The Dorothee and Konrad Fischer Collection Exhibition Booklet Düsseldorf www.kunstsammlung.de previous pages Konrad Lueg in his studio, 1967 (photo: Konrad Introduction Fischer Galerie) 4 5 The Dorothee and Konrad Fischer Collection work after having seen it at the second was born out of the close relationships bet- Documenta in Kassel in 1959. Through Pollock ween the Fischers and the artists they have exhi- and his fellow Abstract Expressionists in the bited in their gallery. The collection thus reflects US, New York had become a new center of not only the gallery’s development, but also visual art. This fulfilled Schmalenbach’s guideline the friendships the gallerist couple shared with of not acquiring works from current artistic many of their artists. The selection includes all movements until they had become established. of the big names in Conceptual Art, Italian Arte Povera artists, and major German sculptors− Schmalenbach’s successor, Armin Zweite, from the generation of artists born after 1950, also collected paintings, but he expanded the to younger artists pursuing a conceptual collection of the Kunstsammlung to include approach. sculptures as well. He thus acquired important works by Joseph Beuys, as well as such Mini- When the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- mal and Conceptual artworks as 48 Roaring Westfalen recently acquired the Dorothee and Forties, 1988, by Carl Andre and Serial Project Konrad Fischer Collection, a large number of No.1: B 2, 5, 8, 19 67, by Sol LeWitt. works and the gallery’s comprehensive archive were also donated to the museum. This selec- Konrad Fischer initially began his career as tion of Conceptual artworks has considerably a painter under his mother’s maiden name expanded the museum’s collection, because Lueg after graduating from the Kunstakademie the majority of the artists were not represented (Academy of Art) Düsseldorf. His fellow grad- at the museum before now. uates included Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke. He was comparatively successful and Between 1962 and 1990, the first director of had several shows, including one at the Galerie the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Schmela, the most important gallery for con- Werner Schmalenbach, followed a guideline temporary art in Düsseldorf. Konrad Lueg also for collecting works: Only art whose quality helped Alfred Schmela hang exhibitions, and has been established belongs in the museum. he accompanied him on his travels. In 1967, He alone had the power to make acquisition Schmela proposed that the artist could manage decisions, and he chose to buy only painting. a branch of the gallery devoted to young art. He bought masterworks of classical modern- When Schmela withdrew his offer shortly after, ism as well as 25 works by American artists, Konrad Lueg decided to open his own gallery including Jackson Pollock’s famous Number 32, under his real name with the support of his wife 1950, 1950. Schmalenbach purchased this Dorothee Fischer. He thus rented a passage- 6 7 way located at Neubrückstrasse 12, which he Konrad and Dorothee Fischer regarded enclosed with two glass walls on either end themselves more as hosts for their artists, to create a room of about 3 × 11 × 3.90 meters. and not as art dealers. It was no coincidence It was located right next to the Creamcheese that the gallery was called Ausstellungen bei club, which opened the same year and became Konrad Fischer (Exhibitions at Konrad Fischer) a legendary gathering place for the art and to avoid all traces of commercialism. The artists music scene. With the support of his friend they invited to exhibit also emphasized that Kasper König−a curator who later became the gallery always had a positive atmosphere the director of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, that reminded them more of an artist’s studio and who was living in New York at the time− than a commercial gallery space. This was Fischer came into contact with young represen- certainly also due to Fischer’s having been an tatives of Minimal Art and Conceptual Art. artist himself and a student of the Kunst- Taking a stand against Abstract Expressionism, akademie Düsseldorf, like his wife Dorothee. these artists placed more emphasis on the concept behind a work than on its realization by The gallerist believed it was more important the artists themselves. They also often used to get his artists a number of exhibitions than industrial materials to avoid personal expression. to achieve a financial gain. For this purpose, Their works deliberately referred to the sur- he established a network of artists, gallerists, rounding space and were meant to be experi- collectors, curators, and critics from all over enced actively by beholders. Fischer / Lueg had the globe, while also maintaining close contact encountered several of these works already with local figures, such as the director of in 1967 at the two group exhibitions in Frankfurt the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, Paul in which he had participated as a painter, Wember, the director of the Städtische Museum and he was very excited about them. Konrad Mönchengladbach, Johannes Cladders, as Fischer’s revolutionary idea was for artists not to well as the director of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, send finished works, but for them to develop Karl Ruhrberg, and Ruhrberg’s curator and a concept for the exhibition space. The gallerist successor Jürgen Harten. Thanks to Konrad paid their plane ticket and let them live at his Fischer, Minimal Art and Conceptual Art be- home, while he procured the necessary materials came known in Germany and Europe, which for the exhibition works that were then created also contributed to their recognition in the US. on site. In place of exhibition catalogues, Fischer placed much value in tailor-made invitation Fischer was an exhibition curator as well. cards. Fischer’s gallery became international Together with his childhood friend, Hans well-known virtually overnight. Strelow−who worked as an art critic before 8 9 opening his own gallery−he established the Dorothee and Konrad Fischer Collection) is project called Prospect in 1968. This ex hibition the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen’s series brought many international avant-garde first public presentation of these newly acquired galleries to the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and works. The particular significance of the was an answer to the Cologne Art Fair, which radical change from Abstract Expressionism to was only open for German galleries. Fischer Conceptual Art is brought to the fore through was also involved in the exhibition Konzeption / ­ the opportunity to view these new works in Con ception. Dokumentation einer heutigen comparison with those that were already in the Kunstrichtung (Konzeption / Concep tion: collection of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Docu men tation of a To-Day’s Art Tendency), Westfalen. The gallery’s archive of letters, drafts, which was shown at the Städtisches Museum invitation cards, and so forth is also being Leverkusen in Schloss Morsbroich and was shown in the exhibition in the form of represen- the first museum ex hibition of Conceptual Art tative archival records for Carl Andre and in Ger many. Harald Szeemann, the artistic Bruce Nauman. director of the Documenta in Kassel in 1972, also asked Fischer and the art historian and This booklet provides information about the photography expert Klaus Honnef to select 25 artists in the Dorothee and Konrad Fischer American and European artists for the section Collection. The texts are arranged alphabetically “Idee + Idee / Licht” (Idea + Idea / Light), which according to the artists’ last names. The titles was devoted to Conceptual Art. marked in red refer to works that can be found in the exhibition. Dorothee Fischer also played a major role in the gallery’s success. In the early years, she guaranteed the gallery’s financial survival with her income as an art teacher, and she took care of the artists staying in their apartment. She also documented all of their exhibition work in photographs. After Konrad Fischer’s death, she continued to run the gallery on her own, while expanding its program by adding new exhibition formats and young artists. “Wolke & Kristall”. Die Sammlung Dorothee und Konrad Fischer (Cloud & Crystal: The previous pages Günther Uecker, Konrad Dorothee and Konrad Lueg, Ferdinand Kriwet, Fischer, 1969, and Gerd Hübinger during photo: Gerhard Richter an action at the opening of the bar Creamcheese in Düsseldorf, 1967, photo: Manfred Leve © Nachlass Manfred Leve, Courtesy Museum Kunstpalast, AFORK, Düsseldorf 12 13 1 2 Carl Konrad Fischer at the Konrad Fischer and construction of a work by Carl Andre during the A Andre Carl Andre, Kölner opening of the gallery on Kunstmarkt 1970, photo: October 21, 1967, © bpk / Angelika Platen photo: Manfred Leve © Nachlass Manfred Leve, Courtesy Museum Kunstpalast, AFORK, (b. 1935, Quincy, Massachusetts) Düsseldorf 14 15 It all began with Carl Andre. He Andre’s art was so revolutionary Carl Andre became one of was the first artist to be exhibited that many visitors who came the most important artists in the at Konrad Fischer’s gallery, into the gallery looking for the gallery and in the collection that and he is the artist who has been artwork didn’t realized they were Dorothee and Konrad Fischer shown in the gallery the most actually walking on it. Virtually built up over many years. They not often, with currently more than overnight, Konrad Fischer had only bought several of his works 30 exhibitions. When Fischer earned a seat in the “first row of through their own ex hibitions, sent the American artist a plane avant-garde art dealers,” and many were also gifts from the art- ticket in 1967, he did not know critics began describing him as ist. After Konrad Fischer’s death, him personally and had never seen “way up front.” Carl Andre made the work with any of his original works.