Page 15 - Christies Alsdorf Collection Part 1 Sept 24 2020 NYC

The Collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf Raised in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and
represents a notable achievement in the history of educated at Northwestern University, Marilynn Alsdorf
American connoisseurship. Steadily acquired throughout was a woman whose intelligence and passion for fine
the latter half of the twentieth century by two of art left an indelible mark on the Alsdorfs’ collection and
Chicago’s most important civic and cultural patrons, the community in which they lived. The couple made
the Collection is unparalleled in its breadth and quality, their first acquisition at a Chicago auction shortly after
illuminating the remarkable feats of human artistry their marriage. The work was a harbinger of greater
across time and geography. For the Alsdorfs, collecting things to come, prompting the couple to look deeper
represented a unique opportunity for exploration, into the innumerable strands of art historical expression
adventure, and the pursuit of beauty, extending from found throughout history—from the societies of ancient
the art-filled rooms of their Chicago residence to distant Egypt and Greece to the early Renaissance, Islamic art,
continents and historic lands. The couple’s philosophy of Chinese and East Asian art, and Modern painting and
collecting, as Marilynn Alsdorf explained, was simple yet sculpture. Through international travel, personal
profound: “We looked for objects,” she said, “to delight scholarship, and in conversation with leading curators,
our eyes and souls….” dealers, and living artists, the Alsdorfs honed a shared,
astute connoisseurship, one driven by an ineffable,
Married in 1952, James and Marilynn Alsdorf would almost spiritual quality found in the works they chose
spend nearly four decades together building a life to acquire.
centered on art, philanthropy, and family. The son of a
former Dutch diplomat and exporter, James W. Alsdorf It was this “love of the object,” as the Alsdorfs
joined his father’s business after studying at the Wharton described it, that resulted in an extraordinary, polymathic
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. private collection. The couple’s residence on Chicago’s
It was while working for his family’s company, Alsdorf Lake Shore Drive became home to a striking mélange
International, Ltd., that Mr. Alsdorf came upon the of works in which painting, sculpture, and decorative
opportunity to acquire the Cory Corporation, a arts from around the world stood in art historical
producer of coffee brewers and equipment. Under Mr. conversation—a curatorial achievement in its own right
Alsdorf’s leadership, Cory grew to become the nation’s for which the Alsdorfs were widely celebrated. The
top manufacturer in the field, allowing him to expand couple were especially pioneering in their acquisition
the business into other areas of production and service. of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan art, areas
James and Marilynn Alsdorf that were largely undervalued when they first began to
at the Kenilworth, Miami 1950. After successfully selling the company to the Hershey
Photographer unknown, courtesy Corporation in the late 1960s, he re-joined the Alsdorf acquire these works in the 1960s. The Alsdorfs’ first
of the consignor. visit to India in 1968 was followed by numerous trips
family’s export firm, and worked together with his wife,
Marilynn, to amass an exceptional private collection of in the region, allowing them to expand both their
詹姆斯及瑪麗蓮•阿爾斯多夫於
1950年攝於凱尼爾沃思，邁阿密。 fine art. expertise and their collection. Each new spark of art

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