Making Your Art Collection Your Own

I hope all of you have the opportunity to visit the Prix de West Show at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. If not, go to http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/events/pdw/2009catalog/available.aspx The stop was part of my multi-city trip and was well worth it.

An added bonus was the McCloy Collection. (Go to http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/events/event.aspx?ID=189) This is a private art collection of Bob and Curtice McCloy of Oklahoma. It features the works of such notable artists as Bob Kuhn, Ken Carlson, Tucker Smith, William Acheff and more. The show, “Patrons Without Peer”, coincides with the release of a book by the same title in which Tom Davis documents the substantial collection.

What struck me while enjoying the virtuosity of these masters, was that the work shown told me as much about the collectors as the artists, perhaps more. Their vision and ability to foresee the artistic value of these works was surely based on their own preferences, but excellence was the underlying determinant. To have linked top-ranking painters into one group ties them together as long as the collection is united. What a boon for artist and collector alike. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts and is the creation of the collector.

Anyone who collects art has the opportunity to create a strong collection. The McCloys bought, traded, and sold works over the years, refining their stable of artists and pieces and, ultimately, produced a very noteworthy representation of themselves and of art itself.

Now, seize the day! Work on your collection with all the joy and promise that an artist feels as he steps before the easel.