The collectors Eric Richter and Charles Shoener have wide-ranging tastes, reflected in their homes on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and on an island in Maine. Their collection spans abstraction by Edward Zutrau, Thomas Müller, Jose Dávila and Ishmael Randall-Weeks, conceptual works by Walead Beshty, Jannis Kounellis and Sophie Calle, and sculpture by Ivan Argote. In 2022, the couple—Richter is a manager at the financial services firm the Capital Group, Shoener is a senior director at DoorDash—donated a Zanele Muholi photo triptych to the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, where Richter has served on the board of trustees since 2014. Ahead of Armory Week, they discussed their latest acquisition, revealed a sought-after portrait that got away and shared the exhibitions they are most looking forward to.
The Art Newspaper: What was the first work you ever bought?
Eric Richter: I didn’t think of it as a work of art at the time, but in my late 20s, I bought an anonymous photograph of the Castel Sant’Angelo from an antique shop in an exurb of St Louis. I definitely had the view that the desire to own art was absurd, because there were so many museums and public venues with an essentially limitless supply of masterpieces. But I was intrigued by it as an object: the simple wooden frame had been crafted with love, held together with old-fashioned headless nails; the photo itself was gauzily romantic. The backing had deteriorated, so when I got home I opened it up and found the photo was supported by torn folded pages of an 1890s issue of a periodical on steam boilers. I had never been to Rome, and the object instantly became a portal both to an exotic place and the time of its making, so that much to my chagrin, I started a personal relationship with this now mesmerising work.
What was the most recent work you bought?
Richter: In Basel, Charles and I acquired a Rachel Whiteread door. We’d been looking at her work for a while, doors in particular, and this is expressive, beautifully pigmented and richly translucent. Another portal.
How quickly do you decide to buy a work of art?
Richter: Sometimes instantly; sometimes a year or more. Some works we have to sit with. We saw an incredibly powerful and horrifying Arthur Jafa photo-based work in 2018 at the Moderna Museet that we both found utterly compelling.
Charles Shoener: Eric said he could never live with it, but after seeing Jafa’s work in the 2019 Venice Biennale we knew we were going to get a work of his. Eric got convinced when I told him that if we were going to get a Jafa, it absolutely should be one that made us feel uncomfortable.
What do you regret not buying when you had the chance?
Shoener: The first time I saw an Amoako Boafo portrait, I told Eric we had to get it.
Richter: I was wrong.
If you could have any work from any museum in the world, what would it be?
Richter: Bernini’s David (1623-24) at the Galleria Borghese. So dynamic, with flawless detail. To imagine his ambition and ability at 24 to take on Michelangelo and Donatello and succeed in stepping out from under their shadows is incredible.
What are you most looking forward to seeing in New York this month?
Richter: The large Man Ray show [When Objects Dream, 14 September-1 February, 2026] at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with his groundbreaking early photographic work along with his work in other media.
Shoener: We love Sophie Calle’s work, so we’re excited for her shows [Behind the Curtain, 4 September-18 October] at Perrotin and Paula Cooper Gallery [On The Hunt, 5 September-18 October].
What’s your least favourite thing about art fairs?
Shoener: Long lines for bad food, but the sausage in Basel is 100% worth the wait.
Where do you like to eat and drink in or near Chelsea and the Javits Center?
Shoener: Legacy Records, ZZ’s Club and Ci Siamo.
