FAIRS

June 14, 2018 — June 17, 2018
Messe Basel

For every Art enthusiast Art Basel is undoubtedly the highlight of the year.

It is becoming more and more difficult for art dealers to find good artworks outside of the many public collections and to convince collectors, estates or artists to part with them.

We are therefore delighted to be able to present a cabinet exhibition around the theme of “Portrait”.  True to our specialisaton in works on paper, an exquisite group of  Warhol drawings from the 1950s will completement a selection of 1970-80s works by Baselitz, Immendorff and Penck …

Penck was interested in portraiture as early as the 1960s when his friends and family became his subjects.  We will show his 1974 painting of Johannes Gachnang, former director of the famous Kunsthalle in Bern and later publisher of many art books and catalogues raisonnés. He was a close friend and early supporter of Penck, giving him his first international museum exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern in 1975. This painting has never before been exhibited in public. This painting has been kept in a private collection since the 70s.

The painting “Fahne” (1980) by Jörg Immendorff reflects a similarly intense and friendly connection with Gachnang, since also Immendorff had his first international exhibition in Bern.

Another of our highlights is the complete sketch-pad (book) of portrait drawings made by  Warhol in 1955, presumably at the “Serendipity Café” where he would meet with friends for drawing sessions. Only very few sketch‑pads survived intact, as Andy and later his estate would give or sell individual sheets from these pads. Here, in the “House of Hearts” we meet his friends face‑to‑face or even “au naturel” in Andy’s fresh and fluid ink drawings.