Lifelong Passion

An astute eye enhanced by knowledge from dealers has helped this collector hone his dynamic and diverse collection.

- John O’Hern

For a collector to combine paintings by Fairfield Porter, Jules Olitski and Paul Wiesenfeld in one room and to commission V’Soske, through his decorator, to produce a rug in the precise celery green to hold it all together takes a certain kind of genius, which our collector denies he has. He attributes his skill to learning from the best dealers in the country, getting to know them and coming to trust their vetting process in selecting the best art to represent in their galleries.

When he returned from service in the Navy in Vietnam in 1970, he went to an exhibition at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, and was invited to join its contemporary collector group. The group traveled to other cities to visit its museums, to learn and to purchase works for the museum at galleries whose owners have since become legendary. “After a while,” he says, “I began to think, ‘If the group doesn’t buy this piece for the museum, I’ll buy it!’ I was hooked.

“My mother also became enthused and when the group didn’t have quite enough to purchase a work it wanted, she would quietly help out,” he continues. “I bought a couple of things for her, American works like paintings by Leon Kroll. My parents loved them but I felt they were pretty but boring pictures. I liked newer work.” He also gave his parents a Steuben glass figurine for Christmas every year. The collection now graces his living room. The Krolls now grace the collection of a museum.