Amid Culture War Funding Cuts, Can Artist Foundations Save the Day?

Many successful people have time to plan their legacies, but the final months of Nancy Graves’ life were chaotic. In May 1995, the 55-year-old sculptor, painter and printmaker was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and five months later, she was dead. With no heirs, she had to decide quickly what to do with her belongings and wealth. Like many other artists with significant holdings of artwork and other assets, she created a nonprofit foundation through her will to shelter her estate from high death taxes.