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I took a course on photography with Sam Wagstaff. (Wagstaff was a pioneer in collecting contemporary photography in the 1970s and '80s and owned a preeminent photography collection that was purchased by the Getty Museum in 1984.)

Sam Wagstaff was a great force in my life. He really stood out from everyone I had ever encountered. We met, quite by accident, at Sotheby’s or Christie’s at a preview. Sam walked around with me looking at the works on view and told me what he was going to buy. Then he suggested some things I should consider bidding on. It was entirely personal, and it was remarkable. The auction had both prints and photographs. Sam was a specialist in photography. When I took his course at NYU, he would bring in photographs and lecture with the photographs placed in front of us. He urged his students to look intently at each work.

So Wagstaff taught directly from original photographs?

Yes. One day he brought in a photograph by Laton Huffman. I so admired it that he gave me the dealer’s address in Colorado. Tony and I flew out to Colorado and purchased several works directly, all because of Sam. We would never have made the journey otherwise. The irony is that I bought the exact same image that Sam had acquired of this limited edition print. I think it was cattle crossing a stream. It was so atypical for Sam.

Sam had a protégé and partner who was a young photographer. Sam brought in scandalous photos and toured us through the art exhibitions in Soho.

His partner was Robert Mapplethorpe?

Yes, Sam was Robert Mapplethorpe’s partner. That’s the kind of work that he enjoyed. I listened carefully to his lectures and some of the more scandalous photographs made me more tolerant, I think. Sam Wagstaff reached out to me like nobody else had, and no one has since. It was quite an amazing friendship.

The strengths of your collection are twentieth century prints and photographs. Were there specific dealers or printers that you worked with to acquire such outstanding works?

Yes, I did. Sylvan Cole, Director of Associated American

Artists, was our first dealer and a very important print dealer. He taught Tony and me to live with and learn from the art. He also inspired an unstoppable desire to purchase art. Cole was a marvelous person, with a huge circle of collectors and friends.

Sylvan was the one who started me on Stuart Davis. The first print I bought from him was Study for a Drawing. It was modestly priced. I told Tony that I wanted to buy a Davis every year. And I succeeded for three years. The fourth year I found the Stuart Davis Study for Egg Beater No. 3 in Grace Borgenicht’s gallery on 57th Street. The gouache study was the only Stuart Davis she had in the gallery. It was her last one. Without her guiding us, I’m not sure we would have been tempted to purchase the Davis, since it had such a high price. We consented and never regretted it.

Did the Stuart Davis have pride of place in your New York apartment?

Yes, it hung in the New York apartment. But we may have bought it prior to having the apartment, because we went into New York frequently then. I just don’t remember the year we acquired it. Tony and I purchased our New York apartment in the late 1970s.

Lee Witkin was my other mentor for photography. He and the staff at the Witkin Gallery inspired us to expand our photography collection. He was a gentleman and had a wonderful attitude about photography and was very knowledgeable. I bought the Edward Steichen Versailles Nocturne there. The photograph still resonates with me. It was early in our collecting.

Did you ever work directly with a printer (like Gemini, ULAE, or Tyler Graphics) to purchase prints? Did you purchase the Susan Rothenberg prints from a printer?

No, I didn’t. There was a dealer on the Upper East side—Marian Williard, (Director, Williard Gallery) who handled Susan Rothenberg. I had them ship me every remaining Rothenberg in their print files.

Really? Why?

Susan Rothenberg started out with a notoriety for her horses (paintings). I didn’t often see them for

On June 6, 2014, Lynn Marsden-Atlass and Heather Gibson Moqtaderi conducted an interview with Anne Jaffe Portenar (C’49) at her home in Manasquan, New Jersey. The resulting conversation is reproduced here.

How and when did you and Dr. Portenar begin collecting works of art?

Neither Tony (Dr. Portenar) nor I can remember exactly when, but we were married in 1953 and lived in Philadelphia until 1960 when we moved to Lakewood, New Jersey. Tony was doing his residency in Ophthalmology, and took a graduate course for a year at Penn. He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College. I was working with the American Friends Service Committee that was located in downtown Philadelphia. I spent a great deal of time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and roaming the art galleries. This was perhaps 1957–60. I became a member of the Philadelphia Print Club. I was just keeping on top of the art scene.

Tony was an Army physician based in Germany from 1955–57. We looked at a lot of art but did not collect art there. It was a difficult time for Americans because the Germans felt a great deal of antipathy towards us after the defeat in the war. We visited Dachau and other concentration camps, which were deeply disturbing to me.

Do you remember your first purchase of artwork?

No, I don’t. Tony gave me carte blanche in regard to researching and selecting the artworks for our collection. He was busy with his practice. I was tuned into the contemporary art world. Sometimes I would ask a dealer to hold the work until I discussed it with Tony. I was willing to delve deep—not financially—but into the background of the art and the artist. For the most part, I made the purchases.

Later, in the late 1970s, I took some art courses at New York University. During my second semester,

A Conversation with Anne Jaffe Portenar (C’49)

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ANNE AND MYRON IN MOROCCO, 2006

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sale. I always wanted one of her horses and I was in Philadelphia for just a day. I went to one of the art dealers on Walnut Street who was having a Susan Rothenberg show and, by golly, there was a horse! I asked the price, which was very high, and I began to negotiate with the dealer, and she refused to lower the price. I walked out and never went back. I always regretted it. It was like buying somebody without a heart. It certainly taught me a lesson for the future: stop saying no. Accept reality and try to find a way (to purchase it). Put the work on reserve or make a down payment.

Previously, you spoke of purchasing Clyde Connell’s Little Door Guardian sculptures in New Orleans. Could you tell us about that experience?

I had multiple visits with her gallery in New Orleans (Arthur Roger Gallery). The first time, I was visiting New Orleans with a group. I wanted to buy something similar to the work on display, but I didn’t want to spend the kind of money that they were asking. Several years later, I went back to New Orleans on another visit with just a pair of friends. Lo and behold, I went back to the gallery and there was a fresh variety of work by this gal. This time I didn’t care what they charged, I just bought it and ran! I was so impressed at the distinction of it, from anything else I’d seen. It just almost talked, it was so different, it was very…beckoning. It seemed to say, “Take me, take me home!” So I did, eventually. And I have not had that experience with any other art. I haven’t had to go back, I’ve had to make my decisions on the spot, and I make them.

Did you and Tony purchase most artworks in New York, or did you collect when you traveled?

We did both, but New York galleries were certainly the focus of our acquisitions.

There was also a Philadelphia dealer who was a member of the Philadelphia Print Club (1915-1993). Her gallery was on Rittenhouse Square. She made suggestions of prints, and made things accesible to me.

We understand that you also traveled in Mexico. Could you tell us a bit about that?

In the summer of 1947, I traveled with the American Friends Service Committee to Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico. Some of us worked at the medical clinics, but I chose to teach school out in the countryside in Salazar. Here are some photographs of me with the students.

Did you teach in English or Spanish?

A little of both. My students were girls and boys. Here are some students dressed in costumes for the fiesta San Luis Mextopec.

Did you purchase the Rufino Tamayo or José Clemente Orozco prints in Mexico?

No, I think I purchased them from Sylvan Cole in New York.

Can you tell us about Ruth Asawa, and how you acquired her work?

Ruth Asawa was on the American Friends Service Committee trip with me in Mexico, in 1947. We never discussed art there, and she was from San Francisco. We became friends. Years later, I was reading an art journal that reported that Ruth had created some public fountains for the city of San Francisco. I couldn’t believe it. I called her and asked if I could purchase one of her pieces. She sent me Rocking Chair. It was a gift for me to have her artwork, but I never saw her again.

Did you ever purchase directly from any artists?

The answer really is no. There is one exception. Tony and I visited Elizabeth Catlett and her husband Francisco Mora at their apartment in the late 1970s or early 1980s in New York. During the visit I asked if she had any works for sale, and she brought out two small prints that were lovely. I acquired them and they were in the collection until Lewis Shepard, our appraiser, asked to offer them to a women’s college in New England. They sold immediately and I regretted it.

There is a Francisco Mora work in the exhibition, Minero (Silver Miner), 1946. The print is from the Taller de Gráfica portfolio.

(left) SUSAN ROTHENBERG��J���!����Head and Bones���! ��?WWLK]\

(right) BETYE SAAR �J���!����Return to Dreamtime���!!��-\KPQVO

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MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE (1904 – 1971) Exodus, Pakistan, �!���;QT^MZ�OMTI\QV�XZQV\

Yes, I saw that.

Anne, you told me that Odilon Redon’s Pégase Captif was one of your great favorites, and prominently located in your Lakewood home.

Yes, I wanted to share it with everyone. But the lithograph didn’t always affect everybody the way it affected me. I had it hanging in our former house in New Jersey. It was at the end of the hallway with other prints leading toward it, but I wanted to be able to see it a mile away, and I knew that everyone would want to get close. It just has a physical effect on me. I find it so powerful, and so exquisite, and the shadings of the colors are so smooth and it stands apart from every other print that I’ve ever seen or wanted to own. It never became neutralized. I had to make three payments because of the cost, but the dealers were very nice about it all, and over time we completed the fact and act, and I’ve never regretted it. There’s other art that I love, but this is passion!

How did you acquire it?

At the annual print fair at The Armory in New York, about thirty years ago.

Did the Louise Nevelson sculpture reside in your Lakewood home or in New York?

First in Lakewood, then in the apartment in New York.

You purchased the Nevelson in Philadelphia, is that correct? From Paul Mackler?

Yes. That’s the only thing I purchased from Mackler’s gallery.

I purchased the art, and I shared everything with Tony as it developed. We only had one difference of opinion—a major one—over acquiring a print by Jasper Johns. For some reason he was entirely opposed to Johns and the print image of a coat hanger. But that was the only time we disagreed on art. I knew it was unique and leading somewhere. But Tony never regretted his decision.

The more we delve into your collection, the more we just find it remarkable. You and Tony have given the gift of a lifetime of passionate collecting to Penn with over 800 works. I know it’s impossible to choose, but which might be your favorites?

I know that Redon still comes to the fore. The effect it has on me is different from anything else that I have. I love other works too. I have an affection for Joseph Pennell’s work. He is not well-known. He’s invisible to the art world today, and even when I was buying. His prints of the construction of the Panama Canal are among the most powerful I’ve ever seen.

Did you acquire Pennell’s prints in Philadelphia?

Yes, there was a dealer on Walnut Street, around 10th Street. I found the Pennells of the Panama Canal series sitting on the floor of this gallery, just leaning up against the wall. I wanted them. It was near my office at the American Friends Service Committee.

The David Hockney Study of Byron, 1979 was a surprise. I wanted a Hockney print and on one of my many visits to the Metropolitan Museum I found this one in a contemporary artists' shop they had there. Wayne Thiebaud’s Suckers (State II) is another favorite.

As for photography, I do feel the Margaret Bourke-White Exodus, Pakistan, 1947 maintains its heart-breaking beauty and timelessness. You are not just looking, you are being struck by something that nobody else had done. It was just gorgeous.

Another favorite is William Lindsay’s photograph Constitution Mall, NY World’s Fair, 1939. It was '39. I was there.

Tell us about it, please.

It was fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. I saw this view. Not at night the way it was taken here. This photograph turned up on Long Beach Island in a small house near the north end near the lighthouse. I went in and a woman pulled this from a file, and asked if I would like it. I didn’t hesitate, I said yes. I don’t know anything about the photographer.

The World’s Fair in ’39 was like visiting the Taj Mahal. I’ve done that too!

We would like to personally thank you and Tony again for donating your outstanding collection to the University. The collection will be a source for teaching, research, and new scholarship for generations to come.