Page 38 - Studio International - May 1970

Sociology of an art boom

Robert Kudielka

silver, or black, like Tapies !'
Nevertheless, high finance with its demand
for prestige is no more an adequate explana-
tion for this 'cultural explosion' than is the
spirit of the people. Both are factors which
have affected the Rhineland for a long time;
although the local people's traditional love of
communal recreations may suggest why they
have given such a cordial reception to
tendencies such as Land Art and Conceptual
Art. Art always promotes social interplay, and
the more audacious and radical the art, the
more the public gets out of it.
However, the people who really created the
present boom cannot be described in these
terms at all. It eludes the familiar social
categories altogether; these are the people
who possess what the sociologists call 'upward
I not particularly favourable to the growth of social mobility'. Their buying power approxi-
THE BACKGROUND TO THE FLOURISHING WEST the arts. It is true that after the war the mates to that of the prosperous middle class;
GERMAN ART MARKET Bauhaus idea revived and took root again in but they differ from the traditional idea of the
Protestant Swabia; but the exception in this bourgeoisie in that they are neither financially
In the middle of the most important industrial case only proves the rule. Schlemmer, independent nor involved with property.
area in Europe, between the Rhine and the Baumeister and the Hochschule fur Gestal- They are employed, in senior managerial
Ruhr, a new centre of art activity is coming tung at Ulm subscribed after all to a stylistic positions, in large firms; and yet they are not
into existence. The German art market is ideal of purity and discipline. By a significant exactly employees in the traditional sense,
forming, in Cologne and Dusseldorf, a con- contrast, the only contribution that the because they are not really employed to do a
centration that can be compared only with Catholic Rhineland has made to German art specific job. The term 'social mobility' reflects
Paris, London and New York. The Zwirner in recent years has been a dynamic variant of the fact that these people have moved up from
and Schmela galleries, which originally Action Painting. Wherever the people's way specialist work to carry out the kind of
dominated the scene in the Rhine-Ruhr area, of life is still coloured by Catholicism, the organizational activities that are increasingly
now face competition from Denise Rene-Hans traditional liking for celebration and play in demand in technologically-advanced in-
Mayer, Ricke, Reckermann, Wilbrand and creates a climate favourable to the arts. dustry. Many of them were originally trained
Muller; while Neuendorf, Friedrich and Local character may seem too generalized for work in a totally different field; the most
Brusberg are hastily packing their bags to and ill-defined a quality to serve as a full important art collector in the whole Rhine-
join in. Germany will soon appear more explanation of the developments that are land area, Dr Ludwig, who runs a chocolate
frequently on art dealers' itineraries; the taking place today; but it should at least be factory, has a doctorate in art history.
Kunstmarkt in Cologne and Prospect in mentioned alongside the more obvious fact of The main qualification for this kind of social
Dusseldorf are turning from unique occasions the central position of the Rhineland in the mobility is mental adaptability—the ability to
into institutions. Art is making itself at home German economy. The lion's share of the learn new things quickly. What appeals to
among the blast-furnaces ; — but why should it capital which exists in the Federal Republic these people in art is above all the intellectual
be happening in such a setting? Like, say, is invested in the area round Düsseldorf, adventure of contemporary art. The motives
Manchester as England's artistic capital. Essen and Dortmund, the home of the of social prestige and investment are secon-
Actually, the terrain is not quite as un- German coal and steel industries. (Krupp is dary. The receptivity to new ideas which
prepared as it might seem. Cologne only one name among many.) Tycoons may is a concomitant of social mobility has made
Cathedral, hemmed in on all sides by motor not often have much genuine understanding these people the motive force in West Ger-
traffic, is a symbol of the ancient cultural of art; but what they do have, in common man society in other fields, too .
substratum of the Rhineland which has been with rich men in every age, is a craving for The general euphoria, however, which has
only partly overlaid by the machine age. prestige. They collect Gothic Madonnas as befallen the gallery business in West Germany
Since mediaeval times the area round Cologne well as abstract pictures; but the latter are as a result of the situation in the Rhineland
has been a bastion of Catholicism; and in said to demand less involvement, and there- has affected the artists only peripherally. To
Germany that means a great deal. The fore are easier for them to assimilate. Alfred most of them the industrial area between the
division between Catholics and Protestants Schmela likes to tell the story of the lady who Rhine and the Ruhr holds no more attraction
may have lost much of its purely religious came to his gallery and asked for a painting, than it did before. While their dealers have
relevance, but it has left deep marks on the price immaterial, to go in her husband's blue joined in the rush to the new centre, they have
country's cultural life. Protestant areas are Nark blue') office. 'What was I to offer her? remained where they were, scattered over the
usually marked by a Puritan streak which is There were only two possibilities; Mack, i.e. whole country. In contradistinction to Paris,