| It all began in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. A world-class contemporary art collection built by a postal clerk and a librarian that outgrew its modest home, has now spread throughout America. HERB & DOROTHY 50X50, a follow-up to the award-winning documentary HERB & DOROTHY, tells the story of a remarkable new chapter in the life of the legendary art collecting couple, Herb and Dorothy Vogel, through their historical gift project, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: 50 Works for 50 States. Sixteen years after Herb and Dorothy transferred their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art, the number of works had doubled to over 4,000. The Gallery, one of the largest art institutions in the country and where the Vogel collection was supposed to find its permanent home, found that the abundance of work was more than they can handle. And so the national gift project, which will distribute 50 works to each of the 50 states, was launched as a creative, and unprecedented solution. The story of the 50X50 gift project, one of the largest and the most significant philanthropic projects in American art history, is not just about the values of art collecting. It also reflects the far reaching impact of the Vogels humanitarian work, and the power of experimenting with a democratic process in the art world. Our new film will explore the outsized impact that these former civil servants are still having on the American art world. HERB & DOROTHY and the gift they’ve left the country are a reminder that art should never be limited to the elit few, but equally accessible to every one of us. |
