Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz: Meet This Art Collecting Couple

Armed with a Wharton MBA and law degrees from NYU, Joel Ehrenkranz has amassed a fortune steering Ehrenkranz Partners L.P, a wealth management firm, and Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP., a law firm. Away from the worlds of finance and law, Ehrenkranz also has a penchant for the arts. He and his wife have placed on ARTnews' top 200 art collectors list several times and their giving through the Ehrenkranz Family Foundation reveals a steady support of arts and cultural institutions in the New York City. area.

Like a number of other prominent art collecting couples we've written about, Ehrenkranz's wife, Anne, plays a strong role in the family's arts giving. Anne is an art historian, photographer and author of books on photography. The couple via their charitable vehicle, the Ehrenkranz Family Foundation, have supported outfits like International Center of Photography, and International Print Center. The family has also strongly supported MoMA, home to the Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator of Photography.

Ehrenkranz himself is a current vice chair of the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, and was once president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as of Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. The couple has strongly supported Lincoln Center, as well as Whitney Museum, home to the the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz curator. Current curator Chrissie Iles has a strong background in contemporary art, the couple's own collecting area.

Other grantees have included Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, Museum of City of New York, Met Opera, and National Dance Institute. Apart from New York City, Wyoming is another site of philanthropy. The family, for instance, has supported Grand Teton Music Festival.

Unfortunately for grantseekers, the Ehrenkranz Family Foundation keeps a low profile, and guidelines on how to get in touch, as well as for what the family exactly looks for in its arts grantees, are hard to come by.

Related: