Molding company founder and art collector makes headlines in Chicago

Newspapers in Chicago — and the global art community — are giving prominent play to a major donation by Stefan Edlis and his wife, Gael Neeson, to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The pair agreed to donate 42 major works valued at $400 million — including paintings, sculptures and photographs by the likes of Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein.

One expert called the works “some of the highlights of mid-20th-century art.”

What's the plastics connection? Edlis is the founder of injection molder Apollo Plastics Corp.

Edlis and his family came to the United States in 1941, fleeing Nazi persecution in Austria. He got a job as a toolmaker after World War II, and started Apollo in Chicago in 1965.

Political activist

Plastics News' Steve Toloken visited Apollo Plastics for a profile of Edlis and his company in 1998. The story — "Art adorns molder's Apollo" — is memorable, and not just for the art connection.

Toloken was tipped off to the company because Edlis was showing up as a major contributor to political causes, including $10,000 to then-President Clinton's legal defense fund and $10,000 to the Democratic National Committee.

Edlis wasn't shy about his political leanings. He was outspoken in his defense of Clinton. He told Toloken a story about how he had donated $1,000 to Dick Gephardt, but stipulated it came with a condition.

“Only if you support the president. Stop taking pot shots at the president,” Edlis says he told Gephardt, who had talked about impeaching Clinton.

So the story started off as a feature on a molding company owner with a big interest in politics. But after seeing the company in person, it morphed into a story about Edlis' interest in art.

Paintings on the molding floor

“There's no sign of that political activity at his company, Apollo Plastics Corp., however. Instead what dominates is his other passion — art,” Toloken wrote.

“A pop-art painting of a shrieking woman sits in the background of an assembly area. A painting of a mythical hunt or battle towers over molding machines, and whimsical artwork that mimics file drawers or a bin of potatoes hangs in his private office.”

It was a plant visit like no other.

“I still remember that interview, that was one of my favorite plant tours,” Toloken told me today — more than 16 years later. “[Edlis] had all these paintings (they must have been prints, not originals) around the factory.”

Edlis was 73 at the time. Now he's almost 90, and he was looking for a home for his noteworthy collection. That's where the Art Institute comes in.

Keeping art in the public eye

Shia Kapos wrote in her “Takes Names” blog on ChicagoBusiness.com that Edlis decided to donate the collection to the Art Institute because the museum agreed to keep the collection on permanent view for the next 50 years.

“I have donated works of art to museums for years but have been frustrated by their lack of exposure,” Edlis said. “The fact that the Art Institute proposed keeping the works on permanent view for 50 years was a totally convincing argument for gifting the collection. Gael and I are delighted that these works of art will be in the Art Institute's long-term plans.”

The heart of the collection, Kapos wrote, is nine works by Warhol, including two self-portraits; images of Jacqueline Kennedy, Liz Taylor, and the Mona Lisa; and a definitive electric chair.

Today Apollo Plastics is part of an Indianapolis-based molder called Specialty Manufacturers Inc.  The company has annual sales of about $35 million, according to Plastics News' most recent ranking.

I don't see any sign of the company's artistic past, or connection to Edlis, on its website today. That's too bad, I think companies can be too fast to erase their history and corporate culture these days.

But the next time you visit the Art Institute and see the new Warhol display, maybe you'll remember there's a plastics connection to the collection.