Loved this sweet documentary about a regular NYC couple who, over the course of their 50+ years in the city, have accumulated a remarkable collection of artwork. They began seriously collecting in the middle of the last century, usually finding artists at the beginning of their careers and paying tiny amounts. By the time they donated their collection to the National Gallery several years ago, it was worth millions of dollars.
The movie was a real love letter to NYC and to this quirky pair of art lovers (Dorothy used to be a librarian and Herb worked at the Post Office). They had been early supporters of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, receiving an original drawing from them in exchange for watching their cat while they traveled for an installation. I actually teared up a bit at the sight of the couple walking through the Christo’s Gates Installation in Central Park in 2005, seeing how far their friends had come. They reminded me of the fictional couple in Heroic Measures, which was one of my favorite books that I read last year. What can I say, I can’t get enough of cute old New York couples.
It also made me sad to think of whether it would be possible for a regular middle class couple to accomplish the same feat in modern-day NYC.
