COLLECTORS WITH PANACHE
For Art's Sake
Roy Neuberger has had a calling to support and champion the
causes of living American artists while nurturing his own love of art.

Roy R. Neuberger, founding patron of the Neuberger Museum of Art.

Milton Avery, Gaspé Landscape, 1942-1943, oil on canvas. Collection of Roy R. Neuberger.

Arthur Dove, Holbrook's Bridge to the Northwest, 1938, oil on canvas. Collection of Roy R. Neuberger.

Marsden Hartley, Fishermen's Last Supper, 1940-1941, oil on canvas. Collection of Roy R. Neuberger.

By Diana Mehl

In the pantheon of great art collectors, surely
one of the greatest is Roy R. Neuberger, the brilliant financier and founder of the money management firm Neuberger Berman and the founding patron of the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY.

Neuberger recounts his exceptional life as a collector in his memoir The Passionate Collector: Eighty Years in the World of Art (John Wiley & Sons, 2003). He nurtured his love for art during his stay in Paris from 1924 to 1929, immersing himself in the Parisian art world by visiting museums and galleries and studying at the Sorbonne. In 1928, Neuberger read a biography of the artist Vincent van Gogh and was shocked to learn that Van Gogh had lived in poverty and had been unappreciated by his contemporaries. Neuberger decided then and there that he would “help support living artists, buying their works and championing their causes.” However, collecting required having large amounts of capital. In 1929, Neuberger decided to return to the U.S. and make his fortune on Wall Street.

Neuberger's subsequent phenomenal success in business allowed him to pursue his passion for collecting. His commitment to buying the works of living American artists led him to purchase and popularize the works of Milton Avery, William Baziotes, Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Levine, Jackson Pollock, Ben Shahn and David Smith. Neuberger never sold his art; instead, he chose to donate hundreds of paintings to more than 70 museums around the U.S. Many donations were made on the condition that the museum would purchase another work from the artist, further aiding the artist's career.

Neuberger also served as a model to many other important collectors, inspiring them to purchase the works of contemporary American artists. He continued to expand the public's awareness of art with his extraordinary donation of more than 950 paintings and sculptures, which established the Neuberger Museum of Art. The museum, located on the campus of the State University of New York at Purchase, remains one of the finest collections of 20th century American art.

In July of this year Mr. Neuberger celebrated his 101st birthday and still displays the tremendous charm and radiant intelligence for which he is famous. Below he shares some of his memories of his favorite artists and talks about his favorite paintings.

You are most associated with the artist Milton Avery. What attracted you to his work?
I loved painting and Milton Avery. In France I saw Matisse plenty, and Avery is the closest to Matisse of any artist who ever lived. Avery never admitted that he was influenced by him but he had to have been.

One of the earliest Averys you bought was the Gaspé Landscape. How did you acquire it?
I bought it from him directly. He went to the Gaspé as we did. My wife and I took a vacation in the Gaspé, an unusual seascape place, very sparse in population. The town had a few little homes and a church and a cemetery. And that's what Avery painted. He didn't have models come to him – everybody was a model. He painted what he saw.

What do you admire about Arthur Dove's painting Holbrook's Bridge to the Northwest?
It is in some ways the subtlest painting I have. I think it is also one of the most beautiful paintings. The colors are superb.

One of the most popular paintings at the Neuberger Museum is Jackson Pollock's Number Eight, 1949. What is the story behind its purchase?
Betty Parsons [the art dealer] was a true art lover and I thought I'd go to her gallery and see the show of Jackson Pollock in November of 1949. She called me in January of 1950 and said, “Roy, remember you came to the gallery and saw Jackson Pollock? He is flat broke. You'd do a real good turn if you bought his work.” So I bought a big painting for $800. It was Number Eight. Unfortunately, it was the only Pollock I bought.

Why did you buy the work of living American artists?
I thought I was doing a good turn. If you buy a painting by an artist of the past, the artist doesn't know anything about it and doesn't benefit from it. I was also a propagandist for America. America was known for creating successful businessmen and industries but not known for art as much as Europe.

You've met so many art scholars, dealers and collectors. Who influenced you most in terms of guiding you as a collector?
Duncan Phillips, the founder of the Phillips Gallery in Washington DC. I admired Phillips to the extent that I was influenced by him to do what he did except in a slightly different way. Phillips was an innovator. He was a bold man in the sense of loving art and he took risks in buying things.

What advice would you give to new collectors?
I would advise new collectors more than anything else to look at art, to go to the galleries that show the work, to go to the studios if invited and to be really enthusiastic about what they are doing. If they love what they are doing they are more likely to be successful.