Barbara "Basia" Piasecka Johnson (born Barbara Piasecka; February 25, 1937 – April 1, 2013) was a Polish
humanitarian,
philanthropist, art
connoisseur
A connoisseur (French traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator o ...
and
collector.
Early life
Piasecka Johnson was born in
Staniewicze near
Grodno,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
(now in
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
). Her father was a farmer. She graduated from
Wroclaw University with a
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in Art History. She left Poland in 1968, with $100 in her possession.
Career
Piasecka was hired as a cook by Esther Underwood Johnson, then wife of
John Seward Johnson I. She then worked as the Johnsons'
chambermaid.
One time seeing his admiration for one of the paintings he had bought, she said casually that he overpaid for it because it is not a picture of a master, but his disciple and by using the dates proved it. Johnson was shocked about her knowledge and expertise, and appointed her as consultant to his purchases of works of art. A year after she became Johnson's chambermaid, she became his
curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
for the Seward Johnson's art collection.
Personal life
During this time John Seward Johnson engaged in extramarital affairs with Piasecka Johnson. In 1971, he had divorced his second wife, Esther "Essie" Underwood Johnson, (who had hired Piasecka), and they married; none of Johnson's children were invited to the wedding. Trial witnesses brought to court by J. S. Johnson's children during the proceedings concerning his will asserted that Piasecka Johnson "often physically and emotionally abused her husband".
Piasecka Johnson said she was a devoted wife for 12 years of marriage.
She was the primary beneficiary of his will and received the bulk of her husband's fortune of $400 million after he died in 1983 ($ as of ).
Excluded from their father's will, Seward Johnson's six children sued on grounds that their father was not mentally competent at the time he signed the will. The case went to trial but was settled prior to return of a verdict, and the children were granted about 12% of the fortune, leaving Piasecka Johnson in control of the majority of the estate.
In 2007, Johnson was listed on the
Forbes 400
The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is pub ...
World's Richest People list with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion, making her the 149th richest person. She converted the family estate in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, named
Jasna Polana, into a golf course that is part of the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
-owned
Tournament Players Club
Tournament Players Club (TPC) is a chain of public and private golf courses operated by the PGA Tour. Most of the courses either are or have been hosts for PGA Tour events, with the remainder having frequently hosted events on the Korn Ferry Tour ...
franchise.
Johnson was involved in a number of charitable projects, especially in Poland, through the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation which she established in 1974.
[ Johnson founded a school in Gdańsk for ]autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
children, and donated to the church in Poland, and welfare centres.[
Johnson had homes in Italy and Poland, and lived the last years of her life in ]Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
.[ Johnson died in her native Poland in ]Sobótka
Sobótka (pronounced , german: Zobten am Berge) is a town in Wrocław County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Sobótka. Sobótka is located about southwest ...
, and was buried in Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
.
Paintings from Piasecka Johnson's art collection were displayed in Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
's Museum of the Chapel of Visitation
The Museum of the Chapel of Visitation (french: Museé de la Chapelle de la Visitation) is an art museum and Roman Catholic chapel in the Monaco-Ville ward of Monaco. The baroque chapel dates from the 17th-century.
From 1995, the museum was the ho ...
from 1995 to 2014. Her collection was removed from the chapel in May 2014 in preparation for its eventual sale at Christie's auction house in July 2014.
See also
* ''Johnson v. Johnson'' (1988, )
* ''Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune'' (1993, )
References
External links
Barbara Piasecka Johnson dead; Huffington Post
Obituary
Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation
In Polish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Barbara Piasecka
1937 births
2013 deaths
Polish art collectors
American art collectors
Women art collectors
Polish billionaires
American billionaires
American women philanthropists
American expatriates in Monaco
Female billionaires
Polish emigrants to the United States
Polish philanthropists
Barbara
University of Wrocław alumni
People from Byerastavitsa District