Adam's The John Rogers Vintage Collection 27th July 2022

9 John had both Batchelor’s and Master’s degrees in Art History, gained in Savan- nah, Georgia and Tufts University, Boston. He had worked in Christie’s, learning the fine art trade from the ground up. As a young man he had done deep research for Desmond Fitzgerald, The Knight of Glin, Christie’s representative in Ireland and an excellent tutor. John had a moment of epiphany some six years previously, when he had bought his first vintage poster and become aware of the scale of possibility that this arena presented. The World Wide Web was still then in its infancy as a sales tool and John embraced the possibilities, searching the globe as he laid the foundations of his collection. He was always ’savvy’, quick to spot top quality and good value, qualities absolutely befitting someone with the inherited skills of several genera- tions of Irish horse-dealing blood in his veins. So Gallery 29 was launched on solid foundations. Working there was, remembers Poppy Lloyd, ‘always fun, never dry. John had a fantastic eye and could instantly spot anything iffy. He loved the frequent humour of poster art, yet had a deep appreciation of the artistry and craftsmanship involved. ‘Every day’s work in Gallery 29 was a day of fun and delight in John’s collection. You couldn’t help but share his enthusiasm. We would have red letter days when it suddenly seemed to us that it would be a good idea to re-hang the entire gal- lery, not for any particular reason, just for the hell of it!’ recalls Poppy. John was an autodidact of some scale. History and peculiar lines of philosophy were of great fascination to him.To quote again from Joe Christle’s eulogy - ‘John had very many friends, every one of whom has a “John story”, and in each of those stories you could not substitute John with anyone else.’ Here, captured in this catalogue, is a significant “John story” – the story of a grand obsession, a collection formed with love, scholarship and pure joy. Julian Lloyd, July 2022