Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2020 English Edition Editorial Dear readers Over half a year has passed since the pandem- ic swept over us in the spring of 2020, bring- ing with it far-reaching consequences for our lives, both private and professional. Much that at first seemed utterly alien or inconceivable has since become normal, and the art market, too, has proved astonishingly adaptable. At the time of writing, art dealers are still largely prevented from using the channels through which they customarily operate. Many fairs and exhibitions have been cancelled or post- poned, and those that are taking place again have had to make numerous adjustments to guarantee the health and safety of both visi- tors and exhibitors alike. Packing for the Highlights International Art Fair Munich, October 2020. But it is not all bad. On the contrary, I think we can learn a lot of positive lessons from am deeply grateful. The videos even prompt- City project (artcity.online/visit-artcity#reg- this crisis. The slower pace of life that has ed some sales, and by no means just minor ister-form) as well as boosting our online been forced upon us is actually beneficial ones, despite the impossibility of inspecting presence at TEFAF (tefaf.com/visitors/sign_ in that we now have the time to look criti- the originals prior to purchase. I would there- up). cally at old habits. The carrousel of art fairs, fore like to take this opportunity to thank you for example, was turning too fast. There are for the trust placed in me. We have also start- In spite of – or perhaps because of – the pre- still too many such events, making it hard to ed using digital platforms like Instagram – dominance of the virtual necessitated by the know which ones to attend. And since fairs albeit rather reticently owing to my unease pandemic, more and more people are now are also a financial burden, the scaling back at the compulsion to be original. feeling the need to engage with art, and we had to do this year was not entirely un- conceivably even more so than before. I am welcome. There can be no doubt that because of the therefore looking forward to TEFAF Maas- current situation, the digitalization of the tricht coming up in the new year, which for As fairs are also our principal means of stay- art world is gaining pace much faster than all the restrictions promises to be a great ing in touch with customers, however, their it would have otherwise, and there are also event. TEFAF Maastricht 2021 will take place cancellation presented an opportunity to try signs that online shopping, as has long been in June 2021! out some creative alternatives. Right at the practiced in the clothing business, will soon start of the crisis we reached out by posting be standard practice in the art business, too. video messages, often filmed in a rather ad Virtual gallery visits that allow for live con- hoc fashion that gave preference to the au- versations and interaction with works of art thentic over the staged. We nevertheless re- are already being prepared in many places. ceived many positive responses, for which I We will therefore be taking part in the Art Our Online Auctions with Ancient Art In memoriam J. Robert Guy (1949-2020) Our next online auction using the platform We are also offering digital private pre- LiveAuctioneers will take place in Decem- views via Zoom or WhatsApp. Please do It was with great sorrow that we bid ber. Two weeks prior to the auction you not hesitate to contact us to schedule such farewell to our esteemed friend and n Marc Fehlmann will receive a link by e-mail which will an online meeting or if you have any other colleague, J. Robert Guy, who passed enable you to view the catalogue and to questions: [email protected] away this July. His life and work will place written bids. Furthermore, you will be the subject of a special feature in also be able to bid live online during the CQ4/2020. auction itself. CQ 1 Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2020 The Collector’s Point of View The Genesis of a Private Collection of Animals in Ancient Art By Peter Steinmann A BULL AND A FOAL. H. 11.3 cm. Terracotta. Greek, 5th cent. B.C. Sold A WINGED LION. L. 5.6 cm. Ivory. Eastern Greek, late 5th cent. B.C. Sold What prompted me to start collecting an- ness, patience and paternal indulgence of enriching. Owing to the lack of certain ba- cient art at the age of sixteen is a question several dealers. With my schoolboy’s and sics, not having a background in art history I am frequently asked. The answer is more later my student’s budget I cannot possi- can be a disadvantage; but it can also be an easily described than explained. I grew up bly have been of any economic interest to advantage as it allows you to approach the in a home steeped in a quintessentially Ba- them, yet they took the time to answer my matter impartially and to pursue parallels sel brand of humanism, and although my questions and let me spend hours examining and differences that transcend geographical, parents did not collect anything specific, their objects, even accepting reservations cultural and temporal boundaries. These are they did frequent art and antiquities fairs. and payment in instalments. The realization what give a collection in the making its in- We children were invited to go along too, that these gallery owners were not out to dividuality and what reflect the interests and if we wanted. And that’s when it happened. make a quick sale, but were themselves gen- the personality of the collector. And it is pre- Certain objects caught my eye, and then I uinely interested in the objects they sold no cisely this that makes private collections so discovered that some of them were actual- doubt helped deepen and affirm the interest charming in a way that museum collections ly affordable, even for my modest budget. that I had already developed. Sharing this are not. The foundation stone of my collection of with others of like mind still means a lot to animals in ancient art – a field that has re- me even today. I have long regarded my own collection as a mained a passion of mine to this day – was fragment – a fragment of the collection that an Egyptian amulet in the shape of a lion There is both an intellectual and an emotion- I would have liked to amass. Complement- dating from the Late Kingdom. It had been al side to building up a collection. We can ing the physically existent collection are damaged and glued back together again and reconstruct the everyday lives and the reli- those objects that are present only in my for more experienced collectors was but a gious-spiritual world of the Ancient Greeks mind. Some of these are pieces which, giv- paltry thing. For me, however, it was a work and Romans and the Ancient Egyptians at en the means, I would want to buy if ever of great charm and enigmatic beauty. The least up to a point. But what do we know they turned up on the market; but others are choice of theme was only natural, given that of the world of the Etruscans, of other Med- objects that I would no longer endeavour to I had been interested in animals since early iterranean cultures, of all the civilizations acquire. This is also true of certain objects childhood and would go on to study biology. in Western Asia and Mesopotamia, in Per- that are physically present in the collection. sia and Central Asia? Building a collection As I never sell anything, my collection still The leap from occasional buyer to collector of works from these cultures is quite a chal- contains items that I would not buy again, came about largely as a result of the kind- lenge for a layman; but it is also profoundly but that have come to matter to me none- 2 CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2020 theless, whether through a story connected Gallery with them or as testimony to the develop- ment of my taste, my experience and hence of me as an individual. Every acquisition – and every non-acquisition, since they are also part of the collection history – is the Cahn Contemporary result of different factors that interact in different combinations and different inten- By Jean-David Cahn sities. Perhaps the object has a collection history or perhaps even a previous owner I know? Can I afford the piece? Is the ob- ject compatible with my current notion of how the collection should develop? Will this purchase render me unable to acquire a perhaps more desirable work that may soon come onto the market? And perhaps no less important is mood: the spontaneous associations that an object evokes in me, the personal events or stories that I connect it with. One key factor is the special fasci- nation that the animal (or chimera) holds for me personally; it must speak to me and stand out from all the others. If all of that is right, then I can only hope that the ob- ject is still unsold, because often I agonize for so long that someone else gets in there before me. What drives me deep down, however, is the beauty of these ancient objects, which even in these fast-paced times of ours still have In autumn 2020, the Dierking Gallery on Zurich’s Paradeplatz showed sculptures and models by the German artist, the capacity to stop us in our tracks, invit- Otto Boll, who was born in Issum near Geldern in 1952.