Writer's Block
by George Chung

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People Reading:
Selections from the Collection of
Donald and Patricia Oresman

view the exhibit online

New York attorney and bibliophile Donald Oresman and his wife, Patricia, began in 1974 to focus their art collection upon images of people reading. That year, they saw Jim Dine’s portrait of his wife, Nancy, reading and bought it. A few weeks later they came across Larry Rivers’ portrait of the poet Frank O’Hara reading. “Something clicked,“ Oresman would write. “Readers became the focus from then on.”

The Oresmans’ holdings, now numbering more than 2,200 works, comprise one of the most extensive and unusual thematic collections in the world. The March 2007 issue of ART & ANTIQUES listed them as among America’s top 100 private collectors.

What are the criteria the couple have used in collecting a piece? “Actually only one,” Donald Oresman has said. “Do we like the image?”

Thomas L. Johnson, Ph.D.
Guest Curator, “People Reading”
Librarian Emeritus, University of South Carolina
(South Caroliniana Library, Columbia)

Many thanks to the Spartanburg Community
and its supporters:

Carolina Gallery
Hugh & Jane McColl, Jr.
The Spartanburg County Public Libraries
(in conjunction with THE BIG READ project)

Elder Art Gallery, LLC
Phifer Johnson Foundation
The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg
Wofford College
Zimmerli Foundation

The Arkwright Foundation
Paula & Stan Baker
Barnet Foundation Trust
Katherine & Bert Barre
Vic & Linda Bilanchone
Birchwood Center
for Arts & Folklife
Mr. & Mrs. Glen Boggs, II
Mr. and Mrs. George Brandt, III
Gail Brown
Dr. & Mrs. John H. Cathcart, Jr.
Ms. M. Marshall Chapman
Mr. & Mrs. William Cobb
Mike and Nancy Corbin
Daniel & Becky Cromer
Mr. C. Michael Curtis, Sr.
Frank & Earlene Cyrill
Fred Dent
Anne Ebersbach
Gayle Barker Edwards
Ray & Carolyn Eubanks
Wilson & Claire Farrell
Dr. & Mrs. John Featherston
Dr. & Mrs. Harold Fleming
Will & Liz Fort
Lucy Harper Grier
Mr. & Mrs. James Gross
Susan A. Hodge
Linda Hudgins
David & Harriet Ike
Eliza Johnson
Miranda Johnson
Thomas L. Johnson
(in memory of Juliet Gish &
Elizabeth Harnsberger)
Dr. & Mrs. Julian Josey
Jack Lawrence
Jerrie Lucktenburg