Independent Collectors

Elayne & Marvin Mordes

The sun has just risen over the eaves when we meet on Park Avenue one peaceful January morning and Marvin and Elayne Mordes seem just the way we’d had hoped – warm, open and sympathetic.

Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt

The sun has just risen over the eaves when we meet on Park Avenue one peaceful January morning and Marvin and Elayne Mordes seem just the way we’d had hoped – warm, open and sympathetic. And, to top it all off, armed with a splendidly elaborate style of dress.

So it is a little difficult not to regard us as somewhat out of place when, shortly afterwards, Elayne & Marvin Mordes and myself seat ourselves round a gaudy plastic table in a diner that would make almost anyone forget that Seinfeld was actually shot far away on the other side of Central Park and not here, off Park Avenue.

Elayne explains that we have landed at the place where she and Marvin habitually take their breakfast when they are in New York. Although they actually live in West Palm Beach, they regularly visit the city to check out exhibitions, visit galleries and meet friends. On this occasion it is the Armory Show that has brought them to New York where, as usual they have the use of a friend’s apartment just round the corner.

Let us make it clear right from the start that Elayne and Marvin Mordes are collectors from a past era. The sort of collectors who, forty years after the spark of their initial purchase, know everyone, have seen everything and have become wise to all the pitfalls. Quite simply, old-school collectors. One can’t help wondering how it all started. So while waiting for our coffee and fruit salad I ask Marvin and Elayne to begin from the beginning.

Marvin: “It all started in 1976. At that time I had a residency as a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I worked together with a co-resident, the minor difference being that I was the doctor who mostly got to see the patients while he spent his days rushing around among the art galleries in Philadelphia. Whenever I needed him he was simply not there. And at that time there were no cell phones. All we had were pagers, generally known as beepers. Anyway, the day came when he was to be the duty doctor and needed to get hold of the duty pager. I set out for the galleries in downtown Philadelphia to look for him. I finally ran him to earth at what later transpired to be one of the city’s better galleries.”

“I handed over the pager and my colleague rushed off, leaving me in the gallery. But just as I was about to leave the gallery myself the lord of the universe must have had a hand in things, for the skies opened and I was trapped in the gallery by a hurricane outside. The owner suggested that I should sit down and he would teach me something about art. This was just about the last thing that I wanted to do but, to cut a long story short, I left the gallery two hours later with a drawing by Mark Toby under my arm. And this was the first time that my dear wife chased me with a frying pan while screaming instructions to take it back to the gallery.”

Elayne: “It cost more than you earned in a whole year at that time.” And so Mark Toby initiated the collecting that followed. And what vigorous collecting this proved to be! Firstly on the chosen path – with paper-based art.

E: “Since we were not living in New York we were a long way from galleries and exhibitions, but we had lived in Europe for five years and had visited a fair number of museums during that time. I had graduated in the history of art and music but, for Marvin, this was uncharted territory. We were inexperienced so we quite simply started buying things that we liked. Colourful art prints by Calder and others to begin with.”

Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt'
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt'
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt

Their own taste and their modesty in purchasing things that they really liked are still valid today. But their curiosity would involve them both in numerous purchases and sales of artworks over the years. The first collection of paper-based art was rapidly replaced by others, with their growing interest in American artists of the 1920s and 1930s like Martin Lewis and Armin Landeck. But, so far, they had only just begun.

E: “Thanks to an article in the New York Times we became interested in contemporary American art with the likes of Rauschenberg, Stella and Rosenquist. So we sold our earlier acquisitions and started collecting them, though we still had a feeling that we had not really reached our goal. And we ended up selling everything once again.”

So we sold our earlier acquisitions and started collecting them, though we still had a feeling that we had not really reached our goal. And we ended up selling everything once again. There was quite a long detour through the world of contemporary art handicraft before they came across the path to the particular form of contemporary art that would come to feel just right.

M: “We bought a work by the painter John McLaughlin. A strictly minimalist, white painting with two black rectangles. And when we hung it at home it felt just right.”

But this strain of collecting proved difficult to begin with. Competition between New York galleries in the 1980s was tough, to say the least. Waiting lists with up to a hundred or so eager collectors and promises to contact clients if something turned up made the situation almost impossible for new collectors. Their breakthrough came when the Mordes visited Germany. When the art fair ended Elayne and Marvin were able to fly back home with five spontaneous purchases.

E: “When we reached home and hung our acquisitions together with the McLaughlin painting everything felt right. Now we were definitely on the right track! So we continued our visits to Europe and that is why people regard our collection as being so European.”

The collection definitely was European and Marvin and Elayne started a series of regular visits to Europe, concentrating on one country at a time. They also purchased works by Americans, though these were almost always artists who were popular in Europe.

“I have not become richer by owning these artworks. But they have enriched my life and challenged my thinking.”

ELAYNE & MARVIN MORDES

Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt

It is not difficult to understand why the Mordes have friends all over the globe. They are, simply, that kind of collector – the sort that values meeting the artist, the gallery owner and the artistic environment just as highly as the artwork itself. And, over the years, they have built up more friendships than most of us. One such close friendship was with the American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth, prompted by their purchasing one of his paintings.

E: “As thanks he sent us presents for several years thereafter. But that is a dying custom, just as are collectors like us who have been around since that time. Today’s collectors do not get to meet the artists in the same way. Their work has, instead, become something people invest in. Anyway, we took a mortgage on our home in order to pay for all the art we bought, and when we told Joseph about this he positively collapsed with laughter. But what were we to do? Marvin had only been working for a few years at that time, and we were insane. Totally mad!”

M: “Precisely. Once I wanted to buy a Richard Long from our German friend, gallery-owner Konrad Fischer. We nagged and nagged at him and he finally sent us a fax. I’ve still got it somewhere. It read: ‘Don’t call me, write to me, or fax me. I’m giving in. You can buy the work.’ And so we did.”

And our collecting continued in that vein. By concentrating on the European galleries, including the Wetterling Gallery, Marvin and Elayne built up their collection. The recipe remained simple from the start. They bought whatever their gut feeling told them to buy – always cutting edge, and always among the first. And they have continued along those lines up until the present. But you need to be quick. Prices have often risen too much when they have wanted to purchase another work by the artist.

In 2006 they took their next step – their very own exhibition premises. In fact their own museum in a former warehouse in West Palm Beach where they had recently moved. Whitespace – The Mordes Collection was born. The premises cover more than 10 000 square feet, most of which is exhibition space. There is also a large space dedicated to other curators. With Elayne at the helm they show international and more regional art in West Palm Beach which is otherwise largely devoid of galleries.

At present they organize one exhibition each year as well as their own, constantly changing collection. In the space devoted to their collection, as well as hanging in their private quarters, are works by the likes of Frank Gehry and Richard Artschwager.

E: “We regard it as our responsibility to share our understanding of contemporary art, both by show-ing our own collection and noting all that is happening on the art scene.”

One doesn’t need to spend much time in their company to realize that their thirst for knowledge, exhibitions and new acquisitions has not lessened since that rainy afternoon in Philadelphia almost 40 years ago. And later, while on my way out of the Seinfeld-style diner, I somewhat hastily ask Marvin whether he thinks that I should start collecting, he gives a perfect summary.

M: “When all’s said and done, I have not become richer by owning these artworks. But they have enriched my life and challenged my thinking. For us, collecting is a reflection of our passion and our personalities – never merely an ego trip.”

SADLY, MARVIN MORDES DIED SUDDENLY ON A VISIT TO BERLIN WITH HIS WIFE ELAYNE PRIOR TO THE PUBLICATION OF THIS INTERVIEW.

Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt
Inside the home of Elayne & Marvin Mordes. Photo: Patrik Sehlstedt

TEXT BY ARVID NITTVE
PUBLISHED BY WETTERLING GALLERY
IDEA & PRODUCTION BY LE BUREAU

It’s Mine – A Tribute To Art Collectors” is a stunning 320 page book that portrays 33 Swedish and international art collectors and artists who have dedicated much of their lives to owning and creating art, supported with intimate interviews accompanied by personal portraits taken specifically for the publication.

USA (55)

West Collection

Since 1996, Al & Paige West have been building an impressive collection, including works by artists such as Donald Judd, Martin Boyce, and Candice Breitz.

Valeria Napoleone

The Italian-born collector actively seeks out under­represented positions and therefore only acquires works by women artists.

Christine and Andrew Hall

Interview with the collectors behind Hall Art Foundation

Gary Yeh

IC talks to Gary Yeh.

de la Cruz Collection

Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, the co-founders of the renowned collection that bears their name, are always quick to highlight the importance of education when discussing the role the De La Cruz Collection plays in the Miami community.

The Broad Collection

Walking down the Grand Avenue in Los Angeles, right by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), you can’t help but be struck by the angular construction of The Broad and its bright white honeycomb exterior.

Marciano Art Foundation

Maurice and Paul Marciano, founders of the GUESS jeans brand, in their five-thousand-square-meter exhibition space

The Mallin Collection

Nestled on 15 acres in the scenic town of Pound Ridge, New York, Buckhorn Sculpture Park features gardens, woodlands, a lake and an orchard.

Transformer Station

Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell’s transformation of an electrical power station in Cleveland

The Goss-Michael Foundation

A place that grew out of a romantic connection between Kenny Goss and the late pop music legend, George Michael

Franks-Suss Collection

Initially focused on China, collectors Simon Franks and Robert Suss soon widened their purview

Mera & Donald Rubell

Five quick questions, five short answers by the famous couple behind the Rubell Family Collection

Thoma Foundation

Two intimate art spaces in Chicago and Santa Fe encourage dialogue between work and viewer

Martin Margulies

Interview with the collector behind the Margulies Collection

Seth Stolbun

The Houston native collector almost exclusively acquires works from artists that he has a personal relationship with

The Donum Collection

Wine tasting and Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois

March 8th 2022

The Stolbun Collection presents “March 8th 2022”, likely the only exhibition at Ferndale–Seth Stolbun’s rental home, as captured by his iPhone

Rubell Family Collection

Curator Joey Lico teams up with artist Alexis Diaz to visit the mighty Rubell Museum in Miami

Saint Georgina Slays The Dragon

A new collection on IC, see inside The Bennett Collection, which is focused on figurative realism, specifically the realistic, painted depiction of women by women.

Flippin The Script with Armand-Paul Family Collection

In “Flippin The Script” we warmly welcome the Armand-Paul Family Collection in New York to IC, with its focus on the African and Latin diasporas, and interest in performance.

Donna Huanca – Obsidian Ladder

Skin painting artist Donna Huanca participates in the current MAF project series, exploring gender and sexuality in contemporary life.

We Still Have Wild Birds Here

Overlooked American artist Gene Beery (b. 1937), declared and depicted reflections in his paintings with a relevant truth and irony that is no less today.

Life Cycle

The Marciano Art Foundation hosted Ai Weiwei for the third MAF Project in their Theatre Gallery.

The Wig Museum

LA's MAF was inaugurated in 2017 with a solo show of Jim Shaw, curated by Philipp Kaiser.

Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation

Delve into the digital art of the collection exhibited across two spaces.

Art Now, Art Forever: Damon Zucconi

As collectors dedicated to following artist careers in depth and breadth, Clayton Press and Gregory Linn describe their on-going relationship to the work of Damon Zucconi, whose works are frequently accessible online.

www.Simco Web Works

In context of exposing art digitally and exposing digital art, we wanted to present artworks that have only and always existed on the web, as URLs, here in the collection of Stefan Simchowitz.

Responding to Nature

Tucked away in the vineyard’s of San Francisco you’ll find the secret sculpture park of Nancy and Steve Oliver.

Go Figure / Alec Soth

This summer, the Pizzuti Collection will feature two exhibitions featuring works taken from the private collection of Ron and Ann Pizzuti.

John Morrissey

Discover is a keyword for the American attorney and art collector John Morrissey, who directs his focus towards emerging contemporary artists.

Roberto Toscano

It all started with the purchase of an etching by Richard Serra in 2011, which turned out to serve as the very foundation for Roberto Toscano’s art collection.

Stefan Simchowitz Collection

L.A.’s most controversial art collector opens up his private collection of contemporary painting.

Carole Server

The New York-based collectors with an enthusiasm for patronage and education.

Force and Form

The private collection studying contemporary visual culture.

Buckhorn Sculpture Park

Located in the scenic town of Pound Ridge, New York, you’ll find the private home of collector couple Sherry and Joel Mallin and their Buckhorn Sculpture Park.

Visions From India

The exhibition “Transforming Vision” includes some of the most prominent Indian artists working today, with all forty works coming from the Pizzuti Collection.

Clayton Press & Gregory Linn

Since 1980, Clayton Press and Gregory Linn – New Jersey collectors – have evolved from being energetic art aficionados to art market specialists.

Steve Shane

Manhattan-based collector Steve Shane is completely in love with art.

Soul Of A Nation: Art In The Age Of Black Power 1963-1983

HEAR this Online Exhibition, exclusively put together with an abundance of images, to view whilst listening to a curated playlist by Quincy Jones.

The Broad Survey Of Shirin Neshat

Downtown L.A.’s The Broad presents Shirin Neshat in an immersive survey.

PHANTASMAGORIA

Exhibition at the Stolen Collection

The Herskovic Collection

A fanatic collector of Abstract Expressionist Painting.

The Dikeou Collection — Part III

A variety of artworks by both established and emerging artists.

The Dikeou Collection — Part IV

A variety of artworks by both established and emerging artists.

The Dikeou Collection – Part II

Artworks by both established and emerging artists, ranging from installations, sculpture, photographs, videos, drawings, to painting.s.

The Dikeou Collection – Part I

Founded in 1998 by the siblings Pany and Devon Dikeou, the Dikeou Collection is located in downtown Denver.

Times of Change

New York-based collector Gregory Vinitsky has been dedicated to collecting contemporary since the 1970s.

Working Hard for Art

An art consultant and curator by day, the Brooklyn-based Collector is a self proclaimed “gutsy newcomer”, working with emerging artists to help her push her collection further.

Chaotic Contemporary

Chicago based collector Troy Klyber, is a contemporary art collector that loves to engage in a bit of chaos.

No Man’s Land

Just in time for the opening of Art Basel Miami Beach 2015, the Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation has opened its new exhibition, “NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection”.

Letters to Pia

Having been given the chance to acquire intimate images of Morrisroe’s muse, Pia Howard, Boston-based collector Adam Larson speaks to IC about his relationship with the following photographs, and of course about Pia.

Select Works from the Stolbun Collection

The Stolbun Collection has turned its attention to featuring younger American artists

R F Jefferies – Don’t Postpone Joy

A look inside the collection of San Diego-based collector R F Jefferies.

THE OJIKUTU COLLECTION

Exquisite showcase of treasures of African art, culture, and history