Not the usual suspects...

Art of Painting Blog

Musings and More from Don Sahli…

During this time as the economy moves on or drags on, we need to remember that art is important, important on many levels –touching your soul, giving you peace, bringing joy to your life…and it says something about society…it is real..it will not evaporate…with that in mind…I wrote that for the March e-mail newsletter. That is true for the creating and the collecting of art.

In the May issue of Art & Antiques magazine, I read about a couple, Herb and Dorothy Vogel, who choose to make collecting art an important focus of their life. James Stourton, chairman of Sotheby’s U.K. included them in The Great Collectors of Our Time, a survey of postwar collecting. And why am I telling you about them, well – Dorothy was a librarian and Herb was a postal worker. Not the usual suspects when you think of major art collectors.

They started collecting Minimalist and Conceptional art in the 1960s. Even though many of the artists in their collection became famous, they never sold any of their pieces. In fact in 1992, the Vogels donated their 2000+ paintings and sculptures to the National Gallery. They choose the National Gallery because it is free to the public and never sells its holdings.

Arthouse Films has produced a movie about the Vogels: Herb and Dorothy. So far it is only being released in New York and LA; but it would be an interesting story to see. As Sheri Linden wrote in Art & Antiques, May 2009, “Herb and Dorothy…poses timeless questions about the nature of art.”

Just food for thought as we journey onward.

DS