Remembering Anne Jaffe Portenar (C’49)

In March 2013, the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection received a remarkable gift of over 800 prints, photographs, works on paper, paintings and sculptures from Myron A. and Anne Jaffe Portenar (C’49). We recently learned, with great sadness, that Anne Jaffe Portenar passed away on July 23, 2015. Anne Portenar was the vivacious, driving force behind the couple’s art collection. Penn’s Office of the Curator staff interviewed Anne Portenar as part of the exhibition Shared Vision: The Myron A. and Anne Jaffe Portenar Collection. The interview was published in the exhibition catalogue and can be read here.

Dr. and Mrs. Portenar selectively built their collection over forty years, filling the walls of their homes in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Anne Portenar’s passion and vision focused on 20th century masters, including Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, and Susan Rothenberg. The Portenars also collected a virtual “Who’s Who” of 20th century photographers, including Berenice Abbott, Edward Curtis, Walker Evans, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Margaret Bourke-White, and Minor White.

Anne Jaffe Portenar set an example for academic achievement and a life fully – and artfully – lived. Her legacy lives on through the Portenar’s generous gift of artworks to the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection.