Vogel 50x50

Beginning in 1962, New York postal clerk, Herbert Vogel, and his librarian wife, Dorothy, began collecting contemporary works of art. The couple dedicated all of Herb's salary to buying art, and in a few decades had amassed a collection encompassing some 4,000 works. Today, these works form one of the most remarkable collections of contemporary art in America. Motivated by the desire to share their collection with the public, the couple developed a program to gift 50 works to one institution in each of the 50 states, including UNLV. This program became known as Vogel 50x50.

Artists: Stephen Antonakos, Charles Clough, Neil Jenney, Steve Keister, Mark Kostabi, Joseph Nechvatal, Lucio Pozzi, Edda Renouf, Richard Tuttle, Bettina Werner

For more than 40 years, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel amassed a vast collection of conceptual, minimalist and post-minimalist art. This exhibition presents the complete Vogel gift to the state of Utah for the first time.

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, New Yorkers of modest means, began purchasing contemporary art in 1962 and soon realized that drawings were of particular interest to them. Of the over 4,000 works they collected in a period of more than 40 years, approximately three-quarters were drawings. Not only were the Vogels daring in their acquisition of works by young artists, but their decision to focus on drawing was unprecedented at the time. This exhibition presents the second half of the Vogels' gift to the Fleming Museum of Art, and it focuses on new attitudes about drawing.

With an eye for freshness and integrity, the Vogels purchased drawings at a time when most collectors favored painting and sculpture. Dorothy and Herbert recognized that artists were no longer making drawings simply to practice manual skill, but as an intellectual endeavor that marked the passage of time, gave instruction, or took pleasure in sensual materials. For the Vogels, drawings also represented their personal connection to the artist-a link to the artist's thought process.

In 2008, with the assistance of the National Gallery of Art, the Vogels created a plan to distribute a significant portion of their collection throughout the United States, donating fifty objects to a single art institution in each state. The Fleming Museum of Art is the Vermont recipient of this esteemed and generous gift. Half of the Vogels' gift to the Fleming was exhibited in the fall of 2013. The current exhibition completes the presentation of their gift and reflects their astute observation of the contemporary art scene. Now in public collections, the personal choices of these two remarkable people can be shared with visitors who will embark on their own relationships with the works in museums across the country.

The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States is a joint initiative of the Trustees of The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel -- a librarian and a postal worker -- had minimal formal education in the arts and were of modest means. The Vogels began collecting in the early 1960s, guided by a strong aesthetic, a deep passion, and devoted relationships with the artists they befriended. Over the years, they almost serendipitously collected works of utmost contemporary importance and artistic value, covering every surface and wall of their tiny New York apartment. Their collection, spanning nearly five-thousand pieces by almost two-hundred artists, focuses on conceptual, minimalist, and post-minimalist art, the majority from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s.

In late 2008, Herb and Dorothy, with the assistance of the National Gallery of Art, launched the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States program, a donation of 2,500 works to fifty museums across the country. The Fleming Museum was the Vermont recipient of this generous gift.

The works in the Vogel Collection at the Fleming Museum are varied in aesthetic sensibilities -whether figurative, sculptural, abstract, or conceptual- and make use of a wide range of media, from photography and drawings to wall-mounted sculptural pieces and maquettes. The exhibition includes work by over twenty artists, including Carel Balth, Judy Rifka, Pat Steir, and Richard Tuttle. It is a survey not only of the works themselves, but also of the important historical, yet deeply personal, contribution the Vogels have made to nurturing American art, and now to sharing it with the public.