Abstract
The art collection of the German–American sculptor Ruth Vollmer (1903–1982) consisted primarily of gifts or exchanges with other artists, which were meticulously arranged in her New York apartment. Provisional and eccentric, these objects were often anomalous in the practices of the artists who produced them, and were not necessarily intended for public display. Drawing on sociologist David Cheal’s description of the gift economy as ‘a system of action which is characterized by the principle of redundancy’, this article argues that the objects collected by Vollmer were doubly ‘redundant’, being playful or throwaway experiments that were recuperated as gifts. Despite their marginal status in art history, however, the objects Vollmer collected can be interpreted as manifestations of the interpersonal relationships that she cultivated in her own artistic practice, and in the diasporic ‘salons’ she hosted at her home in the aftermath of World War II.
US Alien Property Custodian patent documents: A legacy prior art collection from World War II – Part 1. History