Presented by: Renowned collectors Mari and Peter Shaw
When: Thursday April 4th, 5-6pm
*By invitation only – RSVP required

Cecily has been an avid and passionate collector of fine art for over 60 years. The former high school English teacher of 39 years from the Philadelphia school system, and now 84, Cecily is still going at full speed collecting art today as she did back in the early 1970’s. She caught the collecting bug while still a college student, in Paris and has not looked back since. So devoted to art collecting, she preferred to receive a Picasso print instead of an engagement ring from her suitor, her longtime and late husband Philip.

Her massive collection of investment quality art fills her home in Philadelphia. Over the past 40+ years of collecting, her aesthetics and tastes have evolved from modern to abstract, to minimalism, to Pop, to contemporary, to conceptual, to radical painting and keeps going. Thus, her artworks range from George Bellows, Milton Avery, Max Weber, Arthur Carles to Louise Nevelson, Louse Bourgeois, Ann Hamilton, Kiki Smith, James Turrell to Winston Roeth and Phil Sims just a small sampling of her fabulous and astounding collection.

Over the many years she has acquired pieces by roaming into galleries around the world. From NYC’s Chelsea and Upper East Side to galleries across the nation and Europe. Local favorite galleries in Philadelphia include Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Gallery Joe and Works on Paper. Her favorite piece, a remarkable 500-pound Anish Kapoor sculpture needed an army of art handlers with a huge crane to bring in and install onto her second floor, shutting down the street.

Cecily and her late husband have regularly attended the leading fairs in the world including Art Basel, Venice Biennale, Art Basel Miami, The Armory Show and Frieze NYC.

Passionate, knowledgeable, energetic and driven she regularly attends the viewing of the Fall Contemporary art auctions in NYC. She cannot wait to attend the next Hort Family Collection open house reception during The Armory Show in NYC.

“Addicted as I am, the problem remains that wall space is difficult to find and I am attached to what I have.” In fact, one wall showcases 19 paintings alone. Ever the avid collector, Cecily is still acquiring at a rapid pace, “I just bought a George Segal and few others in the past few weeks” she adds.