Art Collector Herb Vogel has died…

If you were an artist living in New York in the latter part of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty first, you knew the names Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. They were not rich people. They lived in a one bedroom apartment with their cats and turtles… and thousands of works of art by major American artists piled floor to ceiling.

Herb and Dorothy Vogel

Herb was a postal worker who loved art. He met his wife, Dorothy, while visiting the National Gallery in Washington, DC in 1962. They built their art collection by purchasing smaller works, often on a monthly payment plan, from younger artists who had not yet gained fame. Their biggest rule for purchase, beside the work being something they took a liking to, was that it would fit in a taxi cab to take it home.

In the early 1990s. after long negotiations, the Vogels left much of their collection to the National Gallery, where they met.

“We wanted to do something for the nation. The National Gallery doesn’t sell works they acquire. They’ll keep the collection together. And they don’t charge admission.”

– Herb Vogel

They lived simply, eating at neighborhood diners and Chinese restaurants.When they bought art hey usually paid cash or worked out novel arrangements with artists.

“When they came to the studio, they always came with a wad of cash. You’d always wind up selling something for a fraction of what it was worth.”

– artist Chuck Close

The Vogels were featured on “60 Minutes” and in a 2008 documentary film by Megumi Sasaki called “Herb and Dorothy.” Their names have been carved in the wall at the entrance to the National Gallery’s West Building alongside those of other major benefactors.

Herb died Sunday, at age 89, at a nursing home in New York City. His wife survives.

Trailer from the 2009 film “Herb and Dorothy”

Related articles

• Herbert Vogel, Most Lovable Man Ever to Collect Art, Dies (slog.thestranger.com)
• Herbert Vogel, Art Collector, Dies (washingtonian.com)
• Herbert Vogel, Trailblazing Contemporary Art Collector, Dies at 89 (galleristny.com)
• Without Rules of Other People (redheadwriting.com)
• Art collector Herbert Vogel dies at 89 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Take a Look at Works From the National Gallery of Art’s Vogel Collection (galleristny.com)
• Collecting Art the Right Way (chronicle.com)

Wow! Finally, a positive message…

 

…and it comes from Barack Obama! His just released ad breaks away from all the negative drones from both sides that have been clogging up our televisions.

I say thanks for changing the direction:

 

Would Sally Ride have eaten at Chick-fil-A?

 

The revelation at her death that Sally Ride, an American Hero, was also a Lesbian who had a 27 year relationship with a female partner, brings me back to the anti-gay marriage statements by Dan Cathy, President of that detestable fast food empire.

It is time to re-think ALL our values…EVERYBODY… because this is the 21st Century and we should no longer be tied down by religious or ultra-conservative regulations and ignorance.

Here’s a view of what the radical right thinks and how those thoughts are defined:

Can we now realize that there are great people and ordinary people and all kinds of people who are gay or straight and they all have the right to live equal lives!

Related articles

• Why I will never eat at Chick-fil-A… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
• Boston Mayor: Anti-Gay Chick-fil-A Not Welcome in This City (newstalkcleveland.com)
• The Jim Henson Company Cuts Ties With Chick-Fil-A Due To Their Flagrant Homophobia (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• Will Chick-fil-A Pay a Price for Its Anti-Gay Marriage Stance? (dailyfinance.com)
• Is Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay? ‘Guilty As Charged’ Says Its President (patheos.com)
• Boston Mayor: Chick-fil-A, Move Along (towleroad.com)

 

Sally Ride, First Woman Astronaut, dies at age 61…

 

Sally Kristen Ride, American physicist and a former NASA astronaut died yesterday from pancreatic cancer. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman, and the first lesbian in space.

On her first mission at age 32 she was the youngest American to enter space. In 1987 she left NASA to work at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control.

During her career, Ride served as the ground-based Capsule Communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights  and helped develop the Space Shuttle’s robot arm. She was a member of the presidential commission investigating the accident on the Space Shuttle Challenger. According to Roger Boisjoly, the engineer who warned of the technical problems that led to the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Ms. Ride was the only public figure to show support for him when he went public with his pre-disaster warnings (after the entire workforce of Morton-Thiokol shunned him).

From 1985 until her death, Ride’s female partner was Dr. Tam E. O’Shaughnessy, a childhood friend who met Ride when both youngsters were aspiring tennis players. O’Shaughnessy became a science teacher and writer and, later, the chief operating officer and executive vice president of Ride’s company, Sally Ride Science.  Their same-sex relationship of 27 years was revealed in Ride’s obituary released by Sally Ride Science and confirmed by Ride’s sister, who stated that Ride preferred to keep this information private during her life.

Related articles

• June 18, 1983: Sally Ride, the First American Woman Into Space (wired.com)
• Launching Into History (lightyears.blogs.cnn.com)
• Mustang Sally (robertjhorton.wordpress.com)
• June 18 1983 First American woman in space (craighill.net)