You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to collect art.
That’s the message behind the award-winning film Herb and Dorothy, presented by the Campbell River Art Gallery at the Tidemark Theatre this Oct. 24.
The Gallery’s Film and Art fundraiser will be a dream come true for art fans. View pieces from the Gallery’s permanent collection, enjoy wine tasting with Quadra Island’s Southend Farms and Winery and see fascinating wearable art, as well as the heartwarming Herb and Dorothy film.
Herb and Dorothy tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, New Yorkers Herb and Dorothy Vogel quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists.
Devoting all of Herb’s salary to purchasing art they liked, and living on Dorothy’s pay cheque alone, they continued collecting artworks 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.
They proved to be curatorial visionaries; most of the artists they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned. After 30 years of meticulous collecting and buying, the Vogels managed to accumulate more than 2,000 pieces. In 1992, the Vogels moved their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The vast majority of their collection was given as a gift to the institution.
Many of the works they acquired appreciated so significantly over the years that their collection today is worth tens of millions of dollars.
However, the Vogels never sold a single piece. The film Herb and Dorothy won numerous awards, including audience favourite, at several film festivals. Tickets to the film are $20 and are available at www.tidemarktheatre.com or at the Tidemark box office.
Doors open at 6 p.m., the reception is at 6:30 p.m. and the film starts at 7:30 p.m.