Hot Seats

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Her holdings, some 200 in number, have been exhibited in the U.S. and London.Her holdings, some 200 in number, have been exhibited in the U.S. and London. Asked how obtaining these renderings became her passion, Pine replies with a shrug, "Well, I grew up in Chicago," as if being surrounded at a tender age by the architectural works of Burnham, Sullivan and Wright necessarily imparted a connoisseur’s eye and an appetite for acquisition. Yet this early exposure did inspire Pine to study the history of art and architecture and to work as an art educator. By the time she moved to New York, in the mid-1960s, she was eager to begin acquiring items by living talents. But the Conceptual art of that era left her cold. "The dealers would lecture you for an hour about the pieces. And I couldn’t stand it," she says with a tinge of irritation. "That’s why I was attracted to works by architects. They were something tangible." Even more tangible were the chairs they designed, which she also started to amass. Her favorites are displayed in her living room, each speaking of serendipitous moments and fond encounters in her collector’s quest.

"Hot Seats" originally appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's July/August 2009 Table of Contents.