A Legacy of Collecting

A Legacy of Collecting
September 7 – October 26, 2024
Reception Saturday, September 7, 3-5 pm

Terry Allen. Robert Bechtle. Nayland Blake. Enrique Chagoya. Jean Cocteau.
Bruce Conner. Jay DeFeo. James Drake. Philip Guston. George Herms. Mildred Howard.
David Ireland. Jess. Lynn Hershman Leeson. Judith Linhares. Robert Mapplethorpe. Manuel Neri.
Katherine Sherwood. Hassel Smith. Patti Smith. Al Souza. Joseph Stella. John Zurier.

From the Collection and Estate of Paule Anglim,
Collection of Suzanne Helmuth and Jock Reynolds,
and the Collection of Betty Moody and Moody Gallery

A Legacy of Collecting

“Why do people collect? The consolation of art comes in many forms. For some it is making, for others it is having.”
Michael Kimmelman, The Accidental Masterpiece, p. 94

All three gallerists and curators represented in A Legacy of Collecting, in addition to proselytizing about artists to our audiences, have been avid collectors ourselves. Jock Reynolds, former director of the Yale University Art Gallery (1998–2018), and I have been colleagues for over forty years. Paule Anglim, the well-known San Francisco gallerist, and I became dear friends in the early 1980s, working on many projects together. About a year and a half ago, Jock had the brilliant idea of curating an exhibition drawn from all our collections, tracing the common threads among three close associates. That plan became the genesis of the current exhibition.

Paule opened Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco in the early 1970’s. She and I both showed Terry Allen, James Drake, and Al Souza and we shared similar aesthetics and directions for our galleries. While Paule represented many Bay Area artists, I represent many Texas artists. Over her many years as a gallerist, Paule had either acquired or been gifted an extraordinary personal collection. On many occasions, I visited her home, which was filled with the mementos of a rewarding life in the arts. When Paule died in April 2015, her art collection was left to her son, renowned actor Philip Anglim, who has assisted with the planning of this exhibition.

Also in Northern California, Reynolds studied art at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and then became a professor at San Francisco State University, meeting and supporting a legion of students and fellow artists. He co-founded 80 Langton Street in 1975, which became one of San Francisco’s premiere alternative artists’ spaces. Reynolds closely collaborated with artist David Ireland, serving as executor of his artistic estate. Jock helped establish Ireland’s home as 500 Capp Street, a unique artist’s installation and foundation in San Francisco, now ably directed by its chief curator, Lian Ladia. Jock donated more than 2,000 artworks, and a trove of letters, publications, and ephemera housed in 500 Capp Street’s publicly accessible Paule Anglim Archive Room, which was endowed by Philip Anglim. Along the way, Jock and his artist wife Suzanne Hellmuth have assembled an outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art.

I too have been bitten by the collecting bug. Spending most of my life in the gallery world has provided an ever-changing and immediate exposure to the work of all the artists I have represented. It makes perfect sense, then, that from time to time I have collected beloved examples of the work I have been so proud to show.

The three of us often communicated, sharing ideas, plans, and diversions. For example, Moody Gallery has represented Al Souza since 1984 and from 1988 to1992 he showed concurrently by Gallery Paule Anglim. He suggested that a joint exhibition with artists David Ireland and Jess, both represented by Paule, would be a valuable convergence. The Moody Gallery exhibition “David Ireland, Jess, and Al Souza” (December 3, 2005–January 14, 2006) would not have been possible without Anglim’s assistance. In 2007, Moody Gallery was awarded the Best Show in a Commercial Gallery Nationally by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) USA. In a way, this successful collaboration was a warmup for the current exhibition.

A Legacy of Collecting is filled with personal gifts and acquired pieces, works that all three of us have lived with—and have loved. Now, the moment has come to pass along some our personal passions to others, who will have the opportunity to enjoy them as much as Jock, Paule, Philip, and I have.

Betty Moody

I wish to thank Philip Anglim; Jock Reynolds; and Lian Ladia, curator, 500 Capp Street, The David Ireland House, for loaning works from their collections for this special exhibition, and a very special thanks to Don Quaintance.

A Legacy of Collecting can be viewed online at www.moodygallery.com. For more information, please call or email the gallery at 713-526-9911 or info@moodygallery.com. Moody Gallery is open Tuesday – Friday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm and Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm.