A sold out, multigenerational crowd of about 300 artists, gallery owners, collectors, and art lovers converged at the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) at Thursday night's annual Julia Norton Babson Lecture. They came to learn. They left paying homage.

The mega art collectors and museum benefactors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, two superstar artists — Richard Tuttle and Robert Barry — and moderator Gail Stavitsky, the museum's chief curator, discussed the evolution and diversity of the Vogel collection and concepts of philanthropy. They also reminisced.  

MAM's current major exhibit, "Living for Art: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection," opened September 24 and runs through January 2, 2011.

By now, many readers know the back story: How Herbert, now 88, and Dorothy, now 75, married in 1962 and embarked on a dizzying dual life. They lived on Dorothy's librarian salary and collected a diverse collection of contemporary art on Herbert's postal clerk's wages. By 1991 when they approached the National Gallery of Art for advice about their collection, they were living with 1,000s of seminal works. Only a few pieces could be hung on the walls of their modest New York City apartment; most were somehow squirreled away there.

"I remember coming to the apartment and Herb pulling a Sol LeWitt sculpture from under the bed," Barry said.

Ultimately the couple amassed more than 4,000 works over 30 years and gave them all away, except for four pieces that were too fragile to be moved.  "It's nice to have something just for ourselves," Dorothy said.

The Montclair Art Museum was among the first 10 recipients of the couple's "Fifty Works for Fifty States" gift program. Dorothy declined to discuss original prices paid for the collection, now worth many millions.

Tuttle, whose affection for the couple was palpable, explained the Vogel's achievement:

"Herb worked in the dead letter department of the post office. In a sense, an artist is writing a letter to someone they hope to reach, but rarely is that letter received," Tuttle said. "So many art pieces were received by Herb. He had a metaphysical genius for receiving art."

"They had chutzpah and a way of relating to artists," Tuttle said. "Because they started out wanting to be artists, they understood artists."

"After we started collecting, we took what we painted off our walls and put up what we were buying instead. Soon, we focused exclusively on collecting," Dorothy said. "Herb was more flamboyant in his choices, and I was more cerebral, but usually we would view a gallery show separately and make the same choice."

Herb, who is in fragile health, declined to comment through the discussion. He emotionally thanked the audience for coming at the end. Dorothy answered Stavitsky's questions with sharp intellect, encyclopedic recall, directness, and humor. Many of the questions were based on wall-size projections of photographs of the couple in galleries, at home with artists, in studios and of the current installation.

The exhibit has over 50 works on paper, photographs, sculptures, and paintings by 27 artists. In addition to Tuttle and Barry, the other artists include Stephen Antonakos, Will Barnet, Lynda Benglis, Charles Clough, Richard Francisco and many others whom the Vogels befriended, championed and supported with their purchases.

Tuttle, Barry, and Barnet are among the small number of artists whose works the Vogel's selected to hang in the current exhibit's most innovative feature: a nook that evokes the feel of the Vogel's actual living room.

"But less cluttered," Dorothy said.

The ersatz living room was the idea of Stavitsky and two of MAM's designers. The Vogel's chose the furniture from an IKEA catalogue and Herb personally supervised the hanging of the artworks there. "We can have the furniture after the exhibit comes down," Dorothy said, "but only have room for the two small, red stacking chairs."

The Vogel's first approached the National Gallery of Art about their art in 1991. Ultimately, a plan for the preservation, exhibition and dissemination of their extraordinary collection was finalized: Approximately 1,000 works would stay at the National Gallery. About 2,500 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper would be distributed to 50 cultural institutions nationwide, one per state. The National Endowment of the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services assisted in the process. More openings will be happening nationwide later this year and next.

The Montclair Art Museum got the nod in New Jersey: "The Vogel's always tend to choose places where they have personal connections," Stavitsky said. Not only did Stavitsky and the Vogel's forge a friendship in the 1980s, but the couple also came to MAM shows then.

"They were pleased we gave painter Will Barnet his first comprehensive traveling museum show in 2000. We also did a Robert Barry show," Stavitsky said. In addition, The Vogel's long knew former MAM director Patterson Sims.

"It was because of you and Patterson that we chose Montclair," Dorothy said, addressing Stavitsky. Clark Fox's1978 realist diptych, "Patterson Sims/Davenport Beach," is among the works in the exhibit's living room.

"The museum was thrilled with this incredibly generous gift which fills in critical gaps in the collection of contemporary art," Stavitsky added. "For example, the artist Richard Tuttle was completely unrepresented and now we have 33 examples of his work." 

The couple no longer collect art. "Herb can't visit galleries. Since he can't do it, we stopped," Dorothy said.

There are upcoming MAM events related to the "Living for Art: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection," including an afterhours tour and talk on October 21 and an affordable art fair on October 24. For more information, call 973-746-5555 or see Public and Family programs at the Montclair Art Museum.  To learn more about the Vogel's and the entirety of the collection see vogel50/50.org