USU's Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Receives Major Donation of Art

Utah State University’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art has been selected to receive a gift of 50 works of art from New York collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, with the help of the National Gallery of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The gift is part of a national gifts program entitled “The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States,” which will distribute 2,500 works from the Vogel’s personal collection of more than 4,000 works of contemporary art throughout the nation, with 50 works going to one selected art institution in each of the 50 states.

 

“The Vogel Collection is unique among collections of contemporary art, both for the character and breadth of the objects and for the individuals who created it,” said Ruth Fine, curator National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “Herbert Vogel (b. 1922) spent most of his working life as an employee of the United States Postal Service, and Dorothy Vogel (b. 1935) was a reference librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. After visiting the National Gallery of Art on their honeymoon in 1962, they prioritized collecting art above personal comfort; the couple used Dorothy’s salary to cover their living expenses and devoted Herbert’s salary to buying primarily minimalist and conceptual art by unknown artists. Their two rules for collecting? The piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit into a taxi and then into their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment.”

 

Dean Yolanda Flores Niemann learned of the gift shortly after her arrival as dean for the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at USU. Receiving the gift from the Vogel Collection is a distinction, she said, and reflects the growing national reputation of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art and the college.

 

“I am so very proud of our dedicated staff and donors whose hard work has built the reputation of the museum,” Niemann said. “The gift from the Vogels and the government agencies supporting the project allows us to enhance the educational experiences of our students. It is truly a privilege to receive a portion of the Vogel collection.”

 

Victoria Rowe Berry, executive director and chief curator at the museum, said the university is honored with the gift.

 

“Being selected as Utah’s only recipient [of these 50 artworks] is an extraordinary honor and comes to us, unsolicited, after 26 years of establishing a collection and building a reputation for the museum,” Berry said. “We look forward to developing educational programming and featuring these works along with others from our permanent collection for visitors from throughout the state of Utah and the entire intermountain region.”

 

Berry said receiving the gift is a natural fit for the museum, expanding the collection to represent artists working in conceptual and minimalist art in New York.

 

“Now, with these works at our museum, traveling to see work of this caliber will be a little easier for students and residents of Utah once the gift has arrived sometime in 2009,” she said.

 

Berry will represent the museum, USU and the state of Utah at a special ceremony Sunday, Nov. 16, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where representatives from all 50 states will gather to honor the Vogels and their generosity.

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is providing funds for the disbursal of the art (under the supervision of the National Gallery of Art) to the 50 institutions and for the development of a Web site under the aegis of the National Gallery of Art. The Web site will serve as both an information center and exhibition area for the project, enabling each museum to create a section about its exclusive Vogel Collection donation. The museum and USU will be represented on the site.

 

Contact: Victoria Rowe Berry (435) 797-0164
Source: NEH Museum, National Gallery