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FallGuide2009

Review: Herb and Dorothy

Affecting, yet leisurely
By ALICIA POTTER  |  July 8, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

 

Over a 50-year marriage in a cramped, pet-filled New York City apartment, Herb and Dorothy Vogel amassed a multi-million-dollar 4800-piece collection of contemporary art. As director Megumi Sasaki's leisurely yet absorbing documentary tells it, the crusty postman and the mild librarian emerged as the Fred and Ethel Mertz of modernism, championing the early careers of such artists as Sol LeWitt and Christo.

The pair insist that they simply bought what they liked (and what they could carry by subway or taxi). But the film isn't an endorsement of common-folk collecting; through pithy interviews with artists and curators, Herb and Dorothy are painted in reverent, sometimes bemused tones as that rare combination of obsessive passion and daringly intuitive æsthetic.

"They look," says one artist. Indeed, as the unassuming Vogels shuffle through galleries hand in hand, Sasaki makes it affectingly clear that their intense gazes recognized the beauty not only in the art but also in each other.

Related: Not so elementary, Photos: Dutch Seascapes at Peabody Essex, Year in pictures, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Visual Arts, Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY ALICIA POTTER
Share this entry with Delicious
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    This bizarre animated adaptation of Judi Barrett's cult-classic children's book by Phil Lord and Chris Miller ladles up much to chew on yet little that's appetizing.
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    A hero named Darwin and a convoluted plot about "global extermination" are the first clues that director Hoyt Yeatman isn't taking the cute route with his cast of animated guinea pigs.
  •   REVIEW: HERB AND DOROTHY  |  July 08, 2009
    Over a 50-year marriage in a cramped, pet-filled New York City apartment, Herb and Dorothy Vogel amassed a multi-million-dollar 4800-piece collection of contemporary art.
  •   REVIEW: I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER  |  July 08, 2009
    Hayden Panettiere provokes many emotions as the title object of desire in Chris Columbus's dreadful teen romance. Love is not one of them.

 See all articles by: ALICIA POTTER

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