of the artists she has surpassed in print.
I clearly recall the first time I ever spoke to her. I had just returned to San Francisco after visiting her gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea. I had been there to try to obtain a specific form of a piece I had once owned but lost through a divorce, but Christine had been at a City Council meeting. At the time, I owned the second largest collection of her artist proofs in the world. My phone rang, I answered, “Hello, this is Jack,” and this very vibrant and cheerful voice said, “Jack, this is Christine Rosamond.” I said, “You’ve just made my day.” She said, “Thank you. I understand you want an artist proof of Tristess.” I said yes and she said, “I want you to have it.” It arrived by mail four days later.
I talked to her three more times, but met her only once–in Carmel, just before I moved to Texas. Less than a decade after I first spoke to her, on March 26, 1994 the world lost this very talented and treasured artist on the Pacific’s rocky coast. My friend and former wife, Michele, called from half-way across the country the next morning to tell me Christine had drowned while swimming off Carmel with her daughter. I was too stunned for words. My soul cried at the realization I would never see or talk to this wonderful woman again. The world, indeed, had lost a gem.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/rosamond.asp
You can read her verbose press release below, but the gist of it is, she says, unlike the way it’s portrayed in the film, her father was the “ideas man” behind the paintings, who came up with the concept before he’d even met Margaret, even if Margaret did do the bulk of the actual painting. Of course, the most damning evidence against Walter, that he pleaded a shoulder injury during a court case when a judge asked both Keanes to paint a Big Eye to settle the case, is corroborated by news accounts.
1947, I am Susan Keane, daughter of Barbara and Walter Keane.
Following the traumatic death of my brother Stanley, and a highly successful joint venture in real estate, throughout the late 40s and early 50s, my parents and I lived in post WW2 Europe, while maintaining a home in Berkeley, California, designed by Julia Morgan, built in 1906.
During that time, my mother, in pursuit of a PhD, studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu, fashion design with couturiers including Edwar Sene, and Universität Heidelberg, while my father studied painting at École des Beaux-Arts and L’Académie de la Grand Chaumière in Paris.
Initially speaking an amalgamation of 5 languages, I learned to draw and paint alongside my father from an early age.
During 1949, in the ballroom of our Berkeley mansion “Elmwood House”, I watched my parents create, “Susie Keane’s Puppeteens”, “big eyed” wooden puppets, hand painted by Walter, with clothing designed and sewn by Barbara. Adorned in an ornately illustrated box, accompanied by a book and language record set, these sold in San Francisco, New York and London, at high end department and toy stores including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, I Magnin and FAO Schwartz, as seen in this 1951 edition of UK’s House & Garden magazine.
In 1950 my mother Barbara became department head of dress design at UC Berkeley, while Walter painted full time. I observed my father’s friendship with Berkeley painter Robert Watson to be a profound influence on both my own and Walter’s evolving style, as he shifted his early focus from street scenes and nudes, to ominous ethereal imagery of exaggerated perspective.
After my parents filed for divorce in 1953, my father and I met Peggy (Margaret Doris Hawkins Ulbrich), during an exhibition of Walter’s paintings.
At that time, Mrs Ulbrich, a former New York baby furniture factory worker, made her living painting names on neckties, in cooperation with her husband Frank, supplemented by quick realistic portrait sketches of passers by at street fairs. None of her work to date had “big eyes”.
Soon, Mrs Ulbrich moved in with my father, and he took her on as his “Eliza Doolittle” and artistic apprentice.
Later, Mrs Ulbrich filed for a divorce from her husband Frank, and swiftly married my father in 1955. Her daughter Jane moved in, and she and Margaret learned to paint under my father’s tutelage. I witnessed the evolution of their artistic process.
Walter encouraged Margaret to develop a style beyond realism, educating and immersing her in the works of old masters for inspiration. She was a slim brunette, wearing a blonde wig. Her initial art consisted of idealized self portraits of slender ladies exclusively featuring small almond shaped eyes, like her own.
My father would often impart to us, his vast knowledge of color, perspective, texture, artistic techniques, art history, etc, repeatedly impressing upon us, the vital impact of “the eyes”. His guidance made a strong impression on me as my own work evolved.
My father was an avid photographer, using a cutting edge Hasselblad. A very large opaque projector was purchased for Margaret, set up in a dark room adjoined to the sunny painting studio. With this tool, a highly detailed image could be projected on canvas from a photograph. A skilled illustrator, Margaret was able to trace a portrait in 15 minutes. This projection method has frequently been utilised in art forgery, as it facilitates replication of fine brush strokes.
Though her initial paintings were primitive, Margaret demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for mimicry, and quickly learned to paint with exceptional precision.
While her execution was flawless, Margaret never showed any aptitude for originality, and her main body of work consisted of Modigliani pastiches blended with other borrowed influences, supplemented by a series of commissioned photorealistic portraits.
My father, beginning with his established bar scene series, occasionally engaged her new found skills to assist him on paintings entirely of his own concept, design and creative authorship. He openly publicised her contributions to his works, proudly promoting her name. Their artist/assistant relationship was never a secret during the years they worked together, their early collaborative works signed “Margaret and Walter KEANE” and MW KEANE, with independent works signed W KEANE and KEANE, M Keane and MDH Keane.
Margaret used very soft sable brushes, along with a sable fan brush to blend her colours. This results in a very thin layer of paint (no texture) which takes only few days to dry. From early on, it was disclosed to the press that Margaret added supplementary brush strokes to the figures of some of Walter’s paintings.
Over time, she adopted his “big eye” motif, gradually incorporating it into her own Modigliani-style work.
As a professional fine oil painter, intimately familiar with the historic body of work for both artists, and a first hand witness to the creation and evolution of these works, I am uniquely qualified to offer an artistic analysis of the autonomous and collaborative elements of the works of Margaret McGuire and Walter Keane. I also had the opportunity to examine Walter’s work in great detail while performing an archival restoration of “Alone” in the late 80s.
Much of Walter’s work predominantly features rough textured brush strokes and imperfections, often using a palette knife, a conscious and deliberate use of contrasting cool and warm colour scheme, exaggerated perspective that stretches on to infinity, sparse asymmetrical balanced composition with clean silhouettes emphasizing negative space, the background frames the subject and draws the viewer’s eye using leading lines, use of strong shadow and highlight.
Margaret’s work features smooth blended precision brush strokes, a rainbow of primary colors, flat two dimensional backgrounds, crowded symmetrical composition, the subjects are homogenous with the background, the dense background interrupts competes and merges with the overlapping subjects, monotone lighting, understated or void of shadows.
Walter’s work is also structurally and stylistically distinct from Margaret’s later homages attempting to approximate his art.
More importantly however, it is vital to mention that Walter was not a violent man, nor a bully. If anything, he was the most joyful and gentle person I’ve known. Margaret’s depiction of death threats, discord and abuse are entirely fictitious. Though, I have no doubt my father’s philandering was a high price for her to pay for fame and affluence.
Towards the end of Walter and Margaret’s marriage, my father met Joan on a United Airlines flight to New York.
Upon learning of his courtship, a woman scorned, Margaret promptly moved to Hawaii in 1964 with married father of 10, publicist/reporter Dan McGuire. The next year, 1965, Walter and Margaret divorced. Following Dan’s divorce, Margaret remarried in 1966.
In 1969 Walter married Joan. I had been exceptionally close to my father up to that point. I heard little from him thereafter. Their daughter Chantal was born in 1970, followed by the birth of their son Sascha in 1973. My heartbreak over this abrupt transition led to our estrangement, which lasted the majority of his remaining years. I can only imagine Margaret’s false claims stem from a similar bitter heartbreak, financial distress, or both.
Regardless of their personal differences, compelling each to later discredit the other, Walter, was indeed the one to initially conceive and create “big eye” art, long before he met Margaret. First and foremost, he was an ideas man. From his crude beginnings, Margaret’s blossoming technical skills contributed to an evolved quality that celebrated his vision, and together they manifested a result which commercially exceeded a level of success greater than what either artist was able to achieve on their own, before or since.
Though uncelebrated, Walter had a diverse body of work that expanded well beyond the confines of his “waif” theme.
I don’t doubt the film took some liberties, and in fact it does seem almost comically one-sided. But it’s hard for me to get past the fact that Walter couldn’t paint a big eye, or even attempt one when asked, if he had indeed been the first to “conceive and create” big eye art. Also, I tend to be inherently mistrustful of anyone who tells me the name of the architect of her childhood home and how many languages she speaks apropos of nothing, but that’s just me.
Drew Benton Is In Cold Storage
Posted on August 14, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
Two hours ago (8/13/24) Detective Hostrum called me and named the family members she tried to get a hold of, by relation, and not name. She had me call Arizona Affordable Funeral Home. I was told Drew Benton has been in cold storage since she took her life on July 23, 2024. Is this twenty-one days?
When I heard Drew Benton was dead, my first thought was to blame myself for not letting her know what a beautful soul her mother was, and what a greater soul we were, a brother and sister who brught beauty into the world – against all odds! My landlady saw the large seascape I did at 13th. Street when I was living with The Loading Zone, and said she would take it home as payment for the rent we owed her. We owed her four hundred dollars. If she only knew. She should be dead now. Christine Wandel fell in love with me while she watched me work on this masterpiece.
It is 10:51 A.M. and I still have not got a callback from Detective Hostrum. Rosemary told me Christine called her from the Getty mansion and said;
“I’m staying the night with the Gettys, and, I don’t know who I am anymre!”
Do the police know who Drew is? Her father did a mural for Gordon and Anne Getty, and is why they stayed the night. Garth sued his friends for later painting over it. Garth was furious. It was a historic part of his reseme’. He painted murals for Hollywood Stars. That ended the friendship with the largest collectors of art – in the world!
The Stuttmeister owned an estate on Berlin Road in Germany and were
Free-thinkers, also known as the Forty-Eighters.after the thousands
of Europeans who fled Europe after a revolt against royalty and the
Catholic church, failed. The Stuttmeisters fled to Chile and then
came to San Francisco where they would be listed in the `Who’s Who In
San Francisco’ and `San Francisco Pioneer Families’. Doctor
Stuttmeister married Auguste Janke, the daughter of the co-founder of
Belmont California, Carl (Charles) Janke who owned a theme park he
titled `Tanforan’. Belmont historians say Tanforan was a village in
Germany, but recent research suggests the Janke family allowed the
Turnverein Society to hold gymnastic events here on the weekends. A
citation in the Daughters of the American Revolution says Carl Janke
brought six portable houses around the Cape in 1850, and erected them
in Belmont in hope of selling them to Forty-Niners that had struck it
rich in the gold fields. Two of these portable homes were moved to
Delores Street in the Mission district, and are listed as the two
oldest homes in San Francisco. One of the homes was bought by Count
Leonetto Cipriani, a Italian Senator and a relative of Napoleon.
Anniversary of Getty Villa
Posted on June 16, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
Today is Father’s Day. I’m sure my niece, Drew Benton, misses her father, Garth Benton, who did the murals for the Getty Villa that is celebrating 50th. birthday. Two days ago I discovered John Moffitt helped my brother-in-law with the Getty murals, and many murals they did for Movie Stars.
John Presco
50 Years of the Getty Villa Museum
As it evolved from a private estate to a vibrant hub for antiquity, the Getty Villa Museum became a beloved Los Angeles institution
Topics
By Erin MigdolJan 30, 2024
50 Years of the Getty Villa Museum
Body Content
To the Los Angeles Times art critic, it was “an incredibly eccentric extravaganza.”
To visitors interviewed by a New York Times reporter, it was “gorgeous, just marvelous” and “an intellectual Disneyland.” But to founder J. Paul Getty, the Getty Villa was simply “what I felt a good museum should be, and it will have the character of a building that I would like to visit myself.”
Since opening to the public in 1974, the Villa has inspired passion—from visitors, who drive up Pacific Coast Highway to spend a day among its immersive architecture and artwork, and from staff, who enjoy its intimate, family-like atmosphere and commitment to bringing the ancient world alive. Where else in Los Angeles can you peruse treasures of the ancient world and gaze out at the shimmering ocean?
As the Villa celebrates its 50th anniversary, we journeyed back to its early days as a collector’s seaside retreat and traced some of the most memorable moments in its colorful history. Let’s raise a chalice to the next 50 years!
Here
23 April 2013
In Memoriam: Garth Benton
| Mural by Garth Benton in the Outer Peristyle at the Getty Villa, Malibu CA. via Flickr |
This week I was saddened to learn of the passing of a great muralist, Mr. Garth Benton, an internationally recognized artist who was well known for his stylish first-century style trompe l’oeil decoration of the magnificent Getty Villa in Malibu, California.
Mr. Benton “died a after with battle cancer” in May of 2012. I am surprised I did not see it reported anywhere and I only figured it out after I noticed that his website had gone down and began making inquiries. Being a pre-internet personality Mr. Benton was not widely mentioned on the web, but his work was nevertheless world-class, and very well-known in its day.
I had the pleasure of working on a project with Garth Benton many years ago when he came to San Francisco to paint some spectacular Chinoiserie murals in a private residence here. He had arrived in town with inexplicably blank wallpaper apparently intending to paint the murals on site, but with no help and nowhere near enough time. I got a desperate call from the wallpaper hanger (who knew I also paint in this style) and rather than ask what the heck had gone wrong, out of respect for this great master painter I put my nearly entire studio at Mr. Benton’s disposal – scaffolding, buckets, tarps, ladders, brushes, and as many assistants as I could round up – and we all learned a lot from him while helping him complete his commission, some of the crew often working until 3 AM or even all night, trying to meet the deadline. While we painted, we were regaled with entertaining stories about his many celebrity clients and amazing jobs he’d done over the years. It was exhausting and exciting and the job was truly beautiful.
A couple of years later Mr. Benton made headlines for suing his clients, Ann and Gordon Getty, for having painted over one of his older murals in their San Francisco home, which he had hoped to photograph for a glossy catalogue raisonné of his work. The mural had been painted on canvas and could easily have been removed, but the Gettys had not realized this when they redecorated, and had to settle a large amount of money on him for the error. While I felt deeply over the heartbreaking loss of the artwork, the case made me cringe: suing an otherwise supportive client likely didn’t help his future business. The mural is still gone and the book was never published.
We exchanged a few emails over the years, but regrettably never did get to meet again.
So I offer this short tribute to Mr. Garth Benton, to be remembered for his fine work, and his influence on a generation of muralists.
The Getty Family Tree
Posted on June 20, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
Gordon Getty and Gavin Newsom attend an event benefiting the UCSF Childrens Hospital in 2010. (Drew Altizer)
Here, is the Gavin Newsom connection to the Getty and Pelosi family;
You will find a genealogy that shows Michael Wilding, saying “Liz Taylor’s son” – and that’s it! Was this deliberate, or, are folks plain stupid? The Carl Janke family, who founded Belmont, are in the Getty tree. Founders of a swank city is a feather in the Getty cap. Two Gettys were Anglophiles. One was married to the actress, Talitha Getty, who I place next to Liz – and all the actors in her Rosy tree.
John Presco
Garth Benton
Posted on June 21, 2012 by Royal Rosamond Press
Garth Benton was married to Christine Rosamond Benton and they born, Drew Benton. The Benton family artwork is being shown at the Carmel Art Institute.
Christine Rosamond Limited Editions at Carmel Art Institute
When: Friday, June 1, 2012, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Carmel Art Institute, Carmel
Cost: Not available
Age limit: Not available
Categories: Art (opening), Community
Rosamond images are displayed in a unique miniature format, along with work from the first collection of Artist Drew Benton, Christine’s daughter, and art by renowned muralist Garth Benton.
5-8pm opening; collection runs through June 23 11am-2pm Wed-Sat. Carmel Art Institute, 3728 The Barnyard, Carmel. RSVP. 309-0126,
Garth Benton, a Los Angeles native who moved to Carmel in 1981, studied art at UCLA and Art Center College of Design. He found his artistic niche when he saw an 18th-Century-style mural at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
“I was 22 at the time, and I knew that was what I wanted to do,” he says. “I’ve always loved art history, so it was perfect.”
Rather than pursue a trademark look of his own, he learned to emulate art of many different periods. “My style is not to have my own style. Instead, I assimilate characteristics of the period I’m depicting,” he says. “Here at the Getty, the murals are part of the ambience. Nobody is supposed to say they are better than the art in the museum.”
The Getty murals are re-creations of paintings discovered in a country house near Pompeii and now in the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Norman Neuerberg, a scholar of Greek and Roman antiquities, researched the motifs, which Benton executed in acrylic paint on the plaster walls.
Water damage, concrete shrinkage and seismic movement have caused cracks and flaking in the murals over the past two decades. Returning to the Getty this past summer, Benton has filled fissures and repainted damaged areas of the most elaborately decorated garden wall. During the coming year he will refurbish remaining sections.
Repair work might seem to be a bit of a bore, but Benton is delighted with the project. “This is like going home,” he says.
Christine Rosamond Presco Benton
Posted on June 21, 2012 by Royal Rosamond Press
Christine was not aware she was related to Philip Boileau when she died in 1994, nor was anyone she knew. I came upon the ‘Painter of Fair Women’ when doing our family genealogy. What my discovery does is raise my sister out of the commercial morass her fledging gift was cast into by those who beheld dollar signs dancing around the heads of the beautiful women she rendered – like cherubs from hell!
Philip was the son of Susan Benton the sister of Jessie Benton. Both sisters lived in Paris. They held salons in this capital of European culture, and in Newark and San Francisco. If there is such a thing as a creative celestial salon for Artists and Poets who have left the planet, then here is a list of kindred souls who have left a great part of themselves behind.
Philip Boileau
Thomas Hart Benton
Christine Rosamond Benton
Garth Benton
Royal Rosamond
Shannon Rosamond, Drew Benton, and myself, are alive and rendering works of art and writing poetry. Being creative is the family strategy for survival. In the spriti of the Benton sisters, let us consider our kindred a living Benton salon where our children of the future will come for inspiration.
Yesterday, Jeremy Dundon, and his six year old daughter, Jasmine, came to my house for a visit. In compiling this slide show above, I noticed how much Jasmine looks like Muffy, our kindred on the Wieneke branch. There is a Rosamond titled ‘Jessie’ and ‘Bree’ the daughters of Garth Benton. ‘Garden Child’ is my nephew, Cean Presco, the son of my brother, Mark Presco.
A year ago my sister Vicki called me and wanted to make amends, and go forward. She told me our aunt Lillian had died, and Mark had disappeared himself. I conclude that this family disunity is just an illusion, because there exist a dichotomy in regards to all those who create, being, no matter how isolated, we are bid to show-off our creations. For family members who are not artists and poet, I suggest you look to the children you brought into the world as your finest work, and understand they are immortal, as they bare God’s Gifts into a creation greater then ourselves.
Then there are those artists (who are not our kindred) who were influenced by Rosamond’s beautiful women. Here is a family that has taken on a life of its own, and are captured in a beautiful family tree, forever.
Let all members of my family look upon their good influences, and own the courage to be happy.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2012
Christine Rosamond Benton was born in Vallejo California October 24,
1947. Christine is the second child of four born to Victor William
Presco, and Rosemary Rosamond, the granddaughter of the Back to the
Earth writer and Poet, Royal Rosamond.. Royal married Mary Magdalene
Wieneke and was the proprietor of Ventura’s first general store. The
beautiful Rosamond women grew up a hundreds yards from the Pacific
Ocean and can be titled the Quintessential California Girls.
Christine employed several family members as models, including her
young nephews.
Before Rosemary and her three sisters reached their teens, Royal
moved to the Ozarks (Eminence Missouri) to write about the Scotch-
Irish Hillbillies that would make the artist Thomas Hart Benton
famous. Christine would marry Thomas’s cousin, the artist and
muralist, Garth Benton. They would have one child, Drew Benton, who
is the child we see in Rosamond’s `Beach’ being led by Christine’s
artistic hand along the seashore. Here is the hand that drew, that
beckoned many women to take charge of their life, overcome all
obstacles, and realize their dreams. On March 24, 1994, Drew and
Christine were swept off a dramatic cliff at Rocky Point near Carmel.
In a heroic attempt to save her daughter, which she just managed to
do, this world famous artist was swept out to sea and drowned.
In 1953 Christine and her family moved into the Victorian home of
William Broderick located on the corner of 13th. Avenue, and East
29th. Street in Oakland. William had married Alice Stuttmeister, the
daughter of Doctor Frederick William Stuttmeister, a dentist who
lived (or had an office) at 315 Sutter Street.. This address is
listed in `Who’s Who in Art’ and is located in the heart of San
Francisco’s Gallery area.
The Stuttmeister owned an estate on Berlin Road in Germany and were
Free-thinkers, also known as the Forty-Eighters.after the thousands
of Europeans who fled Europe after a revolt against royalty and the
Catholic church, failed. The Stuttmeisters fled to Chile and then
came to San Francisco where they would be listed in the `Who’s Who In
San Francisco’ and `San Francisco Pioneer Families’. Doctor
Stuttmeister married Auguste Janke, the daughter of the co-founder of
Belmont California, Carl (Charles) Janke who owned a theme park he
titled `Tanforan’. Belmont historians say Tanforan was a village in
Germany, but recent research suggests the Janke family allowed the
Turnverein Society to hold gymnastic events here on the weekends. A
citation in the Daughters of the American Revolution says Carl Janke
brought six portable houses around the Cape in 1850, and erected them
in Belmont in hope of selling them to Forty-Niners that had struck it
rich in the gold fields. Two of these portable homes were moved to
Delores Street in the Mission district, and are listed as the two
oldest homes in San Francisco. One of the homes was bought by Count
Leonetto Cipriani, a Italian Senator and a relative of Napoleon.
The Count did some extensive additions, and in 1864, William
Ralston `The Man Who Built San Francisco’ purchased Cipriani’s villa,
and did further remodeling. Ralston Hall was titled `The White House
of the West’ and was the meeting place for many California artists
and writers. Mark Twain and Bret Hart were amongst the Bohemians who
found cultural sanctuary in a house put together with screws. William
Ralston was instrumental in founding the San Francisco Art
Association that was located on Pine Street overlooking the
California Stock exchange. Members of the Bohemian Club met in the
same building. Here one could find Joaquin Miller and Bret Hart who
was the discovery of Jesse Benton the wife of the Pathfinder, John
Fremont, whom the city of Fremont California was named after.
Joaquin Miller lived in the Oakland Hills above the Stuttmeister farm
and orchard located in the city of Fruitvale that would later be
incorporated into the city of Oakland. Miller was titled the `Poet of
the Sierras’. His farm was called `The Heights’ and was a Mecca for
California artists and poets. This eccentric Bohemian was friends of
William Broderick and would accompany Melba Charlotte Broderick, the
mother of Victor Presco, to San Francisco where Melba met her
husband, Hugo Presco, a professional gambler in the Barbary Coast.
Miller carried the infant father of Rosamond on these adventures that
proved too much for Melba who divorced Hugo when Victor, Melba’s only
child, was three years of age. Joaquin Miller was invited to England
by the Pre-Raphaelite poet and artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and
had dinner at his house with most of the Brotherhood present. The
four Presco children would converse with Miller’s daughter on the
phone, she calling herself `The White Witch’..
Victor Presco operated Acme Produce out of a Victorian warehouse
located at Fourth and Webster street in Jack London Square. His two
sons, Mark and Greg Presco, began to work the summers with their
father when they were eight and nine. Victor dreamed of becoming a
millionaire via a family owned business. He had turned down an offer
made by his Stuttmeister aunts who wanted Vic to run their family
owned moving company. Vic had gone to Oakland High School with the
two Jenson boys that Melba took into her home after their parents
died in a automobile accident. Jackie Jenson played for the New York
Yankees.
Victor emulated Jack London and modeled his life after London’s
novel `The Sea Wolf’. This is why Vic joined the Merchant Marines
after graduating from the San Francisco Naval Academy. While on
leave in Seattle, he met Rosemary Rosamond, who was in the Waves. Due
to her high I.Q. Rosemary worked in a code room spying on the
Russians. Rosemary had dated the Errol Flynn when she was eighteen.
Mary Rosamond chased Errol his friend out of the Rosamond house in
Ventura when they came serenading just before sunrise.
It was these romantic tales, along with the fine art and Victorian
furniture at the Broderick house, that gave Christine’s brother, Greg
Presco the clue that the Prescos were destined for something more
refined then being Lumpers in Oakland’s Produce Market. At eleven
John Gregory Presco showed talent as an artist. When he was twelve,
one of his paintings was chosen to tour the world in a Red Cross
show. Gregory’s watercolor of the produce marked was chosen for the
same show when he was sixteen. This creative gift was attributed to
Royal Rosamond who became estranged from his four beautiful daughters.
In Junior High School, Greg formed an alliance with his childhood
friend, Bill Arnold, who was an artist and playwright. These two
young Bohemians began to turn the Presco home into Art Colony, and
Bohemian Sanctuary after their heroes, Jack London, and George
Serling. Rosemary was raising her children on her own after she
divorced Vic. The house on San Sebastian street in Oakland became a
wonderland for children and many young teenage friends. Christine’s
oldest broth, Mark Presco, was the designated Parent in what could be
considered a commune.
After moving to West Los Angeles in 1962, Greg was determined to
become a famous artist so he could move his family back to San
Sebastian Avenue. Greg dropped out of High School and began to do
large canvases. When Christine would come home from school, Greg
would be waiting for her, they often sitting in the breakfast room
looking at art books. Christine would give Greg credit for her
overnight-success, she thanking him for showing what was good and bad
art.
After leaving his job at May Company, Greg went back up north. He had
gone to live in the Village in New York after seeing an article on
the first Hippies in Life magazine. In San Francisco he moved in with
his childhood friend, Nancy Van Brasch/Hamren who became a Merry
Prankster. Nancy would later work for the Kesey family and have a
yogurt named after her. When Nancy, Greg, and the daughters of the
famous Pasadena artist, Jryl Zorthian, founded the `Idle Hands’
commune in San Francisco, Christine came there to live for a few
months. Christine had dated Brian McLean of the group `Love’. while
attending University High School in W.L.A. Melinda Frank was
Christine’s good friend, she later becoming the subject of a
serigraph she rendered for the family partnership.
In 1971 Christine Rosamond Presco took up a pencil and brush and
began to put her beautiful woman out in the world. She was living in
Santa Monica, living on welfare and barely supporting her oldest
child, Shannon. Not able to get a job, or a babysitter, she looked at
the minor success of her brother Greg as a way to improve he lot in
life. Entering one of her first oil painting in the Westwood Art
Show, a art promoter took note when Priscilla Presley purchased it.
Signing her to a bad contract, Ira Cohen of Ira Roberts Gallery in
Hollywood did not tell Rosamond how famous she was, her renderings of
beautiful, hip, independent women, could be purchased all over the
world. Leaving Ira, Rosamond set out to take control of her art for
the first time.
In 1970, Rosamond’s brother had announced he was a Pre-Raphaelite
artist, and let his hair grow long in emulation of Rossettit and
Swineburn. While walking on the Venus pier with Christine and her
boyfriend, Michael Dundon, a extremely beautiful young woman came out
of a darkened doorway and asked if she could walk with them. It was
after 2:00 A.M. in the morning. Rena Christianson had come from
Nebraska with her boyfriend, but they had gotten separated on Venus
Beach. Rena’s three older sisters were models, and one of them
appeared on the cover of Look Magazine in a bikini. The article was
about the California Bikini craze. Rena became Greg’s cherished
model, and when he came to visit Rosemary and his family, he showed
photographs of the large painting he did of Rena. While Christine
looked over her brother’s shoulder, she wondered if she could do
better. Rena was their Muse.
In 1986 Rosamond married Garth Benton. In 1988 the Bentons formed a
partnership with Lawrence Chazen, a financial advisor for the Getty
family, and partner in the PlumpJack restaurants, along with the
Pelosis and Gavin Newsom. Garth would work on a mural at the old
Getty Museum in Malibu for nine months along with Shannon, who along
with Drew, inherited this important artistic legacy, and this
profound California family history.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2002
Laura’s Glance
Posted on June 10, 2012 by Royal Rosamond Press
Last night I read at Tsunami Books. No one told me it was going to be an erotic poetry slam. I brought Laura’s Glance and explained to the large audience that when I was growing up, when a couple got wet in black and white movies, it meant they were going to have sex. If they found shelter from a sudden storm under a pavilion, it meant they had achieved coitus. Then, came the kiss, the sound of a thousand strings, and they were in love!
Wow! I can’t wait!
Once I was off the stage a woman read her poem about lesbian sex with a dildo. Then a pro from Oakland took us where I did not care to go, and I left.
That is Izzy on stage, and Kenny Reed on drums. They left before the real naughty female exhibitionist took over. They would have made Lenny Bruce – blush!
Laura’s Glance
By
Jon Presco
Copyright 2011
More exciting then the sight
Of my dapple mare
running wild
in the spring grassy rain
near the crags of Londonderry
was the sight of my Laura
looking sideways at me
Like the warmth rising
from within my woolen coat
soaked through in a sudden
shower
are my feelings rising
for this Irish Lass
Who through the veil
of other lifetimes
ignored the patient attention
of her handsome suitors
Lining up to behold her
they showed me their profiles
like greyhounds
sensing someone outside
the hunt;
had caught her fancy
Their young lust made more noble
In the presence of her perfection
Laura’s animation
had cast a spell over our town
This shiny bright being
conducted this most ancient play
with eyes that danced and sparkled
Like beams of light
caught on a breaking wave
Or gems captured
in a brook that trickle
out of a dark shaded wood
There was a silver sheen
under her wide-set eyes
Her long lashes
were like banners
waving
Sending errant knights
on foreign crusades
For there could only be
one champion of her heart
Sensing my eyes
were upon her,
More then weighing her beauty
but her young womanly soul
She bid her long tapered arms
to dance
As playful as swans
who mate for life
She teased us all
with her promise
that one day
one of us would have her
But until that vow
little girls admired
the fine curls in her
dark brown hair
that framed
her joyful smile
that flirted with everything
that beat blood through
an Irish heart.
She was our drummer
our flute
and the setting sun that
Chose to break thru
The heavy ceiling
of our darkest clouds
no gray pall
Nor sorrow
ever cast a shadow
on our Laura
Some claim she
gave them a wondrous wink
But when she
turned that day
to look fully at me
There was no smile on her lips
no movement of her arms
that had fallen to her side
to allow me to see
I was the one
And never again would
my Lovely Laura
look sideways at me
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Gettys sued over ruined mural
San francisco
San Francisco Examiner
Published August 1, 2000
This article was published more than 24 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.
CommentsShare
Artist Garth Benton says that if Gordon and Ann Getty didn’t want his mural in their mansion any more, it would have been easy to detach it from the wall.
Instead, he said, they painted over the $500,000 mural, violating a rarely used California law barring the destruction of fine art.
Mr. Benton responded by filing a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court. A Getty family spokesman said experts are working to restore the painting.
The world renowned artist wants damages for the ruined painting, plus his lawyers’ fees paid. Mr. Benton also wants punitive damages, which by state law would go to a California charitable or educational activity involving fine arts.
Getty family spokesman Larry Kamer confirmed that Mr. Benton’s mural had been painted over with “some other kind of paint,” not by a commissioned artist.
“Because Mrs. Getty has dedicated much of her life to the restoration and preservation of fine art, she is now working with experts to remove the paint from the mural and restore it to its original condition,” Mr. Kamer said.
The couple could not be reached for comment. Mr. Getty is the son of J. Paul Getty, who was one of the richest men in the world a generation ago.
Gordon Getty and his wife are fixtures in San Francisco high society; he splits his time between being a composer and a philanthropist.
“This case arises out of famed art collectors Ann Getty and Gordon Getty’s . . . intentional destruction of works of fine art, created by the well-known mural artist, Garth Benton,” states the lawsuit, which was filed last week.
The garden-style mural, which is three metres tall and 12 metres wide, was installed in the Gettys’ mansion in 1986. Mr. Benton, who lives in Alabama, said the mural was completed, then attached to the wall of the mansion.
A picture of the mural accompanying the complaint shows a painting of a balcony overlooking a field, with a monkey in the corner being fed by a young girl.
Mr. Benton says he called the Gettys in March, hoping to get a photograph of the work for listing in a new catalogue.
The lawsuit states: “Within the following week, Benton was advised by an assistant to the Gettys that the work had been painted over.”
Rosamond Press 
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