Jewish and Goyish in Berlin

Jewish and Goyish in Berlin

Last weekend, as per the recommendation of my friend Prof. Michal Bodemann, I visitedRadical Jewish Culture at the Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin). In fact, I accompanied Prof. Bodemann, the author of a number of critical texts on Jewish cultural history in Germany – including Jews, Germans, Memory. Reconstructions of Jewish Life in Germany – on my first visit to the JMB.

The title of the exhibition, Radical Jewish Culture, refers to an avant-garde movement that grew in the New York underground music scene, in the early parts of the 1990’s. Jewish musicians such as John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, Frank London and David Krakauer explored the possibilities of creating a new form of Jewish music, thus “emancipating themselves from conformity and inconspicuousness.” Klezmer played a central role in their investigations which were infused with elements of free jazz, rock, blues, punk as well as experimental music.

The show, once again, made me think of a subject which has consumed me for a long time: how does one curate sound (and) music? The challenges of presenting time-based arts – performance, poetry, theatre, story-telling, dance, cinema and yes, sound and music – have been on my mind for well over twenty years. As a former student of theatre and a perpetually aspiring documentary filmmaker, I have always been intrigued by the challenges of presenting these fluid and non-tangible arts in the austere and unyielding spaces that are designed for purely static visual forms. Even years of academic institutionalization has not tempered my inquiries into presentation of… be it writing or producing a play or curating an exhibition on music and poetry, for example.

By the way, how does one engage cultural patrons to invest in non-tangible, time-based art forms? Yes, I am digressing… but, only a bit!

In any case, back to Radical Jewish Culture and the great difficulties of orchestrating an exhibition of multiple sound installations in the severely academic space of a museum: in case of the RJC, the JMB has done a sound job (excuse the pun) taming the concrete and un-yielding walls of the museum’s galleries. By employing simple technologies – headphones, sonically isolated video rooms, continuous playing musical tunes and the uses of reflective and absorbent wall coverings – the show’s organizers have managed to present their subject’s social, historic and aesthetic complexities in a lucidly engaging form. Throughout the exhibition, the sweet sound of Klezmer music softly reverberates off the austerely static (Daniel) Liebeskind-designed walls of the galleries.

Radical Jewish Culture is a seemingly simple exhibition which leaves one desiring for more only because it does so much to whet our appetites. The show presents a broad introduction to RJC, yet, in a great part remains (a little too) focused on the oeuvre of the highly prolific American composer, John Zorn. Perhaps because of his work’s affiliation with German history – Kristallnacht (1993), in particular – Zorn is presented as the main star of the show.

Nevertheless, Radical Jewish Culture does a klezmatic job of introducing visitors to an irresistible melange of music, visual history, poetry, identity politics … as well as a delicious dosage of Jewish New York humour, courtesy the late American comedian and social critic, Lenny Bruce (1925-1966):

Jewish or Goyish

Dig: I’m Jewish. Count Basie’s Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish. Eddie Cantor’s Goyish; Hadassah, Jewish.

If you live in New York or in any other big city, you’re Jewish. It doesn’t matter even if you’re Catholic; if you live in New York, you’re Jewish. If you live in Butte, Montana, you’re going to be Goyish, even if you’re Jewish.

Kool-Aid is goyish. Evaporated milk is goyish even if the Jews invented it. Chocolate is Jewish and fudge is goyish. Fruit salad is Jewish. Lime Jello is goyish. Lime soda is very goyish.

All Drake’s Cakes are goyish. Pumpernickel is Jewish and, as you know, white bread is very goyish. Instant potatoes, goyish. Black cherry soda’s very Jewish, macaroons are very Jewish.

Negroes are all Jews. Italians are all Jews. Irishmen who have rejected their religion are Jews. Mouths are very Jewish. And bosoms. Baton twirling is very goyish.

Lenny Bruce [wall label]

 

Homa Taj In Conversation with Dutch Art Dealer: Robbert van Ham of Jaski Art Gallery

Andy Warhol, Sarah Bernhardt, 1980 – courtesy Jaski Art Gallery

I first met Robbert van Ham at TEFAF Maastricht, late in March 2011. One of the leading international dealers of CoBrA art movement, the 36 year-old gallerist has been an active participant in the Amsterdam art scene, for the past two decades. My next meeting with van Ham was in his Jaski Art Gallery on Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, one of the Dutch capital’s most exclusive shopping streets. Our next meeting was at Art Cologne… followed by a series of email dialogues during which we discussed state of the arts in the Netherlands, Dutch collecting communities and the temporary closure of some of Amsterdam’s biggest museums…

Homa Taj Nasab – You practically grew up in Amsterdam’s modern and contemporary art scene, especially at Jaski Gallery of which you are now the owner…

RvH – I started at Jaski when I was 15 years old since my mother was managing it. At the beginning, I only helped during vernissages but when I began my studies in Modern Asian History at the University of Amsterdam, I was already working in the gallery on a part-time basis. After I finished college, this became my full-time job. Six years ago, the former owner decided to retire so my mother and I took over the gallery together.

HTN – Why did you keep the gallery’s name if not add yours as a double barrel, say: Jaski van Ham?

RvH – Jaski Art Gallery is a very well known name in the Dutch art world. I think the name is more important than my own name. Most of the people know I am behind Jaski Art Gallery. That is enough for me.

HT – A number of major museums and contemporary art exhibitions in Amsterdam have been closed for some time, including: the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk and de Appel. How do you think that this has affected the art scene in the city?

RvH – It is terrible and a shame on Amsterdam, especially the Amsterdam government. The Rijksmuseum should have been opened three year ago and still there is no final date. A whole generation is growing up without knowing the Rijksmuseum or the Stedelijk Museum. The Stedelijk is also confronted by a lot of delays at the moment. Nobody seems to know when this will end. The Stedelijk is important for Amsterdam and the art scene since they used to be known for their cutting edge exhibitions. A place they really lost in the international art scene. It is very sad and we can only blame our government for mis-communication and bad organization.

HT – I agree that it is a loss to the Amsterdam community and for (those of us) visitors. Though, of course, there are a great number of art exhibition spaces and organizations not only in Amsterdam but, also, in Rotterdam, the Hague, Eindhoven and Maastricht, etc. So, I think that there is no shortage of exhibitionary experiences for international visitors. However, what do you think that the re-opening of these major institutions in the capital will do to re-invigorate the Netherland’s art world?

RvH – Of course there is a lot outside Amsterdam but most visitors are here for a few days. They only see Amsterdam and do not go beyond the city. Re-opening the major institutions will increase the visitors who are interested in art. If the Rijksmuseum has a big exhibition it normally attracts 200.000 visitors or more, if it is a very special exhibit, to Amsterdam. I hope the neighbourhood where my gallery is located, the Spiegelkwartier which is very close to the Rijks and Stedelijkmuseum will florish again when they open.

HT – Let’s talk CoBRA! I stayed at Hotel Ambassade, in Amsterdam, which has a terrific collection of CoBRA art. So, I admit that sleeping with (ok, under) Theo Wolvecamp, dining with Karel Appel and having afternoon tea with Corneille re-ignited my passion for the CoBRA movement… as did visiting your booth at TEFAF and later your gallery in Amsterdam. How did you become, or shall I say remain, passionate about CoBRA?

RvH – From the old days, Jaski Art Gallery was always involved with the CoBrA movement. We represented Corneille, Constant, Brands, Doucet, Wolvecamp and dealt with many other CoBrA artists like Karel Appel, Anton Rooskens, Asger Jorn and Pierre Alechinksy. CoBrA still is the most important post-war movement in western Europe. It is fascinating to educate a whole new group of young buyers about CoBrA art. Our close relationship with the CoBrA Museum in Amstelveen helps as well.

HT – CoBrA is not particularly well known in the United States. What aspects of this art do you think would appeal to American collectors… with which they may not be familiar, yet?

RvH – The CoBrA Movement as a whole might not be so well known in the US but some of the CoBrA artists are. Appel, Alechinsky and Jorn are very well known and always present on the bigger auction scenes. Besides that, there is a big CoBrA collection in the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. And, there is still a lot of work by Appel in private collections in the US.

HT – You also represent a number of contemporary artists. Your last show that I saw in Amsterdam was by American photographer Jill Greenberg. How did you meet her and why did you choose to represent her?

RvH – We have been looking to expand our gallery to photography but we only wanted to do this with a photographer whose work we believe in. We are never in a hurry and after searching for a few years, we decided to go with Jill Greenberg because she fits well in our gallery’s overall program. She responded very positively because her main market is in the US. Jill’s show was a huge success. It is not that we want to be a photography gallery, now, we just want to show our clients and visitors a good overview of works we believe in. This can include photography as well as paintings, installation or sculptures.

HT – How do you choose to work with a contemporary artist? What aesthetic or personal criteria do you, as a gallerist, look for…?

RvH – My personal idea is always when I see a work that reminds me of nothing… I mostly think that it is good. Maybe not to my taste but good. We mostly look for younger artists with good educational backgrounds. We really invest in our artists; represent them at art fairs, make books and catalogues, arrange all the pr, and above all, make good exhibitions in our gallery …and, also promote them abroad. It is easier to grow together with an artist which is why we mostly start when they are young. It is not that we represent hundreds of artists like some galleries do. I do not believe in that. Every artist needs a lot of attention. So I work together with 6 to 8 artists. Maybe I add a new one every two years but only if we strongly believe in that person.

HT – How would you define the Netherlands’, or especially Amsterdam’s, collecting culture?

RvH – It is great. Dutch people are brought up with a lot of culture. The Dutch government also has an ‘art buyers regulation’. It means that young buyers can buy an artwork on a three-year loan and the government will pay the interest. The gallery, however, immediately gets the money. It is a very good regulation and stimulates young buyers to buy something they thought was out of reach for them.

HT – And, in the same light, how would you define the taste of the younger (25-50) generation of Dutch collectors?

RvH – It depends, some are very serious and want to build up a diverse collection, others just want to have something nice above their couch. We have a broad range of artists. Some are easier to understand than others. I like it that way; every sale is different with different reasons for buying. That makes my line of business so nice to work in.

HT – What’s next for Jaski Gallery? And, for Robbert?

RvH – Jaski will go on, participating in some of the biggest art fairs in Europe (TEFAF & ArtCologne). We will keep on promoting our contemporary artists and educate new art lovers about the CoBrA Movement. We do 7 to 9 exhibitions a year. And, as for Robbert? Robbert will do this ‘til he is very old because this is what I do best.

Homa Taj In Conversation with Berlin Art Dealer: Christian Ehrentraut

Despite his relatively young age, Christian Ehrentraut has been a part of Berlin’s art scene for years. He began his career at EIGEN+ART, the gallery that launched the careers of Neo Rauch and Martin Eder. By 2002, Ehrentraut had co-founded the short-lived but critically acclaimed artist-run project LIGA Gallery which was responsible for establishing the so-called New Leipzig School. In 2005, Ehrentraut opened his first gallery followed by a series of salon-style projects from his home, until 2008. A year later, Galerie Christian Ehrentraut opened its doors in the heart of Berlin’s shopping and cultural district, on the Friedrichstrasse… (Also see: Berlin @ the Edge – part ii)

Homa Taj – You are a native Berliner in a(n arts) community that is populated with outsiders and foreigners.

Christian Ehrentraut – In a way, Berlin is a comparably young city: parts of East Berlin exchanged their population by (some say) more than 90 % which means that, after the Wall fell, 9 out of 10  of those who live there, now – let’s say in Prenzlauer Berg area – have moved in during the last 20 years… something similar happened in Mitte (the central part of Berlin – were all the galleries are), as well. After 1989, Berlin became a playground for ideas that attracted creatives from around the world. It was a proper melting pot, somewhat of a promised land. Rents were low, nobody knew whom the houses were belonging to. By the end of the ‘90’s, it was just very exiting to meet people who came from everywhere, and a lot of whom ended up staying. Meanwhile, a big number of internationally acclaimed artists are living in the city – the cultural diversity in all different kinds of fields could not be higher. Even today, Berlin remains some kind of “magnet”…

HT – You started your career at Galerie EIGEN + ART which is one of Germany’s most renowned galleries. What fundamental lesson(s) about being a gallerist did you learn there that has/have stayed with you?

CE  – I was working with EIGEN+ART from 2000 to 2002. At the time, we were a team of only 4 people in Berlin and one more in Leipzig, and this meant that everybody took care of everything. Handling the artworks, installing the shows, meeting curators and clients, dealing with collectors and, of course, working very closely with the artists. It was before the market started to heat up and literally every single sale, even the smallest drawing was a reason to properly celebrate for everybody involved. It would have been way different just a few years later with all the huge staff and specialized departments… It was a great chance to learn from the beginnings and get a wide view on all aspects of what a gallery stands for.

HT – What inspired you to join Galerie LIGA?

CE – Actually, LIGA was initiated by 11 artists in 2002 and they hired me as their director. We met because whenever one of them visited Berlin they, of course, dropped by EIGEN+ART. In 2002, when I was spending some months in New York working at Postmasters Gallery, and Independent Curators International, I got a call from Tilo Baumgaertel asking if I was interested in directing their newly establishing gallery. The artists, all recent graduates from the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (Academy of Visual Arts, in Leipzig), rented a space in the Berlin Mitte area and were looking for somebody to direct it … so, they asked me. I said yes without needing to think about it! They all had great personalities, a group of friends and artists who appreciated each others’ works, and did not want to walk from gallery to gallery to ask if someone wanted to see their portfolios… so, they founded a gallery themselves. At the time, rents were comparably low in Berlin and we were lucky since all of us had some kind of background in the field and were able to build up a network of key figures in the art world who were impressed both by the works’ quality and the group’s dynamic…

HT – But how did the formation of the Young Leipzig ‘School of Painting’ come about?

CE – Again, LIGA was made up of a group of friends who studied at the Leipzig Academy, and shared the same criteria as to what they appreciated in a work of art. It was shortly after the fall of the Wall that they started studying in Leipzig; also, they came from both (former) West and East Germany …so, in some ways, they created their own (artistic) socialisation, if you will. Their teachers have also played an important role, however, I believe that meeting each other, wanting to do the same thing, discussing their works and needing to find their own ways in organizing and supporting each other were some of the things that made LIGA successful.

In any case, though they have been put together under Young Leipzig School and that most of them were painters, what I still find fascinating about their work is that each of them has a highly individual signature, and holds a very distinct position in what they are doing.

On the other hand, however, the thing that they all have in common is that each work takes time to develop, to build up in a highly complex way … and, that nothing is just made in an instance following a simple idea. This is one of the things that I still appreciate a lot about their work, something that continues to play a role in our current gallery program.

HT – So, you still work with a number of the Leipzig artists… What is it like, as a young dealer, to see the careers of artists whom you have introduced take off?

CE – From the old group, we are still working with Tilo Baumgaertel, Christoph Ruckhaeberle and Martin Kobe.

Of course, it was an incredible start for all of us, the artists as well as for me: working with internationally acclaimed collectors and Institutions at such a young age. The project improved our professional relationships enormously – to operate on an international scale with colleagues who are working on a high level such as Jay Jopling’s White Cube or Marianne Boesky; to deal with persons that you knew before just through art magazines; …and to mount shows in Museums you only knew as a visitor… Things moved very fast for all of us and, in no time, you could find an artist’s name at one of the three big auction houses …and International galleries were knocking on our door. None of us could have been prepared… We all learned our lessons, and sometimes the hard way. It was a blessing and a curse, at the same time, that all of that happened when the art marked started to boom.

And of course, this all set the foundations for Galerie Christian Ehrentraut, as it is now.

Some of the younger artists who studied in Leipzig include: Franziska Holstein who did her Meisterschüler with Neo Rauch, and Stephanie Dost who is doing amazingly intense and complex collages.

HT – Your most recent exhibition is called 13 – which features thirteen of the gallery’s artists and opened on May 13. So, what is your relationship with the number 13…?

13 sounds like the classical summer group show but, actually, it is quite important for us: since we moved into our space at 123 Friedrichstraße, in early 2009, we have had 13 exhibitions featuring the 13 artists that are currently in the gallery’s program. So, in a way, it was time for us to review what we have done so far, to see  mutual interests in different artists’ practices and what’s the “red line” between their different positions. It, also, gives our audiences – visitors and collectors – an idea of what the gallery is all about. The focus of our gallery still lies in painting, but now we have a group of new artists from different media: Andreas Blank is a sculptor from London, Yudi Noor and Stephanie Dost are installation artists, and Anan Tzukerman is a photographer from Tel Aviv. Putting thirteen artists from different media together can potentially run the danger of seeming like a mishmash, but actually, they all come together perfectly well and correspond with each other amazingly… The link between their work is that they are all about time and processes that build up with lots of different layers, and grow “somewhat” organically over a long span of time.

As for the opening, it was actually accidentally scheduled on Friday the 13th, so, in the end, the number seemed to fit…

HT – How does expanding your gallery’s roster – to include installation and video artists – encourage you to look at your (exhibition) space differently?

CE – Painting and drawing are so direct, like a handwritten text, in which you can read a lot from the author’s personality. And, of course, this can work in other media as well: Andreas [Blank] is somewhat of a “classical” sculptor working in stone and his moderntrompe L’oeil objects always show the tool-marks. The preparation for Anan’s [Tzukerman] photos sometimes needs months – casting his actors, building and illuminating the settings for his photographs, etc… They often remind me of proper Hollywood film sets. Some of the painters are expanding the borders of their medium a lot: Tilo Baumgaertel, for example, is doing incredible work making film installations, or Ruprecht von Kaufmann whose paintings on rubber or felt can be actually viewed as both painting and sculpture.

Our gallery space is not exactly a white cube space and I am always surprised at how much it changes with every single exhibition. And, the artists, too, love to play with it …

HT – How do you meet your artists? What aesthetic or personal criteria do you have when choosing your artists?

I have known most of them for a long time – we share the same criteria and have mutual interest in different things, and maybe the same kind of spirit and understanding in art. I first need to become visually attracted to get curious about what things are like… and an artist has to be able to communicate that in his work. What the artists whom we are working with do is, on the one hand, visually appealing but, at the same time, formally and conceptually very strict and focused. I like to compare visual artists to writers: there can be an amazing story but when a text isn’t written well and I have a hard time reading it, it is somehow lost… I love looking at an artwork and seeing how much time, research and energy was required to complete the piece.

HT –How would you define Berlin’s collecting community? Young, daring, etc…?

CE – It is true that there are more people visiting the city once or twice a year in order to buy art than there is a large resident community. [Please see Berlin @ the Edge, part i] Berlin still is more a city of artists and galleries, and that makes it so interesting for discoveries. And, actually, there are indeed some very active collectors on very different levels who are living here as well. I think that there are at least six large private collections open to public in a more or less Museum style way, as well as countless enthusiastic individuals with sometimes surprising fields of specialisation.

HT – Your gallery produces artists’ books or limited edition catalogues for each show…

CE – I am a big fan of artist books and limited editions of all sorts. As a kid, I collected records with colored vinyls and handmade covers…

For each show, at the gallery, the exhibiting artist does a small print in an edition of 400 signed and numbered copies which are sent to our clients, curators, press and close friends. There is no technique that we have not used by now: from silkscreens to woodcuts, laser-cuts, etchings, collages, hand-offsets, linocuts, etc. They have already become collectibles and people really appreciate and respond to them … It is also great to see them framed in collectors’ houses. Actually there is already a “secondary market” for them and, occasionally, one appears at auction.

Regarding the catalogues, it is our goal to give people an idea of what an artist does and, most often, the traditional catalogue format is not the best way to do so. For example, we did a book on Shannon Finley, last year, called Specters Into Signals and his paintings were really hard to reproduce appropriately as they play with transparent layers and high gloss… Funny enough, a totally different medium represented these qualities way better and, so in every few page, you will find an original 4-color linocut that overlaps and shines just as his paintings do.

Christoph Ruckhäberle founded a small book publishing company called LUBOK a couple of years ago, in Leipzig, with Thomas Siemon. Thomas collects all these big old printing machines and knows how to use them and it is great fun to collaborate and use all these sometimes old techniques. And, then, there is the infrastructure of Leipzig as a Book-City…

HT – What is next for (Galerie) Christian Ehrentraut?

CE – I am very exited that Nicola Samori is participating in the group show at the Italian Pavilion in Venice (Biennale) this year. We rented a studio for him in Berlin so he can prepare for his solo show, in October. In September, we will be showing Shannon Finley’s second solo exhibition …and, the New Year (2012) starts with an exhibition of Franziska Holstein’s work.

I hope to be back in the States later this year to participate in one of the American art fairs. Personally, my partner Rachel and I just had a baby, in February, and of course, this is my most beloved “project” at the moment.

Homa Taj In Conversation with Jan De Clercq of Meessen De Clercq Gallery

Meessen De Clercq was founded at the heart of Brussels, in 2009, by Belgian dealers Olivier Meessen and Jan de Clercq. When I visited MSSNDCLRCQ’s exhibition at Art Cologne, what struck me most about their installation was its quiet, poetic and graceful aesthetics. Meessen De Clercq’s roster of international artists includes: Ignasi Aballi, Jordi Colomer, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Ellen Harvey, Jorge Méndez Blake as well as showing works by Jonathan Monk and Bruce Nauman. The following is an excerpt of my conversations with Jan De Clercq which began during our initial meeting, early last month …

Homa Taj Nasab – How did you and Olivier meet?

Jan De Clercq – Olivier (Meessen) and I know each other for approximately 10 years. We have friends and family in common and we met at a dinner party where we ended up talking quite a lot… about art which was my interest and Oliver was working for a dealer, at that time.

HTN – How did you come up with your gallery’s logo – which some may mistake for its name?

MDC – The logo consists of our last names without vowels (we only have the vowel “e” in our last names). MSSNDCLRCQ is written in bold typeface so that it can easily be mistaken for a Latin figure. It is our hommage to Georges Perec, the famous French writer who wrote La Disparition, a book in which the letter “e” is not used.

HT – You opened your gallery during the worst economic crisis in recent history, in 2009. What was that experience like…?

MDC – As you can imagine, it took quite some preparation before opening up the gallery, so we did not plan at all that the whole transformation of the building would be completely finished just before the banks starting going bankrupt. We had opened, and (luckily) could not compare with the past. The only option was going forward, and pay attention to the cost side.

HT – Meessen De Clercq occupies a beautiful art nouveau building, in Brussels. Does its historic identity, in any way, influence your installation choices?

MDC – I would not say that the historic identity influences our installation choices, but the physical limits and characteristics of the floor, for example, influence what can or cannot be shown. The entrance door is one meter large, so certain works cannot enter our space (yet), the floors are not straight, so we sometimes have to use some tricks to have pieces installed well … But, in general, artists react really well to the place because it has a certain ‘soul’, and is, by now, adapted to show art on a regular basis.

HT – How do you meet your artists? And, what artistic and personal criteria do you have in mind when choosing to work with them…?

MDC – We meet artists in a variety of ways: from being contacted by, bumping into, or actively contacting them. We do not have a strict list of criteria in mind, but Olivier and I talk a lot about the artistic practice and its evolution before proposing a collaboration. It is partly intuitive, combined with research and informal discussions. In essence it is the strength of their ideas that counts, and how they transform their thinking into art.

HT – What aesthetic qualities do Meessen De Clercq artists have in common? Or, better yet, how do you define your artistic preferences…

MDC – Looking back at the persons we have had the pleasure of working with I would say that, in terms of themes, we have affinity with poetic and sensitive works that are not without humor… touching upon themes such as memory, time and light. These have been well-thought out works that lead to reflection and contemplation, and, often with links to literature. I can even answer less clearly…

HT – You also show video art…

MDC – We almost always show video art. We have allocated a special space (Videobox) in the back of the gallery, in which we show only videowork. Video is an important medium for many artists, today, yet it is shown less often in gallery settings. So, the videobox allows us to also show the video part of an artist’s practice. Examples of artists we work with that use video, but not exclusively, are Ignasi Aballi, Jordi Colomer, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Ellen Harvey, Jorge Méndez Blake…

Furthermore, to put the accent on the importance of this medium, we organised the group show Territories of Time with only videowork throughout the whole gallery. It featured works by Absalon, Ignasi Aballi, David Claerbout, Lieven De Boeck, Sofia Hultén, Alfredo Jaar and Bruce Nauman.

HT – Video art is always attractive to show but fairly difficult to sell. Do you see an emergence of video art collectors…?

MDC – I do not know if there is an emergence, but there are good collectors and institutions around that want to buy good work, and that include video art. It is also up to us to show the relevance of this work in the artist’s practice, and to present it to the general public, collectors and instiutions. I would not say there is an emergence of video collectors, but I do notice that certain collectors who did not use to acquire video work evolved, and now consider it normal to buy video work.

HT – What is the Wunderkammer [cabinet of curiosity]?

MDC – The Wunderkammer has been named like that, because the idea of the curiosity cabinet entailed a space where one could find objects that expressed one’s amazement at the world. This isolated space offered us the ideal environment to show one, and only one, work (or series) that has somehow relates to the solo exhibitions we organize. It allows us to show strong works by artists that the gallery is not necessarily representing, in a meaningful context.

HT – How do you define the collecting community in Belgium? In other words, what (aesthetic or cultural) characteristics differentiate or define Belgian collectors of contemporary art?

MDC – First of all I would not use the term ‘collecting community,’ as there are many individuals and groups with very different motives and convictions acquiring contemporary art. There are many Belgian collectors in various fields, and also quite a number of occasional buyers that are not afraid to buy state-of-the-art contemporary work. You can find collectors who specialize in Chinese art, Russian art, Post pop, conceptual art etc… The most amazing is probably that a small country, like Belgium, has such a broad group interest in contemporary art. The small cultural difference that I see is that Belgians, in general, are ready to decide quickly as compared to collectors from other countries.

HT – You also produce artist books as well as editions which appeal to younger collectors who may not be able to afford larger works…

MDC – From the beginning, we wanted to be a good platform for the artists we represent. In our eyes, this means that our artists and their work need to get known by a broad community. The means to that end include, for example, publications and participating in fairs. For some artists, producing special/limited editions of texts or their work is a logical and important part of their practice, so we provide them with support to realise these.

HT – What is next for Meessen De Clercq?

MDC – A lot of talk and a lot of action in order to constantly improve the things we do to be a better platform for the artists with whom we work. There are loads of plans for exciting shows, we will be heavily investing in new productions, will try to consolidate our place in the artworld, plan to build an extension in the back of the building allowing bigger works to be shown.

Meessen De Clercq‘s present exhibitions Include: Sarah Pickering, Art and Antiquities – Jorge Méndez Blake, Empty bookshelf and Jonathan Monk, Name Used To Fill Space.

Homa Taj In Conversation with Dutch Artist Rik Meijers

 

Rik Meijers’ paintings are unforgettable. Love them or hate them, it is not possible to mistake his spirited compositions and untamed style with any other painter’s work. I first met the Dutch artist, early last month, at the opening of his  joint exhibition with Jeroen van Bergen at the Bonnefanten Museum, in Maastricht… Meijers is represented by Friedman Benda, in New York City, where his show Rik Meijers: I am still what I wanted to be is on view until May 28th, and in his native Netherlands, by Aschenbach and Hofland Galeries, in Amsterdam.

Homa Taj – Who are the characters (I prefer this to figures) in your paintings? Whores, junkies, drunkards, etc … I mean, do they actually occupy a place in your concrete world picture or are they simply subjects whom you curiously explore?

Rik Meijers –Sure I have met, and continue to meet, quite a few of these characters in everyday life but the mentioned characters in my paintings are all constructed, like in myMystical Portraits, they appear by combining totally different images and drawings on top off each other with only the eyes and mouth in about the same position. They only “come to life” in the paintings. These paintings give a face to those on the edges of society, an identity that releases them from anonymity. Martyrs, saints, prophets, mystics, bums, have-beens, vagrants and drop-outs …they are all people like you and I with their own shortcomings.

And, they may look wild and somehow dopey at the same time but it is impossible to determine where these rootless figures belong. Young, old, white, black… whatever they may be, they are outsiders, all by themselves in an infinite void.

HT – Writing about your work, Bonnefanten Museum’s Alexander van Grevenstein explains, “The ‘innocence’ of Lucy in the sky with diamonds is miles away. Lucy appears to have become mixed up with some sort of voodoo ritual…” What happened to Lucy?

RM –Uh maybe you should ask Alexander this, but the sixties are gone and with that some innocence may have gone too. I don’t know about Lucy for sure but I guess she is like a wandering soul, wanting to escape her life and attempting to flee from isolation, in search of redemption and enlightenment.

HT – One of my favorite works in the Bonnefanten exhibition is the pair of black and white, large-scale baby bonnets. They are so perversely beautiful. They look as if you are taking the notion of the ‘loss of innocence’ to its most (il)logical end. When did you lose your innocence? I know when I lost mine…

RM – I think I am still quite innocent or maybe I never was from the start? 1993 though was a bad year, my younger brother and father died shortly after each other and this made me question things, especially my art. It made me come to the conclusion that if I were going to continue with painting it would have to be about things that did have a meaning. Not in an academic way but more on a personal level, my art should have meaning to me regardless of what others thought or said about it. It made my art become more painful to myself in a way but also more rewarding in the end. It became a call for respect for failure and appreciation of mistakes and an invitation to reconsider the difference between winners and losers. The above mentioned paintings with the baby bonnets make me think about the person who decorated them with stones and beer bottle caps, the person who drank the beer from the bottles and about the babies that are supposed to be wearing these bonnets.

HT – … What about the spaces that your characters occupy? Where does Lucy live if not in the sky?

RM – Since the diamonds in the sky have turned to stones, my characters are more earthbound, they are trying to survive in a world that abjures them. The figures are usually presented as isolated shapes against a monochrome background, as in an icon or an emblem.

HT – When did you start to tar and feather your characters? How did this process come about… ? What does being tarred and feathered mean to you?

RM – I started using tar and feathers in my paintings around 2004. Tarring and feathering is an old method of physical punishment and humiliation used to enforce unofficial justice or mob revenge. Tarred and feathered, these figures are exiled from the community, they are driven out of town and left to their fate. Still they are not dead and at this point I become interested in how their lives are going to continue, how do you go on from there? Can you go on? To give them a layer of gold paint for a start seems only fair to me.

HT – What is it like to have your work shown (at the Bonnefanten Museum) alongside Jeroen van Bergen’s? His creations are quite seemingly (!) tempered and sober…

RM –That is Alexander van Grevenstein’s idea. It certainly is maximum contrast.

HT – I personally loved the curatorial notion of ‘mood swings’ in which visitors are invited to participate… What did you think of this emotional/spatial museological choreography?

RM – It does work in a strange way, as your mood swings from one room to another, the works don’t get ‘infected’ but stay very clear and keep their own opposite positions.

HT – Let’s talk music – since I am strangely (I think) very sensitive to music and sounds in general. You play the guitar in a band. Talk about your music…

RM – I started playing guitar and singing in a punk band as a teenager, and continued to do so until now, with some major breaks in between. The band rehearses once a week in my studio and does occasional musical performances, often to coincide with an exhibition opening like at the Bonnefanten. I may be a lousy guitar player but the punk movement taught me that things don’t need to be complicated, that meaning and directness is everything. I like this self-sufficiency, rawness and fundamental simplicity very much and see this also in outsider-art and underground fanzines for instance.

Also, as an artist, I enjoy the dubious privilege of being allowed to make a fool of myself.

HN – So, how does music figure in your paintings? Do you have an actual or an imaginary soundtrack as you work… or, do you prefer silence?

RM – I listen to music a lot in my studio, from country to punk rock, with a lot of anti-folk in between. Sometimes it helps to hear one song being repeated for an hour or so, it than becomes kind of meditative and creeps under my skin.

HT – Your exhibition in the Netherlands, at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, opened on April 17th. Four days later, you have your first show in New York, at Friedman Benda, which will be on view until May 28th. How do you experience the differences in perception between Dutch and American audiences? And, what about among collectors?

RM – The differences in perception of the Dutch and American audiences are not very big in my opinion. The idea that the Dutch are less conservative seems to be a bit out of date, things have changed a lot in The Netherlands over the last 10 years and not for the better unfortunately. Also the American collectors (as far as I encountered) seem to be less conservative than assumed. There is always an audience that is interested in art and that is really into it and another group that is absolutely not (or not yet).

HT – Has your visit and exhibition in America sobered you up?

RM – I don’t think so, at the Friedman Benda opening there was beer and wine afterwards, so that didn’t sober me up. It was pleasant working with the gallery staff, and the opening was a great event with Chomain Vasser and me doing a few songs …and New York’s own Jeffrey Lewis performing a small live set. Yesterday I heard that Jeffrey recently made an album with Peter Stampfel who named his band The Bottlecaps…. coincidence or not? Sometimes things fall in place all by themselves.

HT – What’s next for Rik? And, how about Lucy?

RM – Next up for me are some recordings with the new band, a new series of paintings to be started soon and I am looking forward to be showing my work more often outside The Netherlands. As for Lucy, who knows… maybe she moved on searching for something else and probably still not finding it.

TEFAF – The Fairest of All Fairs

TEFAF 2011 – Pottery Figure, China, Tang Dynasty (618-907), Vanderven Vanderven Oriental Art, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

All the art world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. And one man or woman in his or her time plays many parts, …say: a historian, a dealer, a connoisseur, an auctioneer, a publisher, a banker, even an (art) insurance provider and/or a collector. These collectors are, of course, to be differentiated from the far too many art buyers or investors whose buying practices may be described as anything but, well, collecting. Here, at TEFAF European Fine Art Fair, in Maastricht, it is a breath of fresh air to be among so many collectors who think beyond the financial or trophy values of their acquisitions. The majority are tastemakers whose involvement with the art world enriches the canon of art history in its myriad fields. And, yet, still there are those whose participation(s) question, expand or alter that very canon.

TEFAF is one of the most exalted stages on which these players perform their parts. Just ask anyone who attended the fair’s VIP preview on Thursday, March 17th. The several thousand invited guests consumed two thousand bottles of Bollinger Champagne to mark the 24thanniversary of world’s biggest and most prestigious art fair.

If all this sounds a bit too… too to you, it may be because you, most likely, have never attended TEFAF. When describing the ten-day event (March 18-27), a majority of visitors to the fair deliver superlatives trippingly on the tongue. Calling TEFAF the largest, most beautiful, sophisticated, glamorous & discrete … in summation, the fairest of all art fairs, is fair game indeed.

Founded in 1977, TEFAF has grown in size and stature to its present day status of hosting no fewer than 260 international dealers with more than 30,000 works on display, valued at $2.5-3 billion.

There are a number of reasons for TEFAF’s almost exponentially growing success, over the past quarter of a century.

Maastricht

Situated on the river Meuse (Maas), Maastricht is one of the (if not the) oldest cities in the Netherlands. Despite its relatively small size, Maastricht has cultivated a distinctly sophisticated hospitality industry that is well-suited for TEFAF’s discriminating visitors. “Oh, you are so lucky. Maastricht is very beautiful. It is not really a typical Dutch city, you know, … but very French, very continental,” was the response of nearly every Dutch friend in whom I confided of my visit to TEFAF. For a small city (120,000 population), Maastricht has a remarkably large number of exclusive hotels and renowned restaurants. Take, for example, Kruisherenhotel Maastricht that is housed in a 15th century church and monastery. The hotel’s very contemporary interior design creates a dazzling contrast with its late medieval Kruisheren (Catholic) architectural style. Other local cultural institutions that stage TEFAF-related special programming, include: the Bonnafantenmuseum and the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest (Limburg Symphony Orchestra).

Internationalism

Maastricht’s mere physical proximity to Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg renders it one of the most international cities in Europe. In fact, the city is bidding for  the European Capital of Culture, in 2018. This internationalism is an integral feature of Maastricht; a characteristic that is simply heightened during TEFAF. A casual mid-morning visit to Selexyz bookstore, for example, introduces visitors to various dialects of German, French, English, Italian and, of course, Dutch, including the local one from Maastricht. A friend, Annie Sanatgar, tells me, “Northerners don’t really understand us, you know. Maastricht accent is very difficult for other Dutch speakers to comprehend.”

Ceaseless Dedication

The organizers of TEFAF work on the annual event on a full-time basis. Titia Vellenga, the fair’s Director of Marketing, emphasizes, “There is no off-time for us. As soon as TEFAF is over, we start working on next year’s program.” 2012 also marks TEFAF’s 25th anniversary.

The work of TEFAF’s full-time, international staff is supported by an enviable group of twenty-nine vetting committees comprised of 175 internationally recognized experts, include a number of curators from some of the world’s most influential museums.

Nearly every curator with whom I met in Amsterdam, early last week, told me that I could catch up with them at TEFAF. Maite van Dijk, Nienke Bakker (both of Van Gogh Museum) and Pieter Roelofs (the Rijksmuseum) were only a few Dutch curators whom I saw chatting away with fellow curators and exhibiting dealers. That is, when they were not busy leading groups of collectors to various exhibitions.

Quality

Thanks to their due diligence, the qualities of the majority of works on display at TEFAF are outstanding. This is particularly true of old master objects and antiques, as well as those in the recently-introduced Works on Paper section. Modern and contemporary art dealers also present the cream of the crop of their collections that mainly include blue chip artists such as (numerous) Picasso’s not to mention, for example, a lavish exhibition that is dedicated to Pierre August Renoir courtesy of the Hammer Galleries, in New York City.

Breadth

More than 260 internationally renowned exhibitors show the best objects from their collections in eight distinct categories of: i) Antiques; ii) Paintings; iii) Modern; iv) Classical Antiquities; v) Works on Paper; vi) Design; vii) Business Pavilion (various services including art insurance, etc.); and viii) TEFAF Showcase (of six new dealers).

Details

TEFAF organizers’ attention to details may be compared to the design and management of a (very) temporary museum exhibition and a five-star hotel. From the nuanced choice of colours, fabrics and textures on the walls to the ways in which luscious bouquets of flowers modulate throughout various elements in the fair or the customized lighting of each individual exhibition booth… it is safe to say that no other fair has, yet, managed to compete with TEFAF.

Luxury

There is something unapologetically opulent about TEFAF’s you can look and you can touchair. This naturally does not apply to every object on display. However, considering most works’ canonical/museological qualities, the fair offers its visitors a range of aesthetically luxurious experiences.

Luxury Redouble

Art that is not for sale – Another manifestation of TEFAF’s espousal of luxurious aesthetic consumption is the organizers’ choice to allocate a much-coveted, generous space to an exhibition that is organized by the (Dutch National) Rijksmuseum. Considering the exceedingly high costs of real estate space at the fair, this is a very seductive way of sensitizing (teasing) visitors, a noteworthy percentage of whom can afford to acquire many objects throughout TEFAF.

The exhibition is organized by Wim Pijnes, the Rijksmuseum’s Director. Happy Huntershows prints and drawings (c. 1485-90) from the museum’s permanent collection. The theme of hunting has been wittily adopted as a metaphor for passionate collectors’ pursuit of their next acquisition(s) at TEFAF.

The Rijksmuseum’s conservation booth, on the first floor, has been underwritten by the Dutch banking group ING (Internationale Nederlanden Groep).

Glamour

On the day of the fair’s preview, I caught the sight of Princess Marilène of Orange-Nassau who is married to Prince Maurits, the nephew of Queen Beatrix. I thought to myself that only at TEFAF would a Princess from a ruling royal family feel this at ease to walk about alone and un-guarded, while carrying her own sitting stool. I also found out that it was no coincidence that the stunning brunette was spending what seemed like a long period of time with the Rijksmuseums’ representatives. In fact, for the past three years, Princess Marilène has worked with the Friends of the Rijksmuseum, on a part-time basis. Her first Friend recruit? The Netherlands’ very own Crown Princess Máxima.

Sensuality

Attending TEFAF is an audaciously sensual experience. That is, above and beyond the visual, and often tactile, pleasures of engaging with museum-quality works of art, antiques and antiquities.

Nearly every corner of the fair has its own special scent that is not only, or necessarily, derived from the tens of thousands of fresh cut flowers that are on display. My curiosity was (partially) satisfied when I heard, through the grapevine, that a German exhibit designer who specializes in scents is responsible for curating this aspect of TEFAF’s gracefully tender coup des sens.

Expansion

Over the past few years, TEFAF has been moving toward expanding the fair by: strengthening its Modern and Contemporary art department, and, introducing two new sections on Design and Works on Paper.

…

Homa Taj In Conversation with Palazzo Strozzi’s James Bradburne on BRONZINO

Agnolo di Cosimo, also known as Bronzino (1503-1572), was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. Court artist to Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), his work embodied the sophistication of the Mannerist style. Despite his iconic portrayals of some of the most famous figures in the early modern period, there are elements of Bronzino’s biography that render him accessible to contemporary audiences. He was the son of a butcher who became a self-taught artist; throughout his career, the artist remained quite up to date with the contemporary popular culture of his era; and, he was said to have possessed a bawdy sense of humour. The first exhibition devoted to the artist’s painted work, Bronzino – Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici, is on view at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence until 23 January 2011.

Late in December 2010, British-Canadian architect and Director General of Palazzo Strozzi, James Bradburne, took the time to answer some of my questions about Bronzino, and the ways in which the Palazzo’s various programs are designed to attract new audiences.

HN – There is a Vermeer-esque air to Bronzino’s oeuvre in that they both produced a fairly limited number of (known) works. The Dutch Master created 36 paintings and the Italian Mannerist 70 – 54 of which are on display in Bronzino – Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici at the Palazzo Strozzi. In other words, this is as complete a curatorial project on a single artist as most of us will experience in our life times. Tell us a little about the inception and process of organizing this show.

The idea for the project was born in late 2006, with the idea of celebrating a great Florentine artist who had been unfairly ignored for some centuries. The key to making such a show happen was the exceptional support by both the Director General of Florence’s State Museums, Cristina Acidini, and the Director of the Uffizi, Antonio Natali, which allowed the core of the Uffizi’s work to be loaned to the Palazzo Strozzi. With this core assured, we were able to convince other major lenders such as the Met, the Louvre, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Hermitage to participate.

HN – What were some challenges, and surprises, which you faced while your curatorial team – Cristina Acidini, Carlo Falciani & Antonio Natali – worked on this show? Were there any discoveries that altered the path or interpretation of the project, at any point?

The discovery of the Crucifixion in Nice was a major revelation, which gave the exhibition a way to speak of the theological debates in which Bronzino and his patrons were active participants.

HN – There are several works in the exhibition that have undergone conservation work prior to their installation. What opportunities did this temporary exhibition offer to perform the very time-consuming and costly processes of conservation…

A great exhibition has to do three things: 1) create new scholarship, 2) restore works to the public and 3) transform visitors. Restoration, therefore, is part of the fundamental mission of any serious exhibition. Over 30 works were restored for this exhibition, and many of them, such as the Allegory from Budapest, the Crucifixion, the Dwarf Morgante and the tapestry cycle, represented the fruit of decades of restoration work. This was made possible by the generosity of sponsors such as the Bank of America and the Ente Cassa di Rispamio di Firenze.

HN – Like many of his High Renaissance predecessors, Bronzino was a poet and madrigalist. Late last year, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi commissioned American composer Bruce Adolphe to create a piece called Of Art and Onions: Homage to Bronzino.How did the idea of this patronage come about?

We learned in 2007 that the Metropolitan Museum in NY was planning an exhibition of Bronzino’s drawings. Rather than seeing this as ‘competition’, we saw it as an opportunity to create a virtual ‘Bronzino Year’, with parts of a single whole shown at two major cultural institutions. To make this collaboration visible, we commissioned the American composer to write music based on Bronzino’s poetry. The work had its world premiere in NY at the Met during their exhibition of Bronzino’s drawings, and its European premiere in Florence during the Palazzo Strozzi’s exhibition. The English translation of two of Bronzino’s poetry was the result of an online international competition launched at the opening of The Met’s exhibition in January 2010.

HN – I have read that Palazzo Strozzi has created a number of very engaging ‘outreach’ programs, including, hosting local cab drivers in advance of the exhibition(s)…

The Palazzo Strozzi has a double mission: to bring international cultural events to Florence, and to ‘give the Palazzo back’ to the city and its citizens. We believe that by making the city a richer experience for its residents, it is better for those who want to stay longer and return more often. The city’s first ambassadors are its taxi drivers and its concierges, so prior to every exhibition we host a series of free cocktails to show them the exhibition at first hand. The second team of ambassadors are the staff in the exhibition, the café and the shop, who also receive a complete introduction and preview to every exhibition, as well as specialised training in how to interact with visitors.

To fulfill its mission to encourage visits to all of Florence, the Palazzo Strozzi also creates a special passport to the city indicating sites related to the exhibition, special visits and openings of sites normally closed to the public, iPhone applications, as well as special maps and tours. For the Bronzino exhibition, we also developed a travelling theatre on the back of a bicycle based on the Japanese ‘Kamishibai’ tradition, whereby an actress recites poetry specially written for the exhibition by Italy’s leading children’s author Roberto Piumini in Florence’s parks, playgrounds and piazze.

In addition to outreach, the Palazzo Strozzi is extremely family-friendly, with special labels for families and children, family ‘suitcases’ to explore the exhibition, as well as workshops, events and activities. For young people there is also the Palazzo Strozzi’s Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina, and an installation by Italian contemporary artists Michelangelo Pistoletto in the courtyard.

 

Homa Taj In Conversation with De Nieuwe Kerk’s Marlies Kleiterp on the Khalili Collection


Marlies Kleiterp is Director of Exhibitions at De Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage Amsterdam. After graduating from Leiden University as a classical archaeologist in 1988, she worked at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden for 15 years, eventually as Director of Exhibitions. She joined the management team of the Nieuwe Kerk/ Hermitage Amsterdam in 2005, and has been responsible for the exhibitions at both institutions ever since. Passion for Perfection – Islamic Art from the Khalili Collections is on view at De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam, The Netherlands, until April 17, 2011

Homa Taj – De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, originally founded at the start of the 15th century, has served as a cultural center since 1979 as Nationale Stichting De Nieuwe Kerk. Can you say a few words about your mission and the nature of your activities?

Dr. Marlies Kleiterp – The aim of De Nieuwe Kerk is to present a range of activities to a broad public, which highlights its architecture, history and/or national significance.  The large winter exhibitions at De Nieuwe Kerk focus on the art of different cultures and peoples as well as on the world religions, with we hope will generate greater awareness and understanding. The exhibitions are accompanied by an extensive public programme with debates, lectures, music, children’s activities etc.

HTN – When was the first time that you became familiar with the Khalili Collection?

MK – My first knowledge of the Khalili Collections is hard to pin down, but I remember very well my first personal experience, which was at De Nieuwe Kerk’s exhibition Earthly Beauty, Heavenly Art in 1999/2000.  Then I was still working at the National Museum of Antiquities so not involved with its organisation.  During the past decade I saw a few more of the shows from the Khalili Collections, such as the astonishing enamels exhibition in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

HTN – How do you think the Khalili Collection has evolved over the past decade – based on your observations of the earlier exhibition project?

MK – The concept of the exhibition at that time was from a different perspective. The Guest Curator was Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, and he put together a great exhibition with loans from various institutions and collections, among which was that of Nasser D. Khalili. The current exhibition is drawn solely from the Khalili Collection, which is in itself remarkable not only for the high quality but also the breadth which is unparalleled.

HTN – In addition to enormous resources – perhaps not always or necessarily money – that have been allocated toward the formation of a collection of this magnitude, what criteria would you say are needed to create a critical collection of art?

MK – As for the criteria of collecting art, I would say: that collecting is very important, as this is a way to conserve them for the future. To create a good collection you need – apart from money – your eyes, your knowledge and your heart. You should also not keep the collection for yourself, but also share it with the people around you.

HTN – The Arts of Islam has been exhibited at various exhibition spaces since 2007. Did you have a chance to see this particular aspect of the collection at any of those venues? Also, is the exhibition set to travel to other destinations?

MK – I did see the Arts of Islam exhibition at the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris last year. The approach there was rather different from ours: they had focused on the religious aspects first, then the arts from the court and the different craftsmanships. In De Nieuwe Kerk we present each object for its beauty, on its own. We do not focus on Islam as a (world) religion, we do not put the objects in any specific religious or secular context.  The art is being grouped on the basis of its function and form, thus stressing its beauty, and superb craftsmenship. In this way we created eight themes that can be viewed in any sequence. To support this approach, all showcases are covered with mirrors, so that every object can be seen from different sides and angles. The reflection of the objects encourages the visitor to examine them more intensely.

HTN – Did you, at any point, find yourself faced with any major – anticipated or unexpected – challenges while organizing this show?

MK – A practical challenge was putting all the mirrors on the showcases, more than 1 kilometer of mirrored glass. To mirror all the (high) showcases, to clean them thoroughly and to keep them shiny is and will be our biggest task!

HTN – This is not (necessarily) a challenge, but I am intrigued by the idea of exhibiting Islamic art – especially objects that are inspired by religious architecture – in a space that used to be a church…

MK – Using the mirrors, the showcases are less unobtrusive, and the Islamic art appears to float in the church. The architecture of the church is also reflected resulting in some spectacular and sometimes unexpected views. So the Islamic art is in direct dialogue with the Christian symbols of the church’s architecture. That is magic. Bearing in mind that the art has been collected by a Jew closes the circle and stresses the connection between Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

HTN – Speaking of exhibitions, are you familiar with Prof. Khalili’s plans to found a private museum in London?

MK – I am familiar with this idea, and I support it with all my heart. For two reasons: the collection is fabulous and deserves to be shown, and secondly: I strongly support the passion of David Khalili: to heal the world with art; it is also the aim of De Nieuwe Kerk to bridge cultures and peoples with art. This can only be done by showing the art, and not putting it away. I know that David Khalili is very generous in lending objects for specific exhibitions and educational purposes, hence founding a permanent exhibition space will be a desirable medium to strengthen this mission.

HTN – What are your next major projects?

MK – The next project will be a great exhibition on Judaism and then a show on Native American art.

 

Homa Taj In Conversation with The PRADO’s Javier Barón on Passion for Renoir

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has been a favourite museum, since the late 1990’s, when I began research on my first (undergraduate honour’s) thesis. The paper’s subject? Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Journeys to Algeria, in 1882 and 1883. Naturally, the Clark’s Mademoiselle Fleury in Algerian Costume (1882) was what initially drew me to visit the delightful Williamstown. Set on the edge of the Berkshire Mountains, in Western Massachusetts, Williamstown is home to Williams College whose Graduate Program in the History of Art has trained numerous prominent museum directors, including: Michael Govan (LACMA); Thomas Krens (Guggenheim); Glenn D. Lowry (The Met); Earl Powerll III (National Gallery of Art, Washington); James Wood (Art Institute of Chicago); and, the Late Kirk Varnedoe (MoMA).

My love affair with The Clark continued as I pursued a series of academic and museological adventures researching the spectacular collection of Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951) and the formation of his Foundation (1922), in Philadelphia. It was the Clark’s gathering of thirty-one paintings by the Impressionist master, Renoir, that had set the basis for my appreciation for Dr. Barnes’ 181 masterworks by the same artist, over the next several years. Needless to say, when I heard that The Clark Institute was lending its entire collection of Renoir paintings to < www.museodelprado.es”>Museo Nacional del Prado, my curiosity was peaked!

Passion for Renoir: The Collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is co-organized by The Clark Art Institute and The Prado. The show introduces, for the first time, Sterling Clark’s 40-year pursuit of acquisition of masterworks by an artist whom he considered “the greatest colorist of the modern age.”

Early last month, I had the opportunity to interview Javier Barón Thaidigsmann, The Prado’s Chief Curator of the Department of the 19th Century Painting. In addition to his curatorial work at The Museo Nacional, Dr. Barón Thaidigsmann has studied, catalogued and published numerous institutional collections, such as the Museo de Bellas Artes in Asturias, the Pedro Masaveu collection, the BBVA collection, the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection and the Museo Nacional del Prado collection. His most recent exhibitions inlcude: Turner and the Masters and, Passion for Renoir.

Homa Taj – How would you describe Spanish audiences’ taste for 19th and 20th centuries French art?

Javier Barón Thaidigsmann – The French art of both centuries is of the best quality and importance, and it’s essential for art history. On the other hand, the Spanish public is very receptive to a style of painting such as impressionism, based on color and light.H

T – How would you define the Museo Nacional del Prado’s Renoir exhibition as an indicator of (perhaps, evolving) taste in Spain?

JBT – The excellent acceptance of the exhibition proves that the public extraordinarily appreciates this artist. On the other hand, it is normal that The Prado’s visitors value the work of a painter, such as Renoir, with a great passion for Titian, Rubens and Velázquez, artists which are greatly represented in this museum.

HT –  Do you see this enthusiastic reception to encourage the formation of similar shows at The Prado in the near future?

JBT – It’s understandable that the exhibition, the first monographic devoted to Renoir in Spain, has had a wonderful acceptance. The display in theme sections (portraits, female figures, landscapes, nudes, still lives and flower vases) enables to appreciate the meditation of the artist in each of the main genres of his work, in such a way that you can see in every one of them, the evolution from impressionism until the period after his trip to Italy where the artist dialogues much more with the great masters of the past. So, the public’s appreciation of this exhibition allows us to see both the richness of Renoir’s artistic approaches and to observe his evolution from impressionism towards essentially pictorial solutions.

HT – Discounting his influence on many younger artists of his and later generations, including Picasso, Renoir’s work has been dismissed as too attractive (pretty?) and even kitsch by later (20th century) Modernists. Do you expect this exhibition, in any way, to alter or re-contextualize the artist’s oeuvre?

JBT – I am sure that those who will contemplate it with attention will see how much prejudice lies in those opinions. Most of these obey to a topic supported by the intolerance of certain attitudes of the first half of the 20th century that in order to defend avant-garde art they would attack everything which they considered to be its opposite. On the other hand, many of those who share these beliefs have mainly seen Renoir’s painting mainly in reproductions, without really seeing them…

HT – Which Spanish (if any) artists were (or have been) influenced by Renoir’s works?

JBT – The influence of Renoir after his trip to Italy was mainly reflected on those artists that recuperated the form towards a sense of essential Mediterranean clarity, and in a special way, on Pablo Picasso and the catalan noucentistas.

HT – Somewhat like The Barnes Foundation, The Clark provides a very unique and intimate setting for the exhibition of art works. What is it like to see the Renoirs installed in the physical and historical grandeur of The Prado (est. 1819)?

JBT – Among the numerous possibilities that existed we preferred to present the works in a room with very beautiful dimensions that leads directly to the Main Gallery. We have introduced two panels to create three sections which are very connected one with the other. The blue color of the walls makes it stand out and welcomes in a better way the paintings of the artist. That is why, it seems more like a chamber exhibition in which the viewing of the paintings is much more satisfying.

HT – We cannot talk about Renoir without mentioning The Barnes Foundation’s spectacular collection of 181 paintings (and a few water colors) by the artist. The Barnes’ collection will be moving out of its historic setting, in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, to downtown Philadelphia, in the very near future. I wonder whether you (as I) have ever fantasized about organizing an über luscious exhibition of Renoir’s paintings based on the collections at: the Clark, The Barnes & the Musée d’Orsay?

JBT –It’s an amazing possibility but there are in fact three collections of very different character perfectly autonomous one from each other.

Homa Taj In Conversation with MoMA’s Roxana Marcoci on New Photography

Homa Taj – This year marks the 25th Anniversary of MoMA’s New Photography series. How did this project originally come about? And, what does the new show say about what photography may look like for the next quarter of a century?

Roxana Marcoci – Indeed, this year marks twenty-five years since the New Photography series was launched. Looking back 74 artists representing distinct approaches –from Michael Schmidt, Philip Lorca diCorcia, An-My Lê and Thomas Demand to Rachel Harrison, Rineke Dijkstra, and Sara VanDerBeek—have been presented in this forum. The art critic Philip Gefter wrote a few years ago in The New York Times that if we were to compile a catalogue of the works included in this exhibition series, we would certainly end up with a shorthand history of contemporary photography.

Photography is right now at a transformative point. Not to be confused with an ending point: a view making its way too fast into the arms of consensual opinion. Rather, the transformation in question has to do with the apparatus of technologies, institutions, and artistic practices to which photography belongs. Since its advent in 1839, the photographic medium not only modified our habits of perception, but offered a model of dissemination that revolutionized all aspects of culture. By the early 1920s, the mass-media explosion of photographic images (Siegfried Kracauer spoke of a “blizzard” of images) led artists to experiment with montage and dynamic modes of picture construction. Based on appropriation and photographic fragmentation, photomontage marked a conceptual shift in the understanding of “what a picture could be.” In recent years, with the increasing turn toward the digital, photography’s potential for constructing, archiving, and engaging with meaning in the world today has become more complex and varied in its range of possible representational renderings. I expect the next quarter of the century to be the “age of the image.”

Interview with MoMA’s Roxana Marcoci on “New Photography” (PDF File, 1.1 MB)

 

 

Homa Taj on The FRICK’s Symposium on Collecting Italian Renaissance Art

On November 12th and 13th, The Frick Collection’s Center for the History of Collecting in America held its eighth symposium A Market for Merchant Princes: Collecting Italian Renaissance Paintings in America. The over-subscribed event bespoke of immense interest in the history of collecting, a burgeoning new field of study, especially in the United States. It also attested to contemporary taste in the Old Masters, especially Italian Renaissance paintings and sculptures.

No fewer than a dozen prominent institutional and independent scholars shared their critical and historical research ranging on topics from: the mid 19th century collector-dealer James Jackson Jarves to the spirited Isabella Stewart Gardner and her connoisseur-in-arm Bernard Berenson as well as the likes of J.P. Morgan, Samuel H. Kress and, yes, John Ringling of the iconic American Circus fame.

Inge Reist, the Center’s Director presented every speaker during all three sessions: The Lure of Italy: Art and the Market before Bernard Berenson; The Ubiquitous BB; and, A Taste of One’s Own: A New American Renaissance.

DOWNLOAD: Report on The Frick Symposium on Collecting Itailan Renaissance Paintings (3.8 MB)

Homa Taj In Conversation with The MET’s Maryan Ainsworth on Jan Gossart’s Renaissance

Jan Gossart, Mary Magdalen, c. 1530, Oil on oak panel, 20 12×15 58 in, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I met with Dr. Maryan Ainsworth, the Curator of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the twelfth hour of my visit to her most recent exhibition which is on view until the 17th of January, 2011. No, my stay at Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance was not an exhibitionary marathon but spread across four separate visits, the last of which culminated in a magical hour spent with its organizer, earlier this month. The exhibition is a spectacular tour de force of scholarly and museological delight, neither overwhelming the other. Our conversation began with me confiding, “I believe that I have developed an incurable case of Gossartitis…”

Homa Taj – How did the idea of organizing an exhibition on a (relatively) little known artist come about?

Maryan Ainsworth – Since I did my Ph.D. dissertation (for Yale) on the other so-called Romanist, Bernard van Orley, I have long been interested in Jan Gossart. They are completely different artists, although they were both inspired in the first decades of the sixteenth century by the art of Rome. I always thought that Gossart’s oeuvre needed a new, comprehensive study, and that technical investigation of the paintings would help a lot to answer some of the most interesting and still unresolved questions about Gossart’s works.  More recently, there has been renewed interest in Gossart by both Ph.D. students and senior scholars in the field. I thought it was an excellent time to bring these scholars together and to undertake a new study of Gossart.

HT – Technically speaking, the organization of the show has taken three years; however, as you mentioned during our earlier conversation, you could not have done this exhibition 15 years ago …since it has been a work in progress for nearly two decades.

MA – Exactly. Some of the most interesting discoveries about Gossart’s paintings have come from my recent technical study of his works. The possibility to make these discoveries at this time – which wouldn’t have been possible 15 years ago – comes from 1) having had the opportunity in the meantime to make detailed technical studies of the Bruges painter Gerard David, painters and their workshops in early 16th century Antwerp, and Ghent-Bruges manuscript illumination, and 2) having built up over the last 20 years or so such good working relationships with paintings conservation departments in this country and abroad that these departments willingly opened their facilities to me and assisted with gathering the technical documentation on the paintings housed in their collections. Fifteen years ago, many of these museums didn’t have the necessary equipment to do these studies, and our mutual interest and assistance in each others projects wasn’t as well developed. If I had had to do it all myself, the Gossart show and book could never have been completed in such a relatively brief time.

Download PDF File of The Conversation.