In June 1972, Truman Capote tried to give journalist Gerald Clarke a Cartier watch during a Manhattan movie screening, but Clarke refused, prompting Capote’s fury. Clarke later returned the gift, leading to an irate call from Capote. Despite the initial refusal, Clarke became a close friend and received numerous gifts from Capote over the next twelve years, including dog figurines, literary memorabilia, and a large oil painting of a young Capote by James Whitney Fosburgh.
Clarke recalled that Capote offered the portrait years before his death, but he delayed picking it up for three weeks, eventually retrieving it in a Checker cab, believing Capote gave it to him to avoid being reminded of his younger, troubled self. The painting hung in Clarke’s Bridgehampton, N. Y., home for decades.
After Capote’s death in 1984, his longtime partner Jack Dunphy passed along additional mementos, including correspondence, photographs, decorative items, and house keys. Dunphy died six years later at age 77. Now, at 89, Clarke is selling most of the collection through Bellport, N.
Y.-based Cornell Auctions on Nov. 21 to get his affairs in order, offering an intimate view into Capote’s professional ambitions and domestic life.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing