Welcome home, Edward!

Photo: Edward Melcarth with his painting, “The Last Supper,” 1960s. Forbes Collection, Faulkner Morgan Archive.

Lexington, KY- Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., announces a substantial gift from The Forbes Collections. Over 100 works of art, along with photographs and ephemera, by Kentucky-born painter and sculptor Edward Melcarth were gifted to the archive earlier this month. 

“Malcolm Forbes was an enthusiastic collector and friend of Ed Melcarth,” writes his son, Christopher Forbes. “He began acquiring Melcarth’s work in the early 1960s and after the artist’s death in 1973, he purchased the bulk of his estate. My siblings and I all share our father’s admiration for Ed’s work. We know that Pop would be pleased that through this gift to the Faulkner Morgan Archive a large corpus of Melcarth’s work will be available for generations of enthusiasts and scholars to come.” 

“It’s thrilling, really,” said Faulkner Morgan Archive President, Jonathan Coleman, Ph.D. “This generous gift from The Forbes Collections, along with previously acquired pieces, makes the Faulkner Morgan Archive the largest repository of works by Edward Melcarth—an important, understudied artist with deep ties to Kentucky.” 

Coleman, a historian, stumbled across Melcarth while researching Kentucky artist Henry Faulkner, the archive’s namesake. “Faulkner mentions Melcarth, his roommate in New York, in a number of letters. As I tracked down Melcarth, I was blown away by his obvious talent, his wide-ranging influence, and his captivating biography. Here is a Kentuckian with a story to tell.” 

Melcarth was born Edward Epstein to a wealthy Jewish family in Louisville, Kentucky in 1914. Educated at Harvard and in Paris, Melcarth’s work was acquired by numerous museums and private collectors, including Peggy Guggenheim, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams. Noted collectors Malcolm Forbes and his son, Christopher Forbes, amassed a large collection of Melcarth’s work. 

An open communist and homosexual, Melcarth was usually at odds with his time, and his art was no exception. “Melcarth railed against the popularity of abstract expressionism, creating his own niche as a figurative painter working on a monumental scale. Melcarth’s typical subject matter was contemporary working-class men depicted in a heroic style, an influence of his communist politics and sexuality,” Coleman said. “This gift comes at an opportune time. Scholars are only now beginning to seriously examine the incredible realists who were working in the midcentury, and Melcarth was one of the best.” 

In 2018, The Forbes Collections sponsored two Melcarth exhibits in Kentucky through a partnership with the Faulkner Morgan Archive. The shows at University of Kentucky Art Museum and Institute 193 were the first Melcarth exhibits in Kentucky since his one-man show at The Speed Art Museum in the early 1950s. 

“The two shows last year were incredibly well received, attracting art historians from New York and curators from Boston. Having a large body of Melcarth’s work available for study will help bring about a greater understanding and appreciation for his immense talent. We’re honored the Forbes have entrusted us with such a gift.”