They just bought it because they liked it. Art a part of collectors' lives The only thing the pieces have in common is that they were considered important enough to their collectors that they wanted to live with these pieces, put them up in their bedrooms, their parlors, outside in their gardens. In most cases, Callahan went into the homes of the collectors, walked around and talked to them about their art. Some were the first things they ever bought. Others are favorites, or done by friends, were gifts or inherited.
Art is an expression of culture.
Contained within it are the elements of a community, by taking the pieces from different collections, we create a microcosm of this community. He asked the collectors what was significant to them about each piece of art. Behind the art are the stories of the collectors, like Ponsford, whose tastes in art decidedly changed after the devastating fire. We had a pretty sizeable collection, not necessarily valuable to anyone but us. In the early '70s she started collecting the graphic works of Berkeley artist David Goines, famous in part for his Chez Panisse posters.