You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to collect art. This is the incredible true story of a postal worker and a librarian who built a world-class art collection. As the first DVD to be released under the Arthouse Films label, New Video proudly presents “HERB & DOROTHY.”  This film tells the extraordinary story of a postal clerk and a librarian who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means.

In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, the Vogels quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb’s salary to purchase art they liked, they collected guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists, including Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner. HERB & DOROTHY provides a unique chronicle of the world of contemporary art from two unlikely collectors, whose shared passion and discipline defies stereotypes and redefines what it means to be a patron of the arts.

After a vigorous festival run and multiple awards, the film opened in limited release to a successful box office with stellar reviews. The film is currently being screened in theaters and museums nationwide. Exhibits of the Vogels’ art collection are currently taking place in select museums across the country in a national gift program entitled “Fifty Works for Fifty States.” A large portion of their collection has been gifted to the National Gallery of Art in DC, and 2,500 works were chosen to display at a selected art institution in each of the fifty states.  Through the Vogel “50×50″ collection, each of the 50 recipient museums is scheduled to exhibit the 50 works within five years upon receiving the gift.
 
And now “HERB & DOROTHY” can be part of your beloved collection when the DVD comes out on December 15th, 2009.

Film Features Interviews with World Renowned Artists
Will Barnet
Robert Barry
Lynda Benglis
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Chuck Close
Lucio Pozzi
Robert Mangold
Sylvia Plimack Mangold
Pat Steir
James Siena
Richard Tuttle
Lawrence Weiner

DVD Bonus Features
Additional Scenes
Hamptons Film Festival Q&A
NYC Special Premiere Footage
Provincetown Film Festival Q&A
PBS Promotional Trailer
Theatrical Trailer

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For more info about the film, visit here
Info on Vogel 50×50 collection, visit here
Info on Arthouse Films, visit here

via EM Staff, 6 November 2009 11:26am | |