Page 40 - Studio International - May 1970

the artists to finance their own work. This Q. And yet I sometimes have an uneasy feel-
just means that when one of them needed ing that the boom in the German art world
money he came to me and I tried to stop the might be a very short-lived phenomenon. We
gap. There were never any contracts. A con- had a boom in the Rhineland just after the
tract is just a piece of paper; if the dealer war, linked with artists like Bruning, Gaul,
stops being any good, the contract doesn't Kricke and Götz. But it didn't last.
help, and if the artist's work falls off it still A. The great centre of Tachism that existed
doesn't help. Now, after many years of diffi- in the Rhineland in the late 1950s came into
culties, it looks as if the artists can live off their being thanks to the initiative of one man, the
work. They are financially pretty well inde- dealer Jean-Pierre Wilhelm. But what is hap-
pendent of me, aside from certain large pro- pening now no longer rests on the shoulders of
jects: when Lenk, for instance, wants to put one man; it depends on a number of different
together his contribution for the Venice Bien- gallery-owners. We shouldn't forget the
nale, he needs financing, and gets it from me. museums, either, of which there are many, not
Q. Last year, your artists had a lot of suc- to speak of the area's improved economic
cesses: Hauser won the Grand Prix at Sao position. Last but not least, Germany has after
Paulo, Wintersberger had an award at the all now become a country that is taken seri-
Bienale des Jeunes in Paris, and Lenk and ously by the rest of the world. After being in
Pfahler are due to represent Germany in the Rhineland for just four months, I can only
say that many foreign collectors and dealers
come here and follow with great interest the
art that is being produced in Germany.
Q. But is it really German art that interests
them? The offerings of most galleries suggest
that Cologne is becoming a major centre for
international art, but hardly for German art.
The dealers have an inferiority complex that
is not so much artistic as political.
A. I would say that there is nothing wrong
with being international. It is an entirely
right and proper policy for a gallery to have.
The only bad thing is that a lot of my col-
leagues have a tendency to put German art
automatically in an inferior position. I have
never accepted this. I believe that German
began to think about how to talk to these Venice this summer. Do you attribute this artists—and this has recently been shown more
400,000, how art should be presented to them. solely to the quality of the artists concerned, convincingly than ever—are perfectly able to
But it's not a simple matter. You can't just or has the policy of your gallery had some- hold their own in international terms. After
take space in large circulation dailies and ad- thing to do with it? How far do you think an the war there were a lot of resentments to be
vertise inexpensive prints. These potential artistic judgement is subject to manipulation? overcome; but the situation at present seems
clients need to be approached in just the same A. Obviously the work of the artist is the altogether hopeful. Sooner or later German
individual way as the clients and collectors we decisive factor. But it is true that the cachet of dealers will have no choice but to concern
already have; with slides, prospectuses, per- a certain gallery does act as a further guaran- themselves with German art. Everyone knows
sonal letters. All the attempts that have been tee of quality. Artists who exhibit with Sidney that the French have shown virtually nothing
made so far just reach those who already go to Janis or Castelli automatically rank one step but French art, that the English deal primarily
galleries and museums. But we did not want higher, and I hope that it constitutes some sort with English art, and that the Americans also
that. We wanted to open up an entirely new of indication of quality if an artist exhibits at represent their own artists. We ought to have
market. the Galerie Muller. I am naturally gratified enough self-confidence to stand up for Ger-
The 'Art-Inc.' idea hasn't yet come to fruition, that my artists have finally received the recog- man art.
purely because we lack the necessary finance. nition that they have always deserved. But it Q. Self-confidence, yes, but just how far
The extensive direct mail activity we would must be said that German artists have not in should national self-absorption be allowed to
have to undertake would demand an amount in the past received nearly as many of these go ? As far as it has in America ?
of capital which no gallery could possibly prizes and distinctions as the Americans have. A. We mustn't fall into the same error as the
afford. Without an enormous initial invest- In this country we lack the background con- French dealers did when they became so
ment the undertaking would be doomed to ditions for a rational official policy on art; arrogant and chauvinistic that they refused
failure. England might well be an example to us. We to show people like Pollock, Rothko and New-
Q. A dealer cannot of course direct all his dealers are always accused of intriguing and man in Paris. The Americans then had no
attention outwards towards his clients. It's a horse-trading, and this I simply cannot choice but to entrench themselves in defence
central fact of this business that the responsi- accept. Instead of making rational and objec- of their own art. And now the Americans seem
bility 'inwards', toward the artist, is almost as tive judgements on these things people put all to be committing the same mistake; they
great as the other. What is your relationship the blame on management, as if management exhibit only American artists. I read an article
with the artists you represent? were a personification of evil.... by Henry Geldzahler recently in which he set
A. Ten years ago I said that the whole thing I think we ought to be grateful that there are out to list the contemporary artists whose
was a 'survival club'. We had no buyers, no now German artists—and I don't mean only reputations are most likely to survive. There
collectors, no sympathizers; we were on our the artists of my gallery but also people like are forty names, and every one of them is an
own. In those days I still ran an advertising Uecker, Beuys or Klapheck—who are valued American. Leaving German artists out of it for
agency. All I set out to do was to try to enable in the international art market. a moment, what has happened to the English