Art collector Trevor Traina in his San Francisco office with Nan Goldin's Crazy Scary (2011).
Photo: Douglas Friedman
The Collectors: Trevor Traina
The former U.S. ambassador to Austria’s fascination with America landscapes touches all facets of his collection
Esteemed for his comprehensive collection that includes images from the postwar period to present day, tech entrepreneur and former U.S. ambassador to Austria Trevor Traina has been a champion of modern contemporary photographers, including Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Alex Prager, as well as icons like Diane Arbus, Andreas Gursky, and William Eggleston.
However, it was his appreciation for the great outdoors that led him to the Hudson River School, the mid-19th-century artistic movement that celebrates the American landscape. His fascination with the subject touches all facets of his ever-evolving trove of paintings, photographs, and sculpture, the majority of which reside at his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
In his office, Trappers in Yosemite (1899) by Thomas Hill and In the Sierras by Albert Bierstadt sit above the fireplace. Photo: Simon Upton
Bold beginnings: “When I graduated from college, my parents gave me a budget to buy a work of art. I desperately wanted to buy an Albert Bierstadt painting. I visited galleries and auction houses, looking for the right one; instead I found a Taos School painting by Joseph Henry Sharp. I told my mother to bid on it, and she did but shattered the original budget and set an auction record for the artist. I have loved it ever since. As my own budgets increased, I was finally able to buy myself the Bierstadt I always wanted. Titled Sunset in California (California Scenery, Sunset View), its the only Bierstadt ever turned into a chromolithograph, so it’s unique and very special.”
“I told my mother to bid on it, and she did...and set an auction record for the artist. I have loved it ever since”
Trevor Traina
Prized piece: “I recently bought a rare Henry-Bonnard bronze of The Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington at Sotheby’s. By legend, it sat on Teddy Rosevelt’s desk in the Oval Office.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Late Fall Issue under the headline “The Collectors.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: Art collector Trevor Traina in his San Francisco office with Nan Goldin's Crazy Scary (2011).
Photo: Douglas Friedman
