Winthrop Kellogg Edey

Winthrop Kellogg "Kelly" Edey (1938–1999) was a noted collector and horologist who lived in Manhattan, New York City. His well-regarded collection of timepieces is now in the Frick Collection. Edey is the subject of several Screen Tests by Andy Warhol and early Screen Tests were likely filmed at his Manhatta townhouse.

Winthrop Kellogg Edey
Born1938
Upper Brookville, New York
Died1999 (Age 61)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
OccupationCollector, scholar
Years active1960-1999
Known forScholarship of clocks

Life and career

Through his mother's family, Kelly was an heir of Morris W. Kellogg, founder of a major engineering and petroleum services company.[1] He grew up in Upper Brookville, Long Island and graduated from Amherst College.[1] His father, Maitland Edey, was an author and editor of Time-Life Books; his mother, Nancy Winthrop Edey was a psychiatrist and activist in the field of women's reproductive rights.[2]

Over five decades, beginning when he was a boy, Edey assembled a significant collection of clocks, watches and associated research materials that he donated to the Frick after his death. He was a noted scholar of timepieces, and executed repairs on his collection himself.[1] Edey wrote the catalogue to the 1982 Frick exhibition French Clocks in North American Collections.[3] His bequest to the Frick includes 39 timepieces, including André Charles Boulle's famed Barometer Clock, together with his library of horological and other materials.[4] Edey also collected and conducted research in other areas, notably Egyptology and Classical literature.[5] He gave several works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art when he died, including sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.[6]

Edey was gay[7] and part of New York City's cultural and artistic life; he was friendly with Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol, among others. Warhol's first Screen Tests were likely filmed at Edey's townhouse on West 83rd Street, Manhattan. Edey himself appears in several Screen Tests, as well as some versions of the Screen Test compilation, Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys.[8] He kept a diary that extensively documents his life in New York City and elsewhere over several decades, which has been described as "Proustian in its sweep and attention to detail."[1] The diary is in the collection of the Frick but is not available to the public.

Selected publications
  • Edey, Winthrop (1968). French Clocks. London: Littlehampton Book Services, Ltd. ISBN 9780289370568.
  • Edey, Winthrop (1982). French Clocks in North American Collections, exh. cat. New York: The Frick Collection. ISBN 978-0912114118.

References
  1. Thomas, Robert McG Jr. (28 February 1999). "Winthrop K. Edey, 61, Clock Enthusiast, Dies". The New York Times.
  2. Pace, Eric. "Dr. Helen Winthrop Edey, 86, Philanthropist and Psychiatrist". New York Times (29 September 1998).
  3. Edey, Winthrop (1982). French Clocks in North American Collections. New York: Frick Collection. ISBN 9780912114118.
  4. Andrewes, William J.H. (2001). The Art Of the Timekeeper: Masterpieces from the Winthrop Edey Bequest (exh. cat.). New York: The Frick Collection. ISBN 9780912114194.
  5. Reist, Inge (2001). Kelly Edey: In LIfe and In Memoriam, exhibition brochure (PDF). Frick Art Reference Library.
  6. "Winthrop Edey bequest search". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  7. Morrisroe, Patricia (1995). Mapplethorpe : A Biography (1st ed.). New York: Random House. pp. 236, 242, 293. ISBN 9780394576503.
  8. Angell, Callie (2006). Andy Warhol Screen Tests. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 42, 70. ISBN 9780810955394.

Further reading
  • William, J.H. Andrewes (2001). The Art of the Timekeeper: Masterpieces from the Winthrop Edey Bequest. New York: The Frick Collection.
  • Vincent, Clare (1972). Magnificent Timekeepers: An Exhibition of Northern European Clocks in New York Collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 30(4):155-165.
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