A Life of Purpose
Valerie Bryan Franklin
March 14, 1950 - July 20, 2020
Valerie Bryan Franklin – Art Dealer, Collector, Consultant, Benefactor, Philanthropist, businesswoman, and cherished family member and friend -- died peacefully on July 20 at her Woodland Hills, CA home.
Born to Harry A. and Ruth Franklin in Los Angeles, Valerie grew up immersed in the art world, surrounded by extensive, exquisite, and historically significant collections including African, Oceanic, modern and antique Asian, Latin American, and Pre-Columbian works. Her parents began collecting in 1938, and turned their home into a salon for pioneering scholars. The Franklins’ passion became a business when they opened the highly-respected Franklin Gallery, which became the Harry A. Franklin Gallery.
While following her father’s lead, Valerie paved her own path in the male-dominated art world with tenacity, and with the poise, intelligence, and ferocity necessary to achieve her own prominence. She attended Scripps College, Claremont, CA, and graduated from UCLA with a B.A. cum laude in Art History where she studied Primitive Art under the late Dr. Arnold Rubin. After graduation she served as Associate Director and then Director and Owner of the Harry A. Franklin Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA from 1971 through 1989. Throughout her career, corporations, museums and private collectors regularly engaged Valerie for her expertise as an art consultant.
In 1990, she retained Sotheby’s for a single owner sale entitled “Harry A. Franklin Family Collection of African Art.” That sale remains the most important single sale of primitive art ever. Her success buttressed her philanthropy in the art world. Notably, Valerie elevated her standing as Benefactor to the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, when she contributed an extraordinary collection of Oceanic Art to the museum. Of her donation Timothy Rub, Director, said, “One of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of Melanesian art, numbering over 1200 objects...Due to this donation, the Hood’s Museum of Art’s holdings in this area are among the largest to be found in public museums in the country and serve as a significant resource for exhibition, teaching, and research.”
Other recipients of Valerie’s gifts include, in part: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Denver Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, De Young Memorial Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, and Dallas Museum of Art. She has loaned pieces of her collection to these museums and to several Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Center for African Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among many others.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, fortunate attendees heard Valerie’s lectures at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for the Docents Council, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Friends of Ethnic Arts - San Francisco, and “The Expressions of Cameroon Art” Docent Training, and as Professor of African Art, Humanities Department, California School of Professional Psychology. During those years, she also served on the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles as Membership Chair, Program Chair and Executive Board member.
As a beloved family member and friend, Valerie was always fascinated by life and was endlessly fascinating herself. She was a captivating conversationalist, with far-reaching knowledge, experience, and insights that opened the awareness of those around her. She was generous and giving, fully committed to those she loved, and willing to share different approaches to life problems. She was insightful into the intentions of others, quick to spot a phony, and strong-willed. Valerie had a firm awareness of, and appreciation for, the beauty that graced each of the five senses. Altogether she was a woman of deep spiritual beliefs, intellect, and compassion for others, and she was a true gift to us and to life.
Valerie was pre-deceased by her parents, and is survived by her extended family and all those who love her.
A memorial service will take place at a later date.
"She was a captivating conversationalist, with
far-reaching knowledge, experience, and insights that opened the awareness of those around her."
Memorial Updates
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