Tag Archives: contemporary art

Herb Vogel, 1922-2012

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Similar to Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, contemporary collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel collected artwork that many people weren’t ready for. They made their choices with a unique and discriminating eye and truly followed their own sense of value. Often they knew the artists they collected- Robert Mangold, Richard Tuttle, Pat Steir, to name a few. Herb and Dorothy visited studios, critiqued work, and clearly loved being a part of the art world from the studio to the gallery openings. Like the Phillips’s, they lived with their collection, although, unlike the Phillips’s, the quarters were very close. The result, in both cases, was a deep understanding and support of artists of their time, and a rich and distinctive collection, ultimately to be shared with the public. Herb Vogel died yesterday in New York. If you haven’t watched the documentary, Herb & Dorothy, it’s a must see.

Alyson Shotz’s Geometries of Light (and, soon, of Yarn)

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Brooklyn-based sculptor Alyson Shotz will create a piece out of yarn and nails for the Phillips’s Intersections series in February, but first she wraps up an exhibition at Espace Louis Vuitton, Tokyo. Artinfo posted this slideshow Shotz’s “Geometry of Light,” which closes December 25.

Courtesy the artist and Espace Louis Vuitton, Tokyo. Photo: Jérémie Souteyrat

A New Artist in The Phillips Collection

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Tobi Kahn, Lyie, 1991. Acrylic on board, 32 x 12 x 1-3/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Gift of Victoria Schonfeld in memory of her parents, Hilde and Sydney Schonfeld. Photo: Klaus Ottmann

Last June The Phillips Collection acquired its first painting by the New York artist Tobi Kahn, Lyie (1991). It has now been installed in the spiral staircase of the museum’s Goh Annex. Given by Victoria Schonfeld in memory of her parents, the painting is one of Kahn’s most important paintings of his mature period when forms other than landscape, such as flowers, became a dominant theme. Like most of Kahn’s paintings, Lyie is built up of about 20 layers, beginning with modeling paste containing marble dust on top of white underpainting, followed by opaque paint layers, and finally, a layer of translucent washes.

Earlier this year, Kahn gave an inspiring keynote address at the Phillips during its Art & Innovation Design Gathering, an annual meeting of creative minds that is jointly presented by the Phillips and the University of Virginia.

This week Kahn was invited to speak at Georgetown University by the Program for Jewish Civilization. In conversation with Ori Soltes who teaches theology, philosophy, and art history at Georgetown University, Kahn spoke passionately about how he does not consider himself a Jewish artist or a painter or a sculptor, but just an artist; yet at the same time he cannot separate the knowledge of his Jewish heritage from art history. This combination undoubtedly contributes to Kahn’s unique style of painting that seems equally influenced by Jewish mysticism, such as the color symbolism of the Kabbalah, and the tradition of American modernism, so richly represented by The Phillips Collection’s holdings of Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Toward the end of the conversation, Kahn expressed gratitude to The Phillips Collection for his painting being given such generous placement: “Artists always want to have more space, ” he added, “The Phillips Collection is the perfect space.”

Tobi Kahn in conversation with Ori Soltes at Georgetown University, September 20, 2011. Photo: Klaus Ottmann