Edward Higgins, July 2014

Edward Higgins is a member of The Association Internationale Des Critiques d’Art.

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800 works of art from Dr. Myron and Anne Jaffe Portenar. The result can be seen beginning July 19 in Shared Vision: The Myron and Anne Jaffe Portenar Collection at the Ross Gallery. It will run through October 14.

he adage “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” (lest one see rotten teeth) had a somewhat different ending for University of Pennsylvania curator Lynn Marsden-Atlass: “I was stunned.” Ms. Marsden-Atlass, who is the director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, referred to the donation of more than

“The overall quality is high,” she said, “and includes some of the best known artists of the 20th century.”

The Portenar collection is unique in that it was used to decorate their homes in Florida, New York and New Jersey.  The Portenars started their collection some 40 years ago and they are both now in their mid-80s. Items from their collection were not exhibited or loaned out for shows. The work was for their pleasure and enjoyment alone. Thus, much of the material is fresh.

To winnow down the 800 pieces to the 62 that make up this show, Heather Moqtaderi, the University’s art collections manager, served as co-curator. Some 200 pieces of the donation are photographs from such names as Berenice Abbott, Eliot Porter, Edward Weston, Edward Curtis, and Edward Steichen. Not a minor artist in the lot. Marsden-Atlass called the photographic section “exceptional.”

The bulk of the collection is prints or other works on paper. Ann Jaffe Portenar is a 1949 graduate of Penn and also attended numerous art history classes at the New School in New York City. Myron Portenar is a dentist. While collecting they focused on 20th century masters, thus the exhibition includes George Bellows, Stuart Davis, Lyonel Feininger, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, John Marin, Jacob Lawrence, Reginald Marsh, Robert Motherwell, John Sloan, and Robert Rauschenberg. 

The only work not from the 20th century in the show is an 1891 work by Odilon Redon. Most of the work is American, but there are three prints by Mexican artists who can be argued are the finest printmakers that country has produced: Franciso Mora, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo.

The exhibit also has some small sculpture, one of which by Louise Nevelson entitled “Small Wood” is a favorite of Marsden-Atlass. Another is a Stuart Davis drawing entitled “Study for Eggbeater 3” which, according to Marsden-Atlass, is an excellent transitional piece capturing the point in Davis’ career when he went from figurative to abstraction. There are also sculptures by Jennifer Bartlett and Tobi Kahn.

In addition to this presentation, Marsden-Atlass believes that between two- and three-themed shows can be assembled from the donation. The entire donation will be available to students, scholars, faculty, artists and curators as a teaching collection, a potentially important resource for anyone looking into the artistic temperament of the mid-20th century. 

The sheer joy of collecting and displaying of works of art in one’s own home can be an extraordinary reward. Now, for the first time, a wider audience may enjoy the Portenar’s private collection of art.

The Arthur Ross Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania is located in the Fisher Fine Arts Building, 220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA. Weekdays 10:00am – 5:00pm; Weekends 12:00pm – 5:00pm. www.upenn.edu/ARG