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 Manhattan townhouse.

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. He grew up in Upper Brookville, Long Island and graduated from Amherst College. 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.

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. Edey wrote the catalogue to the 1982 Frick exhibition ''French Clocks in North American Collections''. 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. Edey also collected and conducted research in other areas, notably Egyptology and Classical literature. He gave several works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art when he died, including sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Edey was gay 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''. 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." The diary is in the collection of the Frick but is not available to the public.

Selected publications

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References

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.

External links

Gallery of Edey bequest to FrickPublications by Edey in the Frick Art Reference Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edey, Winthrop Kellogg
American art collectors
Amherst College alumni
LGBT people from New York (state)
People associated with the Frick Collection
1938 births
1999 deaths
20th-century LGBT people