Ben Heller, Powerhouse Collector Of Abstract Art, Has Died At 93

Heller blurred the line between collector and dealer – and caused an international incident because of it. “Heller’s sale of Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles to the National Gallery of Australia, then under construction in Canberra, the nation’s capital, was announced in September 1973. The news caused an uproar in the New York art world; in Australia it nearly brought down the Labor government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who had to sign off on the $2 million sale.” – The New York Times