HEADS, FACES, AND SPIRITUAL ENCOUNTER

About the Collectors

CIVA: How did the Edward and Diane Knippers’ Collection begin? 

Edward Kippers: Early in our marriage Diane and  I were excited to collect whatever our meager resources could afford. Folk and naïve art, often from the makers themselves,  proved to be within our reach. Howard Finster,  Clementine Hunter, Chief  Wiley, Edgar Tolson, and others were a delight to meet and a joy to collect.  Trading my art for that of other artists also allowed us to have the works of friends whose art we admired. 

CIVA: Did you find yourself focusing on any particular style or period of art? 

EK: With God’s grace,  collecting opportunities continued to come our way and a body of work began to form around our  Faith, included historic and twentieth-century pieces esthetically related to my work in the studio.  The German Expressionist and Georges Rouault were favorites and there were many others.  

CIVA: Any artists that you were particularly attracted to? 

EK: Diane said that, when possible, I could always buy  Oskar Kokoschka. She also liked Rodo Boulanger and  Marino Marini. In addition, we tried to collect the work of my teachers: Zao Wou-ki, Otto Eglau, S. W. Hayter,  Walter Stevens, and others of the Knoxville Seven. It is in this way, The Edward and Diane Knippers’ Collection of Fine Art came to be.  

CIVA: What is your philosophy regarding collecting art? 

EK: There is a myriad of other more extensive and much more important collections than ours but that in no way diminishes the joy that we have had in creating this collection which has been a special gift from our Lord. Over the years it has become clear that one should not collect art in order to amass possessions. Collecting art is an act beyond ownership.  It is an act of preservation because you want to protect an object of art from the forces that might destroy it because you believe that humanity will be better off having the object, than not. It is an act of faith because you believe that in the future there will be those, like you, who will be enriched by the object’s presence and will also find it worth protecting.  

CIVA: Art collecting has sometimes been viewed as a privilege reserved for the wealthy and powerful to exhibit one’s status. But that is far from who you are and your intent. How do you understand the act of collecting? 

EK: Collecting art is an exercise of love. First,  the love of our human nature and its expression in objects that reflect the poetry of our world.  Then there is also a love of history as we collect the artifacts produced in different times and in different places that encapsulate the thoughts and ideas of our ancestors that we can then contemplate in our day-to-day lives. In this way, an art collection in our home adds a depth of flavor, a richness, to our environment and therefore a richness to our time here on earth. 

CIVA: How has your Christian faith influenced your collecting? 

EK: For the Christian who collects art there is an added imperative. It is that in art we can at times intuit a reflection of God as we look upon the results of the creativity of the artist. After all, it is He who has made us creators in His Image, and therefore the imagination of the human mind and heart in the service of good must bring Him joy.