Australia’s John Kaldor has donated a substantial collection to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Australia. Collecting was more than a pastime for Kaldor, it was an integral part of his life and business:
Right from the start, working and collecting were entwined. He was not a banker dabbling on the side. Kaldor commissioned fabric designs and bought revolutionary international art with the same eye. “I don’t think I am that talented as a businessman,” he says in the considered Hungarian accent a few years at Riverview failed to beat out of him. “I think my strength was in design and also in colour.” […]
“As I was building my business, I didn’t buy real estate besides my home or invest in shares,” he says. “I put everything into art or art projects. I never collected because I thought it was a good investment. So in effect the collection is a big part of my assets.”
He bought energetically for 20 years through a dozen dealers in Europe and New York. “I sold when I got divorced. I sold a couple of pieces to help my children get their homes. But I never traded in art. I didn’t buy to trade and I never traded. There was a lot in storage. There were a number of works that were too big to get into my house.”
A Life’s Works (Sydney Morning Herald)
