Collect Call: All About John Ollmann

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.
 

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting John Ollmann.

John Ollmann is a lifelong Minneapolis resident who gets nice tables in restaurants because people think he’s Jon Oulman, the better-known gallery/salon/bar owner.  His career has been in the retail industry as a buyer/merchant and he serves on the Advisory Board of the Goldstein Museum of Design at the U of M. 

 

When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

As far back as I can remember I had a collection of one sort or another. Serious collecting began with an interest in Vintage Posters 25 years ago.

I love History and arcane trivia, with a special affinity for the decades around 1900. Author Walter Lord described them as “The Good Years”; after Indoor Plumbing but before the Income Tax and World War I.

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

Dozens: from works of art to odd bits of ephemera. 

 Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

Most everything dates from 1890-1940 and most everything has a back story that interests me.

I’m compelled by objects that have passed through other people’s hands and homes.  I have this weird need to keep, document, and preserve things that have survived, and be their caretaker for the next collector.

A huge thanks to John Ollmann for participating in this exhibition!

More Information Here.