Jonathan Demme selling off vast art collection

Director Jonathan Demme is auctioning off more than 900 pieces of his expansive art collection to raise funds for the continued earthquake recovery effort in Haiti. The Silence of the Lambs filmmaker wants to “streamline and simplify” his life after spending years picking up works by talented artists with little or no formal training.
Many of the items were bought during trips to the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince before the art co-operative was destroyed in the 2010 disaster.
Ninety per cent of Demme’s collection will be placed on display for a week-long exhibition before going under the hammer at Phildelphia, Pennsylvania’s Material Culture auction house on 29 and 30 March (14).
He tells the Associated Press, “You’re going to miss having them around, but they are making the right journey. This work is leaving storage and my walls and going out to find new homes.”
The collection is expected to raise more than $1 million (£625,000), a portion of which will be donated to charity.