Our Story

The Goodman Duffy Collection is a living expression of the love, generosity and good taste shared by Wally Goodman (b:1922-d:2008) and Patrick Duffy.

You might wonder, "How does someone decide what art to collect?"

Think global, collect local? Collect global, encourage local?

However you approach the process, collecting is about COURAGE and ENCOURAGEMENT.

Art collecting is not about playing the market or following trends. It’s a collector's responsibility to discover works that belong in conversation, and bind them together in ways that no one else would have considered.

When you have the COURAGE to acquire a young (then unknown) artist, in that very act you ENCOURAGE that artist and support the local art community. You demonstrate a delicate respect for other collectors. You offer them a shared feeling, and maybe encourage them toward the point of acquisition (POA), and especially toward experiencing the joy found in living with the work.

The Goodman Duffy Collection is the result of decades of thoughtful searching. In the past 69 years the Collection has gone through many iterations, always influenced and informed by the local art community where we were.

We’ve collected Modern Masters like Giacometti, Klee, Leger, Matisse and Picasso then gone on to concentrate on the work of young, Bay Area artists. With that base, we mixed in Contemporary German and Austrian works then added the works of New Mexico artists. In due time, moving to Chicago, we found a regional mix of artistic talent that captured incredible painting, imagery and allegorical references. Now in Las Vegas we've continued acquiring what we love, what moves us, and what we believe will work in conversation with the rest of the collection, but always driven by quality.

Looking over our collection, we see a traveling diary of our experiences.

San Francisco

• Diebenkorn
• Wiley
• Oliveira
• Thiebaud
• Conner
• Allan
• Hudson
• Benton

Hamburg

• Fetting
• Oehlen
• Schindler
• Tadeuz
• Hrdicka
• Bohatsch

Santa Fe

• Dominguez
• Marsh
• Kuykendall
• Graham
• Breuer
• Morales
• Jimenez
• Pierce
• Arends

Chicago

• Willenbrink
• Lucy
• Wells
• Linnenbrink
• Lefkowitz
• LeWitt
• Tuttle
• Barnes
• Gealt

Las Vegas

• Erik Beehn
• JW Caldwell
• Bradley Corman
• Favela/Von Bastiaans/Limbert
• Abigail Goldman
• James Hough
• Steve Hough
• Angela Kallus
• Wendy Kveck
• Brian Porray
• JK Russ
• David Ryan
• Aaron Sheppard
• Brent Sommerhauser
• Erin Stellmon
• RC Wonderly
• 3 Baaad Sheep

Some of the local artists we’ve collected have gone on to attain global recognition. Now we get the satisfaction of knowing others around the world feel drawn to their work as well.

For us, collecting isn't so much about investment potential, though many of the works we’ve acquired have appreciated significantly. The point has always been to celebrate what the French call "l'art pour l'art." Art for art's sake. We take immense pleasure in appreciating wonderful works of art and in supporting the efforts of artists.

Most importantly, we cherish the experience of The DONATION. Nothing is more special than when we get to share special works of art with the public through a donation to the permanent collection of a museum.

All through this journey, we’ve had the pleasure of experiencing ART with its promoters, fairs, and openings. GREAT friends like Phyllis Wattis, Moo and Hunk Anderson, Eugene V, and Clare Thaw, Ruth Horowitch, Muriel Kallas Steinburg Newman, Dennis Adrian, Richard Born, Heidi Gealt, and James Rondeau all added such wonderful illumination to collecting. They had COURAGE, and with that, they too ENCOURAGED.

--The Goodman Duffy Collection