By: Jay Kt
Long before Jeffrey Loria became known as a collector and private art dealer, a Picasso at Yale University taught him something about the purpose of art.
The 1943 painting, First Steps, depicts a mother bent protectively over a child, holding both hands as the child appears to move forward. Loria was studying art history at Yale when the work caught his attention. Decades later, he still remembers not simply what the painting looked like, but what it seemed to say.
“The assurance and security of the mother acting almost like an umbrella of protection over the child suggest the source of confidence gained in taking those steps and finding one’s independence,” Loria explained. “Without ever realizing it, my subsequent actions nearly mimed the lessons decoded for me in that painting. I began taking my ‘first steps’ into the art world with the imagery of that painting hovering somewhere over my head.”
It also deepened his belief that art can communicate across time.
To him, exceptional collecting begins with looking. Then looking again. It requires curiosity, scholarship, instinct and enough independence of thought to recognize significance even when the market, critics or public have yet to arrive at the same conclusion.
“Collecting art is an art in itself,” Loria said. “It offers the opportunity to curate a personal version of art history, shaped by what a collector chooses to value and have present in their life.”
For Loria, whose work has centered on nineteenth- and twentieth-century masterworks and Modern Art, collecting has never been simply a question of ownership. At its highest level, it becomes an intellectual pursuit and, eventually, a form of cultural leadership.
Jeffrey H. Loria: ‘A Great Work Of Art Is Revealed Through The Artist’s Overwhelming Need To Create And To Express’
Collectors inevitably encounter questions of price, rarity and value. Loria believes those considerations tell only part of the story.
“Art is a subjective communicator,” he said. “It is a unique commodity and not only related to financial considerations. It engages differently with different people and asks only one thing from everyone, which is that we look.”
Serious collectors, he explains, develop that act of looking into a discipline.
They learn periods and movements. They study artists whose work initially appeals to them and artists whose work does not. They pay attention to craftsmanship, intellect, innovation and historical context. Over time, a collector develops an eye capable of separating immediate fashion from lasting importance.
That becomes particularly difficult because artists themselves often operate ahead of public understanding.
“Part of the collector’s role is to see beyond the present moment and potentially see an artist’s importance in the future,” Loria said.
Artists, he noted, respond to cultural, social and political forces that are constantly moving. Work dismissed in one generation may appear prescient in another. An artist who seemed difficult or unfashionable can later be recognized as having understood something about the world before everyone else did.
Those variables make collecting more demanding than following a trend or recognizing a famous signature.
“A focused collector is not only evaluating the work of art, they are often trying to assess the purity of an artist’s intent,” Loria said. “A great work of art is revealed through the artist’s overwhelming need to create and to express.”
Talent remains central. So do technical ability, passion, intelligence and an artist’s capacity to absorb the world around them and turn it into something that reaches another person.
The strongest works, Loria believes, ultimately touch something larger than the moment in which they were made.
What Great Collectors Understand
Great collectors do more than acquire important works. They build with intention and understand where each piece fits within a larger cultural story.
Jeffrey Loria saw that level of thought firsthand in three collectors he came to know personally: Joe Hirshhorn, Walter Chrysler Jr. and Norton Simon.
All three were highly successful individuals in the world of business who went on to build collections with lasting ties to major cultural institutions. Loria worked closely with them and saw how carefully they approached each acquisition.
“[They] stand out for their drive to turn their private collections into public institutions and to share their individual, curated vision,” Loria said. “Each one was a titan of industry, and each sought to give back as a way of acknowledging personal success.”
What struck Loria was the degree of thought behind the process. These were not collectors simply accumulating trophies. “They created collections as if they were harmonizing an orchestra,” he said.
They sought knowledge from dealers, artists, critics, scholars, curators and auction houses. Individual acquisitions became part of something broader. Each work had to make sense within the collection while also contributing to a larger understanding of culture.
“Their art collections became an integral part of who they were, and it is a reminder that there is no substitute for vision in preserving culture and history,” Loria said.
From Private Stewardship to Public Culture
The history of art has always depended on people willing to support it.
Patronage made artistic production possible long before the modern museum existed. Loria sees private collectors as continuing part of that tradition today.
“They bring support, recognition, and value,” he said.
However, ownership also carries responsibility.
Many serious collectors eventually lend works to exhibitions, donate pieces to museums or transfer substantial portions of their collections to public institutions. Even while works remain privately held, collectors can act as stewards, protecting art and ensuring its survival.
“Collectors ensure that works are cared for and prioritized,” Jeffrey H. Loria said. “Many collectors view themselves as careful stewards of the art they collect.”
Loria has followed that mindset in his own life. He has contributed more than 100 masterworks to museums, cities and academic institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Centre Pompidou, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Yale University.
Curiosity as a Collector’s Greatest Tool
Developing an eye for art begins long before a work enters a collection. Loria believes it starts with curiosity, study, and a willingness to keep looking. “It is important to learn as much as one can about all kinds and periods of art, including the works that may not easily appeal to one’s sensibilities,” he said.
That education sharpens a collector’s instincts, particularly in a marketplace filled with competing opinions and opportunities.
“Hence, the need to use your eyes,” Loria said. “They are the primary tools a collector has in their toolbox in the quest to evaluate.”
Books can provide knowledge, but Loria’s own education in art quickly moved beyond the page. Seeing reproductions made him want to encounter the works themselves and better understand the artists who created them.
“Successful collecting is also about having a sense of adventure, a willingness to go anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice to look at art,” he said. “Be open, be engaged, be as interested in the artist as in their creations.”
That willingness to look closely, learn broadly and follow one’s own eye sits at the heart of Loria’s collecting philosophy. The goal is not simply to acquire an important work, but to understand why it matters and where it belongs in the larger cultural story.
As Loria sees it, that is ultimately what separates a collection built around value from one built with vision. “It is not about the valuation, it is about the meaning,” Loria shared. “The collectors who see the art and place the art first are invariably the most successful and the ones who make the greatest impact.”
