Private art museums

Interesting piece in the Art Newspaper about art collectors who open independent museums. Besides the possibility of benefiting from tax breaks, a private museum seems like a great opportunity to share your collection with more people than only those who get invited over for dinner once in a while. Sure there's an element of showing off, but I think there's something particularly powerful about a private art collection. An art collection can reveal a lot about the collector. I admire anyone who makes themselves vulnerable by putting themselves on public display in this way. Not only are you revealing things about yourself, but you open yourself up to possible criticism, something that I admire artists for being able to do.

Last week's City Paper spotlighted local mega art collector Mitch Rales' private and mysterious private museum Glenstone. According to Kerry Brougher, Rales believes in the power of art:

“He’s one of these truly different kinds of collectors that mostly don’t exist today,” says Kerry Brougher, a curator at the Hirshhorn Museum. “He is someone like a Count Giuseppe Panza [an Italian industrialist and art collector] who truly believes in the transformative power of art and wants to build a truly great collection filled with the very best art he can manage to acquire.”

I can't wait to check it out!

If you want an easy way to see a private collection, Transformer's Collectors Views series offers a fun and fundraising opportunity to poke around the home of Peter and Jan Hapstack this Thursday.

And I liked this quotation from the Art Newspaper article mentioned above:

“At the end of the day, you can’t hang money on your wall,” said Mr. Margulies. “The only reason I like money is you can buy art with it.”