The Collectors Vision: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection

February 7 – May 16, 2015

Rotunda Gallery

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Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk and his wife, Dorothy, a librarian, spent 45 years and their life savings collecting contemporary American art. Living frugally, even after retirement, in a 450-square foot, one-bedroom apartment, they compiled one of the most important private collections of the 20^th century. Their collection eventually grew to over 4,000 works of art. The Vogels did not set out to amass one of the nation’s finest collections of Minimalist, Conceptual, and Modern art. Instead, they focused on collecting what they liked and found aesthetically pleasing. Over time, they developed personal relationships with most of the artists whose work they collected. The Collector’s Vision: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection presents a selection of works from the Art Museum’s permanent collection that were received in 2009 through the Fifty Works for Fifty States initiative, which gifted 50 works to one museum in each of the 50 states. This selection of work highlights objects that the Vogels acquired through personal interactions with the artists, and explores the aesthetic choices they made in developing their collection.

 

Images:

 

(Left) Joseph Nechvatal (American, b. 1951), The New Sobriety, 1983, graphite and white pastel chalk on paper, 11 x 13 15/16 inches, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 2009.4.24

(Right) Richard Tuttle (American, b. 1941), Drawings Concerning Munster Piece, 1987, watercolor on paper, 8-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches, each, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 2009.4.60

Funded in part by UW Art Museum Gala Funds.