Art on a Postman's Paycheck

Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian are the most important contemporary art collectors in history?

Yeah! In the 60's the Vogels began to quietly purchase works of unknown artists. At the time Minimalist and Conceptual Art was getting very little attention and with Herb's keen eye and his entire paycheck, they lived on Dorothy's paycheck. The Vogels began to collect pieces they loved. They had only 2 rules: The pieces had to be affordable and it had to fit in their one bedroom Manhattan apparent. Artists such as Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeane-Claude Christo, Richard Tuttle, Robert Mangold, Lawrence Weiner and Lynda Benglis became friends of the Vogels and went on to become world-renowned artists.

In thirty years the Vogels accumulated a collection of over 2,000 pieces. Art filled every inch of their tiny apartment. Stacked, wrapped and hung the Vogels lived, breathed and bought art. Dorothy is quoted as saying " Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment." In 1992 the Vogels gifted the majority of their vast collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Many of the works they collected appreciated so significantly over the years that their collection today is worth millions of dollars. The Vogels have never sold a pieces of art. They are true collectors and on a postman's paycheck. The Vogels are still buying art and have filled their tiny apartment yet again.

Watch Herb & Dorothy a documentary directed and produced by Megumi Sasaki.
'You don't have to be a Rockefeller to collect art'

http://www.herbanddorothy.com/

Audience Award at Hamptons International Film Festival 2008
Golden Starfish Award at Hamptons International Film Festival 2008
Audience Award at Silverdocs Documentary Festival 2008
Audience Award at Philadelphia Film Festival
Best of the Fest at Palm Springs International Film Festival 2009

This inspiration movie will change the way you see art and it might even make you a collector.