5 ms·

How a Working-Class Couple Amassed a Priceless Art Collection

209 points by MarlonPro 13y ago

sixQuarks 13y ago
wow, what a great story. People following their true passions.
johndavidback 13y ago
What I find the most interesting is that they were not disingenuous at all. Meaning, they bought work that they loved, not attempted to get high value art for low cost from known artists. This speaks volumes. It was about the love of art more than anything. They were just on a shoestring budget and the only way to get their paws on it was to be frugal and skilled about acquiring it. Great read.
PilateDeGuerre 13y ago
The couple profiled in this piece are the subjects of the documentary Herb and Dorothy. I gave it a watch and I was entertained. It is available on Netflix streaming[1]. [1] http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555 http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555
- beilabs 13y ago
  I remember watching this documentary a few years ago. Outstanding piece of work, really stunned that they valued their collection more than wealth. I remember one of the pieces of their collection was a few inches of frayed rope with a nail through it. Art is always in the eye of the beholder, they always bought what they personally liked. Sad to hear that Herb passed away a few years ago. Their like may never been seen again...
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - beat 13y ago
    Technically, their collection was worth many millions of dollars, if they'd parted it out rather than donating it.
- lotharbot 13y ago
  The streaming link is http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555 http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555
ciclista 13y ago
Beautiful read. Something to be said for dedications and small steps.
nazgulnarsil 13y ago
There is an art to being a patron of the arts.
- eugenejen 13y ago
  Exactly what I thought. The master piece of herb and Dorothy is their life time meta art of modern art collection at shoestring budget.
melindajb 13y ago
donations to arts organizations are way down...would be great to see the denizens of hacker news get serious about art, of any kind. If you want to try collecting yourself try the many open studios in SF. You can find many works for under $1000 and plenty under $500. Here's an example: http://www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios http://www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios
jpdoctor 13y ago
I have no idea what this story has to do with HN, yet I loved every word of it. Thanks for posting.
- robg 13y ago
  What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- GuiA 13y ago
  > I have no idea what this story has to do with HN, yet I loved every word of it. Rule #1 in entrepreneurship: always trust your gut :)
- smoyer 13y ago
  By definition, anything that makes the front page is "of interest to hackers"
madaxe 13y ago
Nice story - and very much the way it should be. Buy what you love, and if it's an investment, it's a bonus. I have a collection of 50's and 60's Italian abstract and cubist art that festoons my home, because I love it - bought it all piecemeal over the last 15 years or so, never paying more than £30 or so for a piece. One of the artists I've collected is becoming "significant", sadly (some 20 years posthumously), which means I can no longer collect his work without paying through the nose. Tum ti tum.
noonespecial 13y ago
This is how you curate. Like a boss. Curation is a severely under-appreciated art form. Its fascinating that they could realistically judge their own artistic talents to be lacking and then go find everyone else's.
smackfu 13y ago
Is this still possible today? From my experience, it seems very expensive to buy original art (that isn't prints). Just materials cost tends to make decent sized paintings $500+. It's hard to be a working-class collector when there are a lot of upper-middle-class people who just want decorations for their walls.
- diydsp 13y ago
  Very much so... but don't forget, you have to fish where the fish are. They collected in NYC, an environment which facilitates art collection- many artists move there. It also appears the couple had no children? If you're looking for good, cheap art, try looking around in a town which has a small art school. They always have graduation show and students work very hard on those pieces. And if you're interested in the valuation of art, be sure to attend an art history class.
  - beat 13y ago
    You could easily liken it to being angel investors in Silicon Valley. A middle class couple might become great at it, but they wouldn't be able to pull it off in Sheboygan.
msutherl 13y ago
As an art+tech person, I highly encourage those of you with money to spare to make inroads into the art world and support those of us who perceive and express that which is new, strange, and beautiful about this world. Artists are always at the forefront of technological and social change. You owe more to them than you know.
- 6d0debc071 13y ago
  When's the last time a full-time artist, in the classical sense of collectable canvases, made something that was a major contribution to human welfare? With older artists it's easier to see - technology and art tended to overlap because it was a means to express ideas. But more recently? It seems that art-based philanthropy as a utilitarian endeavour would be difficult to justify.
  - msutherl 13y ago
    It doesn't really work like that. This concept of individuals making major contributions is an artefact of the way stories about human history are written. Artists perceive the future and share what they see through aesthetic means. This gives everybody (who's looking) a way of seeing beyond their own experience into the unknown. Without art, we are all trapped in the present. I don't have any external justification for this beyond the fact that many people that I know who do important work refer regularly to art to inspire and help them push their ideas.
    - 6d0debc071 13y ago
      It seems unlikely that artists have a unique future-perceiving faculty. There are some science fiction authors who are fairly decent, but if you're trying to sell classical art as a thing you need something more than some hand waving about us all, other than artists, being trapped in the present. Maybe some people want things they've seen in startrek or in comics or sci-fi stories and the like, get inspired by great engineering feats that they see in their day to day - that kind of thing. But decent sci-fi has a fair bit of research behind it and most of the science-fiction related art would seem to be fairly well endorsed by those who enjoy it anyway. Not really a venture into the world of art and support artists kind of thing. I find it very hard to believe that art in a 'involve yourself with art' and 'support the artists you owe more than you know' kind of sense has anything to do with inspiring people with regards to the future. I don't see the relationship between the sort of stuff that's generally passed off as art and anything to which one could aspire.
beat 13y ago
For a totally alternative and HN-relevant take on this subject, see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/fashion/art-and-techology-a-clash-of-cultures.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/fashion/art-and-techology-..., a NY Times article about the uncomfortable relationship between the traditional art collecting world and the new tech millionaires. As someone actively involved in the art world (photography, music, dance, and theater) as well as the tech world, this article made sense to me. A lot of it, though, gets down to the art world simply not understanding their (potential) customers. The art cognoscenti have traditionally sold a sense of elitism and insiderism that is, frankly, alien to most programmers. If they want rich programmers to support the world of fine art, they need to find a way to make it valuable in non-financial terms. Programmers simply don't value "taste" the same way (see PG's excellent essay on taste here for a different take).
contingencies 13y ago
Priceless? If you look at art from the perspective of monetary value, you miss the point. These people didn't. They win.

209 points by MarlonPro 13y ago

wow, what a great story. People following their true passions.

What I find the most interesting is that they were not disingenuous at all. Meaning, they bought work that they loved, not attempted to get high value art for low cost from known artists. This speaks volumes. It was about the love of art more than anything. They were just on a shoestring budget and the only way to get their paws on it was to be frugal and skilled about acquiring it. Great read.

PilateDeGuerre 13y ago

The couple profiled in this piece are the subjects of the documentary Herb and Dorothy. I gave it a watch and I was entertained. It is available on Netflix streaming[1]. [1] http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555 http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555

beilabs 13y ago
I remember watching this documentary a few years ago. Outstanding piece of work, really stunned that they valued their collection more than wealth. I remember one of the pieces of their collection was a few inches of frayed rope with a nail through it. Art is always in the eye of the beholder, they always bought what they personally liked. Sad to hear that Herb passed away a few years ago. Their like may never been seen again...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- beat 13y ago
  Technically, their collection was worth many millions of dollars, if they'd parted it out rather than donating it.
lotharbot 13y ago
The streaming link is http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555 http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Herb-Dorothy/70117555

ciclista 13y ago

Beautiful read. Something to be said for dedications and small steps.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

There is an art to being a patron of the arts.

eugenejen 13y ago
Exactly what I thought. The master piece of herb and Dorothy is their life time meta art of modern art collection at shoestring budget.

melindajb 13y ago

donations to arts organizations are way down...would be great to see the denizens of hacker news get serious about art, of any kind. If you want to try collecting yourself try the many open studios in SF. You can find many works for under $1000 and plenty under $500. Here's an example: http://www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios http://www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios

jpdoctor 13y ago

I have no idea what this story has to do with HN, yet I loved every word of it. Thanks for posting.

robg 13y ago
What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
GuiA 13y ago
> I have no idea what this story has to do with HN, yet I loved every word of it. Rule #1 in entrepreneurship: always trust your gut :)
smoyer 13y ago
By definition, anything that makes the front page is "of interest to hackers"

madaxe 13y ago

Nice story - and very much the way it should be. Buy what you love, and if it's an investment, it's a bonus. I have a collection of 50's and 60's Italian abstract and cubist art that festoons my home, because I love it - bought it all piecemeal over the last 15 years or so, never paying more than £30 or so for a piece. One of the artists I've collected is becoming "significant", sadly (some 20 years posthumously), which means I can no longer collect his work without paying through the nose. Tum ti tum.

noonespecial 13y ago

This is how you curate. Like a boss. Curation is a severely under-appreciated art form. Its fascinating that they could realistically judge their own artistic talents to be lacking and then go find everyone else's.

smackfu 13y ago

Is this still possible today? From my experience, it seems very expensive to buy original art (that isn't prints). Just materials cost tends to make decent sized paintings $500+. It's hard to be a working-class collector when there are a lot of upper-middle-class people who just want decorations for their walls.

diydsp 13y ago
Very much so... but don't forget, you have to fish where the fish are. They collected in NYC, an environment which facilitates art collection- many artists move there. It also appears the couple had no children? If you're looking for good, cheap art, try looking around in a town which has a small art school. They always have graduation show and students work very hard on those pieces. And if you're interested in the valuation of art, be sure to attend an art history class.
- beat 13y ago
  You could easily liken it to being angel investors in Silicon Valley. A middle class couple might become great at it, but they wouldn't be able to pull it off in Sheboygan.

msutherl 13y ago

As an art+tech person, I highly encourage those of you with money to spare to make inroads into the art world and support those of us who perceive and express that which is new, strange, and beautiful about this world. Artists are always at the forefront of technological and social change. You owe more to them than you know.

6d0debc071 13y ago
When's the last time a full-time artist, in the classical sense of collectable canvases, made something that was a major contribution to human welfare? With older artists it's easier to see - technology and art tended to overlap because it was a means to express ideas. But more recently? It seems that art-based philanthropy as a utilitarian endeavour would be difficult to justify.
- msutherl 13y ago
  It doesn't really work like that. This concept of individuals making major contributions is an artefact of the way stories about human history are written. Artists perceive the future and share what they see through aesthetic means. This gives everybody (who's looking) a way of seeing beyond their own experience into the unknown. Without art, we are all trapped in the present. I don't have any external justification for this beyond the fact that many people that I know who do important work refer regularly to art to inspire and help them push their ideas.
  - 6d0debc071 13y ago
    It seems unlikely that artists have a unique future-perceiving faculty. There are some science fiction authors who are fairly decent, but if you're trying to sell classical art as a thing you need something more than some hand waving about us all, other than artists, being trapped in the present. Maybe some people want things they've seen in startrek or in comics or sci-fi stories and the like, get inspired by great engineering feats that they see in their day to day - that kind of thing. But decent sci-fi has a fair bit of research behind it and most of the science-fiction related art would seem to be fairly well endorsed by those who enjoy it anyway. Not really a venture into the world of art and support artists kind of thing. I find it very hard to believe that art in a 'involve yourself with art' and 'support the artists you owe more than you know' kind of sense has anything to do with inspiring people with regards to the future. I don't see the relationship between the sort of stuff that's generally passed off as art and anything to which one could aspire.

beat 13y ago

For a totally alternative and HN-relevant take on this subject, see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/fashion/art-and-techology-a-clash-of-cultures.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/fashion/art-and-techology-..., a NY Times article about the uncomfortable relationship between the traditional art collecting world and the new tech millionaires. As someone actively involved in the art world (photography, music, dance, and theater) as well as the tech world, this article made sense to me. A lot of it, though, gets down to the art world simply not understanding their (potential) customers. The art cognoscenti have traditionally sold a sense of elitism and insiderism that is, frankly, alien to most programmers. If they want rich programmers to support the world of fine art, they need to find a way to make it valuable in non-financial terms. Programmers simply don't value "taste" the same way (see PG's excellent essay on taste here for a different take).

contingencies 13y ago

Priceless? If you look at art from the perspective of monetary value, you miss the point. These people didn't. They win.