Art Collectors- Dorothy and Herbert Vogel

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel

Often an art collector is a wealthy person whose large disposable income allows them to collect contemporary art.

Herbert and Dorothy Vogel are a fascinating art collecting couple who are not wealthy nor is their lifestyle any more than extremely modest. Herbert worked for the post office in New York and Dorothy was a librarian.  They live in a 1 bedroom apartment with  their turtles and 5 cats and throughout their 40 plus years of marriage devoted half their annual income to art.

Herbert was very interested in art as a young man.  When he and Dorothy married they spent their honeymoon visiting galleries.  Dorothy then became very interested and they both took classes.  They realized they would never be great artists but still wanted to be involved in the artist community.  They didn’t have the money to collect fashionable art in the 1960s, instead they got to know the artists, went to their exhibitions, visited their studios and collected work that was perhaps, too challenging for the regular collectors.  This art was conceptual and often minimalist.  They bought this for little money and at times traded services, for example looking after an artist's cat in exchange for a piece.



Dorothy and Herb Vogel in their apartment

You would hope that art collectors would enjoy their art by displaying it in their home.  But no.. the Vogel’s art collection was under sheets so the light would not damage it, it was also under the bed or in the closets.  There was so much stuff that the couple had only 15 square feet of living space, enough for a small kitchen table, 3 chairs, 5 cats and an aquarium for the turtles.  They knew what they had, enjoyed thinking about it and declared they did not have to see their art to enjoy it.

In 1992 they decided to donate 2000 conceptual art works to the National Gallery of Art and immediately started collecting again.  It took 4 truck loads  to  transport the Vogel art collection to the gallery, all out of their small apartment.

The Vogel’s are retired now and Herbert is rather frail but they continue to attend gallery openings and maintain friendships with artists from the early days  as well as newcomers.  They also continue to collect art as it is their passion.