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With such a full, illustrious and adventurous life, Holzer has a lot to remember. Some of the items on display at the Norton didn’t make the cut. “Some films and photographs I don’t remember at all,” she freely admits. Holzer remembers growing up in Palm Beach during the 1940s and 1950s. In those days, if you didn’t come from the right background, no matter your bona fides, you were not fully accepted into Palm Beach society. Her father, Carl Brukenfeld, built the Palm Beach Country Club because, as a Jew, he was excluded from the island’s existing clubs. Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, believes that Warhol – from a blue-collar Catholic family – and Holzer – with her wealthy Jewish background – became friends in part because neither felt as if they belonged. “Jane and Andy bonded because of their outsider status against the WASP establishment,” he says. “Beyond that, they were fun, quirky and avant garde, so it was natural that they would be drawn to one another.” “It was fun,” Holzer says wistfully. “I miss having fun.” Century Village real estate developer and philanthropist, Irwin Levy, 88, recalls Holzer from childhood. “We called her Honey Bruckenfeld,” the former Sunday school teacher says. “Her father was the largest giver to the Jewish community. He was extremely charitable and her mother was very elegant. Jane was a nice young woman at 13; cute and smart.” Holzer was smart enough to get out of Warhol’s Factory when it started to attract drugs and crazies. According to Shiner, who has known Holzer now for many years, she hasn’t lost her edge. “Jane is exactly the same person now as she was, just smarter and savvier.” Today Holzer’s main interests are family, work, real estate and art – not necessarily in that order. Once dressed head-to-toe in Chanel, Holzer still loves fashion and admires fashion designers Betsy Johnson (who she wore back in the ‘60s), Michael Kors and Anna Sui. She’s dedicated to her two grandchildren – aspiring actors Harry, 15, and Emma, 17. Holzer celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs but admits she’s not religious. “I don’t go to synagogue,” she says. “I’m known to be quiet on the High Holy Days and love to go to a Shabbat dinner, if I’m invited.” She recalls fond memories of her mother, Helen Lande, who was instrumental in the founding of the Palm Beach chapter of Hadassah. “My mom and aunt were big Hadassah people,” she says. “They worked hard to raise money for Hadassah Hospital.” When the organization lost money to Bernie Madoff, Holzer was very upset. “That makes me angry. That’s bad,” she says in a voice that is still girlish. She would love to go to Israel, but hasn’t found the time. “I’ve been busy working for the past 30 years,” she says. And she has no plans to retire. “She’s very dedicated,” says Beth Rudin DeWoody, a friend who has shared Thanksgiving and Seder dinners with Holzer as well as a collector, curator and president of the Rudin Family Foundation. “Jane is an astute businesswoman. She took over her father’s
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Jane Holzer with her grandchildren, Harry and Emma, at the Norton Museum of Art Gala
business and was savvy enough to understand the value of the Warhol paintings.” Holzer continues to collect artists she likes based on aesthetics. She admires pop artists Jeff Koons, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly and Claes Oldenburg, who, like Warhol, creates large images of everyday objects. She stays on top of the art scene in Miami and frequents Art Basel. “It’s incredible,” she says, “the art scene in Miami has grown so much.” Fate played a hand in Holzer’s life, but she took her opportunities and made the most of them. Living in the past may be tempting for someone with her dramatic experiences, but Holzer is fully ensconced in the present. Shiner of the Warhol Museum, notes, “Jane is philanthropic, devoted, fabulous at business and a loving mother and grandmother. She loves being surrounded by quirky personalities in the art and fashion world, and is quick to ‘call shenanigans’ (call out or label as bogus) on societal ills or poseurs. “In other words,” he says, “she is super cool.” b The To Jane, Love Andy: Warhol’s First Superstar exhibit at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach runs through May 25. For more information, call (561) 843-5196 or visit norton.org.
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