Forman, Natalie

Natalie (nee Berg, b. 1926, Chicago) and Irving (b. 1921, Chicago) Forman met and married in Chicago in 1946. Their 1956 purchase of a Jules Pascin drawing inaugurated a collecting career that, in the words of one commentator, moved from small, safe acquisitions to more eclectic purchases of works by artists such as Joseph Albers, Burgoyne Diller, Robert Ryman and Brice Marden. The Formans retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1985, selling or donating much of their collection to museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California Berkeley Art Museum. The remainder was installed in their new Santa Fe home, where they hosted frequent gatherings of artists, friends, and business associates. By 2001, the Formans began to search for a repository for their collection, considering the Hirshhorn and Brandeis' Rose Art Museum before selecting the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. 150 paintings and sculpture and over 150 works on paper were donated to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in 2003. A promised portion of the collection is with the Formans in their new home in Lamy, New Mexico, where Natalie and Irving reside today.