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About Richard and Ellen Sandor

Richard and Ellen Sandor have been collecting photography, outsider art, sculpture, and new media for nearly 50 years, and have amassed one of the premier private art collections in America, with over 2,500 works spanning the period from the 1840s to the present. Their Sarasota residence features a glimpse of the collection. The Sandors were active collectors when photography collecting was still in its infancy. In 1988, 2001 and 2002 the Sandors were listed by the Editors of Art & Antiques as one of “America’s Top 100 Private Collectors” and have been recently interviewed in B&W, Metropolitan Home, Chicago Tribune Magazine, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago Gallery News, and Private Air. In 2015, they were listed by newsartnet.com as one of the “World’s 12 Most Influential Photography Collectors.” Works from their collection are featured in Self, Made at The Art Institute of Chicago through November 9, 2026, and Something Borrowed, Something New at the Sarasota Art Museum through September 27, 2026. Between them, Richard and Ellen currently serve on the boards of the Art Institute of Chicago, American Friends of the Musée d’Orsay, and Eyebeam in New York City, as well as on the boards and/or committees of Ringling Museum, Sarasota Art Museum, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Hermitage Artist Retreat, and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.