The StarPhoenix: Picasso prints benefit charities

The following article featuring the art dealer and philanthropist Frederick Mulder (BA'64) appeared in the Jan. 30 edition of The StarPhoenix. Mulder will speak on Jan. 30 at 7: 30 p.m. at Convocation Hall, U of S. His talk is titled Prairies to Picasso.

Man makes philanthropy an art form
By Stephanie McKay, The StarPhoenix, January 30, 2012

Frederick Mulder with a full-sized linoleum cut reproduction of Picasso's Jacqueline, the artist's last wife.
Photograph by: Richard Marjan, The Starphoenix, The StarPhoenix

Frederick Mulder has gone from selling Christmas cards door to door in the small Prairie town of Eston to dealing in original Picasso prints, worth upwards of $3 million, around the world.

And though the University of Saskatchewan grad could be living an extravagant lifestyle, he actually donates huge chunks of his proceeds to charity and drives around London in an 18-year-old Volkswagen.

"My children have left home and I've always said to them 'I may not leave you with a lot of money, but I'll try to leave you with a better world.' They seem happy with that," he said in an interview at Saskatoon's James Hotel.

Mulder was born in Chatham, Ont., in 1943. When he was born, his father was a soldier in Halifax about to ship off to England in the Second World War. He returned to visit his son before going overseas in what would be the last the time the two would see each other. Mulder's father was wounded in France and later died in a British hospital.

When Mulder was six he moved with his mother, a Saskatchewan native, to the Prairie province. He grew up in Eston before going to the U of S for a degree in English. He then switched to philosophy and completed a master's degree and PhD at Brown University. He worked under the supervision of a professor at Oxford for his Brown doctorate, having gone in 1968 to the prestigious U.K. university to write his dissertation.

It was in England that Mulder discovered a love of collecting original prints, an art form he calls simple and unpretentious.

"They were the only works of art I could afford. I loved the process of collecting and I loved prints. They represent a democratization of collecting because they are originals in the sense that they're made from a block the artist directly worked on, but because they're printed in editions they're much more affordable," he said.

After completing his doctorate, Mulder decided to move to London to deal and collect prints rather than go into academic life. He had no idea if it would go well, but the transition to such a unique career was smooth for the young man, a fact he credits partly to growing up in a small town.

"The art world in London in the late '60s was quite class-ridden and I was a Prairie boy," he said. "But I was able to succeed partly because I came from a classless, small town. I was confident about being able to talk to anyone and I was oblivious about class distinctions. I just wandered in where someone more prudent wouldn't have thought to go."

Much like the prints he loves so much, Mulder is unpretentious.

Mulder gained useful contacts with Pablo Picasso's printers and even members of the Picasso family, and for the last 10 years has specialized in the Spanish artist's printmaking. His most notable sale was in 2007, when he sold a 1935 Picasso etching for more than $3 million, after which he donated 75 per cent of the proceeds to a charitable trust he founded.

He also founded The Funding Network, a charity that brings people together in an organized effort to raise money for a variety of organizations. TFN has now spread to several major cities, including Toronto. In 2008, he was named to a list of Britain's top philanthropists by British newspaper The Independent. The list also happened to feature Elton John.

It all started quite humbly though. Mulder bought his first Picasso print, a 1960 piece depicting circus horses and clowns called L'Ecuyere, for just 18 pounds.

He still owns that first piece but, somewhat surprisingly, doesn't have a huge collection of his own. Mulder prefers to the be channel.

"My joy has always been in having material go through me, in helping to build public and private collections. I've kept just a few things."

Meanwhile, if he wants, Mulder can see pieces he's had a hand in placing in major art museums around the world, including Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He's even placed pieces at the Mendel Art Gallery and Regina's MacKenzie Art Gallery. It is Mulder's hope to eventually bring a major Picasso print collection to Saskatchewan.

Mulder is in Saskatoon for a talk at the university entitled From the Prairies to Picasso. It won't be an academic talk, he said, but rather a look at his journey from a small Prairie town to doing something he never could have imagined as a child. He will also announce a donation to the university. The talk takes place tonight at Convocation Hall and is open to the public.

PRAIRIES TO PICASSO

Frederick Mulder talk Today, 7: 30 p.m. Convocation Hall, U of S Open to the public

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