Herb and Dorothy Vogel
Yesterday I watched a wonderful movie called: "Herb and Dorothy".
I highly recommend this movie to all art lovers.
The movie document the Vogels who became very prominent art collectors in the USA.
They reside in Manhattan and collect mostly conceptual and minimal art.
What is so surprising about them is that he is a retired postal worker and she is a retired librarian.
They have amassed an extensive art collection not through wealth but through loving and honoring living artists and the art world.
You may think that all they needed to do is to sell some artworks of artists that became extremely famous with the passing years, but it is not so.
They have never sold a piece of art.
Dorothy's salary was used to pay the rent (they live in a rent control apartment in Manhattan) and all of their modest living expenses, while Herb's salary was used in its entirety for collecting art.
Every month they will visit living artist's studios and will negotiate low prices on pieces that they loved.
Many times they would buy multiple pieces from an artist they adored.
They have formed personal and close relationships with many of the artists.
They started collecting art at the time when Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art were already highly priced.
So they filled their tiny apartment with works by artists that created Conceptual and Minimalistic Art.
That was the genre that was overlooked, even ridicule by other collectors.
When their minuscule Manhattan's apartment was bursting at the seams from art stored under the bed and chairs, they donated their work to the National Gallery while the rest of their collection was divided between the 50 states of the USA.
They continue to collect art even then.
I think that the message of the movie is that if you love art, and want to have it enrich and inspire your daily life, go ahead and find living artists that are happy to sell their art.
Do not be shy to ask for a discount or a monthly payment schedule and collect what you truly enjoy.
Do not buy prints or posters by famous dead artists. When you need it, buy art or postcards from living artists.
Go see the movie or rent the DVD.
