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The American Collection is comprised of diverse selections of work by nationally recognized artists that do not have a strong South Dakota connection. Artists included in this collection are Marsden Hartley (modernist painter), Thomas Hart Benton (painter), Robert Mangold (minimalist painter), James Abbott McNeil Whistler (painter, printmaker), Sidney Chafetz (printmaker), Eric Fischl (painter, sculptor) and Birger Sandzen (painter). The collection also includes works by outstanding regional artists Jantje Visscher (photographer, painter), Brian Paulsen (painter) and Ulfert Wilke (painter).

The collection has been acquired primarily through donations by individuals and organizations such as the South Dakota General Federation of Women's Club, national collecting initiatives such as the National Gallery of Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Endowment for the Arts, Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection.

The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection

Charles Clough

"Lets Lets"
enamel on board, 1995-1998
South Dakota Art Collection, 2010.01.46.
The South Dakota Art Museum, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
© Charles Clough

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel were active collectors, amassing a collection of nearly 4,000 objects. The sheer size of the collection - far too large to be reasonably placed in any one institution - led to the development of the  project, which enabled the Vogel’s to share the gift of their collection nationwide. This project received essential support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Vogel’s selected participating institutions using a range of personal criteria. For some states they based decisions on research that identified institutions with an interest in contemporary art. The Vogel’s goal was to bring work by contemporary artists to institutions that might otherwise not have been able to acquire them.