COLLECTIONS — AVRIL 2009The Gluckstern Collection — New York
Cheong Kwon, 31 March 2009This evening I had the pleasure to view the Gluckstern Collection in Soho. Upon entering, I was a bit disappointed that there were no pieces that immediately stood out to my liking. I slowly navigated the crowd, focused on the collection, starting with some black and white photographs by Fritz Henle, an artist who is known for his photojournalism in Life and Harper’s Bazaar. As it turns out, the Glucksterns’ have purchased 25,000 of his prints and 110,000 negatives.
I then approached a large format book of Polaroid transfer prints done by Gregory Colbert, which just begged to be looked at in full, but being a polite and somewhat hurried guest, I did not turn the pages. It was, however, opened to a fantastic image of a crouched woman just barely dodging, what appeared to be, a large swooping bird of prey.
As I continued to traverse the space, it became apparent to me that these are collectors who live with art very much in the everyday, but to the point that it resonates in every facet of their lives. All of the furniture is designed or made by artists. A unique, but signature John Chamberlain sculpture from repurposed automobiles, is a table used with ease as a side board, and as natural in the room as if it were a piece of furniture purchased in a showroom. Although most of the furniture are works that have been commissioned, they work as art that is clearly lived in, and lived with, well.
Still further investigation reveals a series of color photographs by Dan Budnick of famous artists like Jasper Johns, Wilhelm de Kooning, and Roy Lichtenstein. An enormous green Dale Chihuly glass sculpture is leisurely suspended next to a grand piano. Oaxacan Wood Carvings adorn all the windowsills, throwing the eclectic mix into an unadulterated whimsy of color amidst a modernist architectural space. And then, finally, I notice a very large Julian Schnabel self-portrait, an almost modest crown to the collection.
I settle on a glass of wine and happen upon a group of women standing apart from the crowd. One of them smiles and says hello in an unexpected, but welcome gesture. It is Judy Gluckstern. We discuss the collection in more detail and apparently, the Gluckstern’s began their collection by chance, falling into the joy of collecting things. The couple has been together nearly 35 years, and their travels and unplanned meetings with artists informs their collecting habits. She stands by the philosophy of “living with what you enjoy, so that it becomes a part of your life.”
* Judy Gluckstern. Photo Cheong Kwon, New York
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