In Good Company Collecting Art

A shelf in the living room behind James Cathers’ “Nymph” displays Dale Chihuly’s “Opaline White Persian Set.” Credit: Stacy Bass

Fred and Susan Sanders may be empty nesters, but they hardly live alone. Lt. Colonel and Mrs. Figg are always there, hanging out in the living room in the company of a young woman in a salmon-colored slip. When the Sanders welcome guests to their 10th-floor Brooklyn apartment, a pensive woman looms behind them; when they set the dining room table, a child looks on; when they relax on the L-shaped couch, at least 10 pairs of eyes are watching.

Made of ceramics or glass, these companions are a small part of an art collection that encompasses luminaries like Dale Chihuly, Robert Rauschenberg and Albert Paley, along with names of more recent fame, and artists just beginning to make a splash. It is a collection so personal that to spend time with it is to get to know the Sanders through the company they keep.

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