Really?! Major Art Collectors?
Herb and Dorothy Vogel in their
New York apartment, 2008.
Unlikely art collectors
Herb and Dorothy
He was a postal worker. She was a librarian. Together they amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections in the world.
Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a seemingly ordinary couple, lived for decades in a humble one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with cats, turtles, fish and ultimately more than 4,000 art-works. The couple used Herb’s salary to buy art, while Dorothy’s paychecks covered the bills.
From the earliest days together, The Vogels realized the joys of collecting, concentrating on contemporary art. A Picasso ceramic piece was purchased for their engagement and a John Chamberlain (known for welding old automobile parts in abstract forms) sculpture to celebrate their wedding in 1962.
By the early 1990s, the Vogels’ collection filled every corner of their living space, from the bathroom to the kitchen, floor to ceiling. “Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment,” recalls Dorothy. The place was bursting at the seams, and something had to be done.
Courted by every major museum, the couple astounded the art world by transferring their entire collection, worth several million dollars, to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. – the first place they visited on their honeymoon. As government workers themselves, they liked the idea of sharing their prized pieces with the American people.
After weeks of packing, shippers carted away a staggering five full-sized moving trucks of paintings, drawings and sculptures from the tiny apartment.
Today, still in love with each other and with art, Herb and Dorothy live in the same apartment, with their pet turtles, fish and cat. The once completely emptied space is again filled with art.
And we fell in love with Herb and Dorothy in this video!
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The Kiss, Part Two
"Kiss of Judas" 1300 AD
Giotto, Fresco (detail)
The Kiss of Betrayal
This magnificent fresco painted by Giotto over 700 years ago in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, is today as compelling and vibrant as it was in 1300 AD. “The Genius of the Renaissance”, Giotto was the first who broke with the accepted practice that put every subject on the same plane as if they had been pasted on having neither depth nor perspective. Instead of stiff, unemotional faces and bodies, he gave his subjects an earthly, full-blooded life force.
It is an awesome affair to “experience” a piece of art. Look closely at the Giotto image. The center of the fresco is that eternal moment between Christ and Judas. There is a stillness and quiet around the two figures as the mob tumultuously rages around them. Giotto portrays Judas thick browed, eyes deep set and dark, almost Neolithic. He comes as Christ’s betrayer in blind rashness and ignorance of the part he plays in the drama.
Christ’s face is alive: living, breathing, grieving, hurting. Yet we see Christ’s forgiveness and sorrow for Judas and the enormity of his deed…the Judas kiss, the kiss of betrayal.
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"Maternal Kiss" 1897
Cassatt, Pastel on paper
"Baby's First Caress" 1890
Cassatt, Pastel on paper
The Maternal Kiss
Whoa! This is not just another sentimental, sugar sweet painting of mother and child! Ponder these paintings for a moment: Mother and child share a deep and common love. There is a passion there, a bliss, an ecstasy. The mother and child are physically and intensely wrapped up in each other-almost like the feeling of being “in love.”
It was astonishing that Mary Cassatt (1849-1926), could capture these images as she herself eschewed marriage and a family of her own.
Cassatt was born to a well to do family in Philadelphia and brought up to have a traditional life as a wife and mother…but then she went to Paris to study art! Remaining in France most of her life, Cassatt became famous for portraying the maternal bond and the tender maternal kiss.
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"Dracula" 1931
Horrifying Kiss
There really was a Dracula! And he really was from Transylvania! And he really was bloodthirsty and he really was cruel! But vampire, he was not.
Bram Stoker, Irish author, was inspired by the legend of Prince Dracula from the dark forested mountains of Eastern Europe to write his Gothic tale in 1897.
Watch this short 1931 video to see film’s most horrifying kiss! …Dracula.
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The Kiss
"The Kiss" 1907
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
By a fortuitous happenstance, Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, “The Kiss”, survived the German occupation of Austria during WW II. Adolph Hitler and Hermann Goring considered all modern art “degenerate” but made an exception of the iconic Klimt painting, “The Kiss”, in the Austrian National Belvedere Museum where it had been displayed since 1908.
However, many of Klimt’s canvases along with hundreds of treasures by other artists were not so fortunate. Most of these irreplaceable pieces of art were confiscated from Jewish galleries and victims of the Holocaust and kept “safe” in a castle in Southern Austria…until the night of May 7, 1945. Germany had signed their surrender to be in effect the next day. In a final act of destruction, the SS laid explosives in the castle, lit the fuse and walked out. The castle burned for days and not a single work of art survived.
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"The Kiss" 1889
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Auguste Rodin originally intended his sculpture “The Kiss” to represent Dante’s “Gates of Hell” and the consequences of crossing the line between lust and love.
The tale behind “The Kiss” and crossing that line is a 14th century tragedy with which Dante was familiar and included in his epic poem, “The Inferno.”
As the story goes: Francesca da Rimini, a young and innocent woman was tricked into marriage to Gianciotto, a wealthy but disfigured and uncouth aristocrat. She fell passionately in love with Paolo, a handsome and elegant nobleman…who happened to be Gianciotto’s brother. Gianciotto caught the two lovers together and lunged at Paolo with a sword, accidentally killing Francesca who had stepped between the two men. Gianciotto then turned on his brother, Paolo, fatally piercing him with the same sword.
Francesca and Paolo were buried in the same tomb. Five centuries later, Rodin’s sculpture, “The Kiss”, is immortalized as a world wide symbol of erotic passion.
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"From Here to Eternity"
The greatest beach-kiss scene in film was made in 1953 in a tiny cove on Oahu, in the Hawaiian Islands. The film was adapted from James Jones’ excellent novel, “From Here to Eternity.” Not only does your devoted blogger recommend this read, but it was voted one of the 20th century’s best by the Modern Library Board.
Take a look at this video and you will see why Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr made movie history!
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Big Time Art, Big Time Money
"The Scream" 1893
Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
“The Scream”, the Norwegian Evard Munch’s painting, and “Double Elvis”, Andy Warhol’s painting of the superstar are up for sale!
Known as the Mona Lisa of our time, “The Scream,” painted in 1893, is an icon of modern art.
The story goes that the emotionally fragile Munch was walking one evening with two friends at sunset. As he later described it, “the sun set, the air turned to blood, my friends faces turned ghastly yellow and I heard the giant scream of nature.”
Today the image has come to symbolize to some as the fear and anxiety that confronts us in our contemporary world. The painting is expected to sell for over $80 million.
Go ahead and scream if you want to!
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"Double Elvis" 1963
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
It was 1956 and there was definitely some screamin’ goin’ on! The screamin’ was done by Elvis Presley’s fans (mainly teenage girls, of which I, your devoted blogger, was one) over his enormously popular and controversial performance of “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog.” Critics were outraged but Elvis was destined to become the “King of Rock and Roll,” and the best selling solo artist in the history of popular music.
“Double Elvis” is a breath-taking moment in Art History. Painted by Andy Warhol, superstar artist, the work is a silkscreen..simply a blown up photograph glued on silk and painted with ink.
Elvis, the man and the legend, stares at us down the barrel of a gun; the lone cowboy confronting the great American frontier. “Double Elvis” is expected to sell for $50 million.
Now, let’s all scream! Watch “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll!
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Hey, That’s not Fine Art, That’s Illustration!
"Between Burka & Nun" 2007
The New Yorker cover
Conversation overheard between two art lovers in the elevator at the Metropolitan Museum, New York City:
1st art lover: Did you see that fantastic fine art painting this week on the cover of “The New Yorker”?
2nd art lover: Man, that wasn’t a painting, that was an illustration!
1st art lover: So, what’s the difference?
2nd art lover: Try two things. PEOPLE AND MONEY! Half a million people see “The New Yorker” magazine covers weekly versus the much lower number of visitors who come to the Met to see the fine art.
1st art lover: And what about the money?
2nd art lover: Hey, artists never have any money. When they were young, Toulouse-Lautrec did posters, Renoir painted porcelain china and de Kooning was a sign painter. Gilbert Stuart, who did the famous portrait of George Washington on the US dollar bill, played the organ at weddings!
1st art lover: Can you believe it? Their brilliant fine art paintings wouldn’t pay the bills!
2nd art lover: Oh, and one last thing. Illustration can be first class, but it has no mystery; no need for guessing what it means, cause it spells out the story. Fine art only suggests the story and makes us ponder. We have to use our imagination.
1st art lover: Girl, I have one thing to say about all of that. WHOOO CARES?! Fine art vs Illustration. This is a debate that’s been going on since the discovery of the cave drawings.
Let’s just enjoy the art!
"Woman with Hat" 1905
Matisse (Fine Art)
"Easter Parade" 1996
Maira Kalman (Illustration)
"Vitruvian Man" 1487
Leonardo da Vinci (Fine Art)
Medical Illustration
Frank Netter, M.D.
"Red Number 2" 1994
Fritz Scholder (Fine Art)
"The Last of the Mohicans" 1919
N.C. Wyeth (Illustration)
"Kiss V" 1963
Roy Lichtenstein (You decide)
You decide. Is this fine art or illustration?
Send us a comment with your choice (select “Leave a Comment” below) and we’ll get back to ya!