Herb and Dorothy

2010_1_30 Herb an Dorothy
Every once and a while I score with a sleeper film on NETFLIX. I had ordered a film for Saturday that I knew nothing about, a documentary called “Herb and Dorothy,” about a Jewish couple from New York City who collected art. The noteworthy thing about their collecting was they did it on the basis of a modest income, which enabled them to become world-class collectors of contemporary art, with an emphasis on minimal art, although that by no means defined their collecting.
God, what a life-affirming thing it was to see this film. Herb and Dorothy Vogel were far from typical collectors, profit-minded and greedy. They were an angelic unique pair, greedy only in the sense of collecting all that they could in one lifetime. In the end they bought over 4750 pieces, all of which somehow fitted into their rent-controlled one bedroom apartment. She was a reference Librarian in a Brooklyn Library, while Herb, who never finished high school (because he hated it), worked in a local Post Office. He schooled himself about the history of art and after they got married brought Dorothy along in her understanding of art. They dabbled with painting for as short while before they turned their full attention to collecting. One artist they collected said Herb was born with an “aesthetic eye.” Their apartment was clogged with art they collected; there were stacks from floor to ceiling; the walls were so jammed with pictures that the wall was not visible anywhere. They seemed to live around a card table and a TV, with their cat Archie, a huge white long-haired male. We never saw a bedroom but it was made clear they had very little furniture outside that card table and a bed somewhere. When the National Gallery of Art took the collection to catalog it (and perhaps to buy it) it took several truck loads to remove it all. They couldn’t believe how much was stored in that tiny apartment. But unlike most collectors who made killings during the eighties and nineties, the Vogels were not interested in selling their collection, even though it was worth millions. That wasn’t in their DNA. They collected for the love of the work and they decided to give the collection to the National Gallery who eventually felt they had to give them something in return so they could survive and buy some furniture. So what did they do with the money? They bought more art, not a couch and a dining room table.
Most of the artists who became good friends—Richard Tuttle, Sol de Witt, Chuck Close, Christo and his wife, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, and many others—were also artists whose work they collected. Sol de Witt and Herb talked on the phone every Saturday for years. The Vogels, both of whom were very short, were perceived by the artists as a cute nebbish couple whose heart was in the right place. They admired then as they knew what they were doing and had bought things when some of the artists really needed the cash. They had started collecting in the early sixties. In time the couple became, if you will, mini-celebrities on the New York Art Scene, as they went to almost every show in town. They did little else, maybe a Broadway show once in a great while. They were all about working and collecting. Some extra money did come their way when they eventually sold a couple of properties they owned in New York.
There was one restriction on what they bought: it had to be small. It was the only way they got so many in their apartment. Nor could they afford larger paintings or high-priced items. Many artists gave them good deals too; they were that charmed by their eagerness and passion for art. Since there were so many pieces in the collection the Museum decided to take 2500 of the pieces and distribute 50 of them to 50 states and presumably that process has been completed after two years.
“Herb and Dorothy” was made in 2008. Herb’s health is not so good today and he and his beloved wife have stopped collecting. All I can say is it was an inspiring film and God bless the two of them.