As museums grow, their collection becomes more focused, as they build on an already substantial foundation of work. Gaps arise to be filled, trends come along to shape and prejudices reveal themselves to be corrected.
When a growing museum is lucky enough to have dedicated supporters, they sometimes help with strategic purchases. Atlanta’s High Museum of Art has found such patrons in former Sotheby’s executive John Auerbach and art consultant Ed Tang. The couple has made it their mission to help the museum diversify its collection of contemporary works, some of which they’ll find at art fairs like this week’s Frieze New York.
For the past two years, Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Tang played a role in 16 acquisitions, sometimes providing some or all of the funds for a purchase and sometimes direct work.
Eleven of those works are now on display or appearing next week, including Gerald Lovell’s oil painting “Friendship Tower” (2021) and Tyler Mitchell’s “The Hewitt Family” (2021), a collection of photographic prints on a mirror. Other artists whose work has been acquired as part of Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Tang include Ludovic Nkoth and Kudzanai-Violet Hwami.
Mr. Auerbach, 44, was born and raised in Atlanta and is now the chief executive of art storage company Uovo. Mr. Tang, 35, is from Hong Kong and is the founder of the Art-Bureau consultancy. They split their time between New York City and Litchfield, Conn.
They work closely with the curator of modern and contemporary art at de Hoge, Michael Rooks.
“We are doing our best to dramatically increase our holdings in terms of work by artists of color, women and people from the LBGTQI spectrum,” said Mr. smoke.
De Hoge, he said, is not unique among museums in this focus. But what is unusual is the mix of minds between the Hoge’s staff and the collectors, who communicate almost every week.
Partly because of his roots in Atlanta, Mr. Auerbach was the pivotal figure in the project. He met Mr. Rooks through a mutual friend, and we hit it off.
“It grew naturally,” said Mr. Auerbach. “Michael would call and say, ‘I saw this amazing Jeffrey Gibson punching bag.'” (He was referring to Mr. Gibson’s “The Love You Give Is the Love You Get” (2020), a beaded sculpture currently on display in the Hoog in the exhibition “What Is Left Unspoken, Love.”)
Mr. Auerbach replied that he knew the gallery where the work was offered, Roberts Projects of Los Angeles. He said to Mr. Rooks, “I’ll call them and we’ll buy it for you.”
After purchasing the piece, the couple held onto it for a while. “We’ve had to live with it for a while, and now it’s in his permanent home in the High,” said Mr. Auerbach.
Mr. Tang, who moved to the United States eight years ago, said the couple’s focus on various creators was personal. “Artists of color need equal footing,” he said.
Mr Auerbach added that the museum’s mission “resonates with us. We are a diverse family.”
Rand Suffolk, the director of the High, said it was the “degree of intent” that struck him about Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Tang.
“They very consciously want to help us move the needle and make a difference in the community,” said Mr Suffolk, who has led the museum for six years. De Hoge now has more than 18,000 works in its permanent collection.
Mr Suffolk said the museum’s diversity campaign had the desired effect. The High’s non-white attendance more than tripled between 2015 and 2020, and about 60 percent of the public is now under the age of 35, not counting school groups.
“We’ve been outspoken about wanting to earn a different kind of credibility in our community,” said Mr. Suffolk. “People want to see themselves represented.”
De Hoge also ensured that Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Tang’s gifts quickly came into view.
“It’s confirmation for John and Ed,” Mr. Suffolk said. “We don’t store them in storage.”
However, the donations have hardly exhausted the art stock of the collectors. At home they live with works by the likes of Cecily Brown, Wade Guyton, Salman Toor and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Paintings are preferred, but sculptures and other media are also represented.
As part of their collection, they regularly attend art fairs. Mr. Auerbach recalled buying Chase Hall’s “The Away Team (Little League)” (2021) at one such event last year; it is part of their gift to the High.
“We love to look around at trade shows and talk to gallery owners,” said Mr. Auerbach, adding that they planned to go to Frieze New York this week.
They are also involved in other philanthropic endeavors, including donations to other museums. “There’s a lot on our walls that we’re giving away,” Mr. Auerbach said, referring to a painting by Christina Quarles that is a promised gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In Connecticut, they have also established the Beecher Residency, which is set to open this summer. One artist at a time will live and work in a remarkable Modernist home they own, the Stillman House, designed by the architect Marcel Breuer and completed in 1951.
for mr. Auerbach takes his work with the High back to his childhood.
“My mother always took me there,” he said, “and that sparked my interest in art.” He can recall several exhibitions he attended in the 1980s, as well as a specific work by Larry Bell that he saw when he was 10.
“The High is close to my heart,” said Mr. Auerbach and noted that the increasing diversity of visitors was encouraging. “To be able to play a small part in that is very satisfying.”
