Page 15 - Christies Alsdorf Collection PART 2 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 art
the latter half of the twentieth century by two of left an indelible mark on the Alsdorfs’ collection and the
Chicago’s most important civic and cultural patrons, community in which they lived. The couple made their
the Collection is unparalleled in its breadth and quality, first acquisition at a Chicago auction shortly after their
illuminating the remarkable feats of human artistry marriage. The work was a harbinger of greater things
across time and geography. For the Alsdorfs, collecting to come, prompting the couple to look deeper into the
represented a unique opportunity for exploration, innumerable strands of art historical expression found
adventure, and the pursuit of beauty, extending from throughout history—from the societies of ancient Egypt
the art-filled rooms of their Chicago residence to distant and Greece to the early Renaissance, Islamic art, Chinese
continents and historic lands. The couple’s philosophy of and East Asian art, and Modern painting and sculpture.
collecting, as Marilynn Alsdorf explained, was simple yet Through international travel, personal scholarship,
profound: “We looked for objects,” she said, “to delight and in conversation with leading curators, dealers,
our eyes and souls….” and living artists, the Alsdorfs honed a shared, astute
connoisseurship, one driven by an ineffable, almost
Married in 1952, James and Marilynn Alsdorf would 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 described
joined his father’s business after studying at the Wharton it, that resulted in an extraordinary, polymathic private
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. collection. The couple’s residence on Chicago’s Lake
It was while working for his family’s company, Alsdorf Shore Drive became home to a striking mélange of
International, Ltd., that Mr. Alsdorf came upon the 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
After successfully selling the company to the Hershey that were largely undervalued when they first began to
Corporation in the late 1960s, he re-joined the Alsdorf acquire these works in the 1960s. The Alsdorfs’ first
family’s export firm, and worked together with his wife, visit to India in 1968 was followed by numerous trips
opposite: James and Marilynn
Alsdorf at the Kenilworth, Miami Marilynn, to amass an exceptional private collection of in the region, allowing them to expand both their
1950. Photographer unknown,
courtesy of the consignor. fine art. expertise and their collection. Each new spark of art

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