Sharing it out
Louise Nicholson meets Herbert and Dorothy Vogel at home in Manhattan to talk about their extraordinary gift of 2,500 modern drawings to 50 museums across the US. Portrait by Lanola Stone.
Louise Nicholson, Sunday, 29th June 2008
‘It’s an immense project’, continues Ms Fine. ‘We must prepare each package as a specific offer to the museum, which it then accepts. We want to get all the packs perfect, each group to give a sense of the Vogel collection, to be a mini-Vogel collection. It’s a big secret. All the letters will go out at the same time before the year end.’ Some works have special ties to their destination: Michael Clark’s painting Patterson Simms/Davenport Beach will go to Mont-clair Art Museum, New Jersey, where Mr Simms was the director. Each museum must show their package as an exhibition within five years of receiving it, and thereafter display it as they wish and loan as freely as possible. The Vogels feel strongly about loans: ‘There was a feeling that the National Gallery does not show enough. This way more people get to see the collection, but the gallery is there to protect it.’
‘It is a godsend that Dorothy was a librarian’, says Ms Fine. ‘She’s amazing. Her memory is phenomenal, she’s absolutely never wrong. And she has exceptional organisation skills. She’s been instrumental.’ Mrs Vogel, by contrast, credits Ms Fine with the whole idea. Inspired by the Kress Foundation’s work in placing art all over the country, it goes two steps further. The first is working with the government-funded National Endowment for the Arts, who are producing a catalogue of all 2,500 works, using National Gallery expertise, and giving one to each museum. The second – and more dramatic – is linking up with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, also a federal body, to create a website.
‘When I met Mrs Vogel last April’, recalls Marcia Semmel, Director for Strategic Partnerships at the Institute, the first words she said to me were “I love the website”. She bought a computer last year. She totally gets what we are doing. Part of our operation is about libraries and the Carnegie tradition of sharing resources. What the Vogels are doing with art has its similarities. By virtue of these new technologies you can democratise access to the finest works of art so people can probe the integrity of the collectors and also link to the artists and their other work. And all for free.’
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