Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
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Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (June 25, 1884 - January 11, 1979), born in Germany, was an art historian, an art collector and one of the premier French Art dealers of the 20th century. He became prominent as an art gallery owner in Paris beginning in 1907 and he was among the first champions of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Cubism.
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[edit] Beginnings
Born in 1884 Mannheim, Germany, and at school in Germany his curriculum included philosophy which clearly prepared him for a life as a philosophic art connoisseur and a pragmatic businessman. Kahnweiler is considered the major dealer in, champion of, and spokesperson for Cubism. He was among the first people to recognise the importance and beauty of Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'Avignon, immediately wanting to buy it and all of Picasso's works. An early initial training in the family business of Stockbroker in Germany and Paris (his uncle had a famous London stock brokerage house and was a major art collector of traditional English works and furniture) gave way to his opening his first small (4 x 4 metres) art gallery in Paris in 1907 at 28 rue Vignon.
[edit] Art dealer
Picasso wrote of Kahnweiler What would have become of us if Kahnweiler hadn't had a business sense? Which is compelling, because at the time of the origination of his most famous works Picasso was largely unknown as an artist and he was destitute. Kahnweiler supported in his gallery all of his great artists of the time; who had no audience, or collectors, - initial purchases included works by Kees Van Dongen, André Derain, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Maurice de Vlaminck and several others of the same generation. Kahnweiler wanted as he said to defend artists he believed in, but only those who had no dealers and whom he believed were great artists. Rather than exhibiting the popular works of the past and present greats, Kahnweiler championed burgeoning artists such as André Derain, Alberto Giacometti, and others, who had come from all over the globe to live and work in Montparnasse at the time. Thus Paul Cezanne although a great artist was considered to old to be represented, and his work was being handled by Ambroise Vollard at the time.
Along with such men as Alfred Flechtheim, Paul Cassirer, and Daniel Wildenstein, Kahnweiler was one of the influential connoisseurs of the 20th century. As a businessman Kahnweiler innovated many new ways of working with artists; and art dealing; - now established practise with art dealers. In 1907 when there were only half a dozen good galleries in Paris, he made contracts with artists to buy all of their work (freeing them from the worry and restraint about cost of living and creating work). He saw them daily to discuss their work, (they were friends, he co-owned little sailing boats with his artists), he photographed each work, (he felt it imperative to have a record), he held exhibitions of their work and he promoted their work internationally. Kahnweiler gave the first exhibition of the work of Georges Braque. He encouraged the practise of Beau Livres (beautiful book), where a contemporary artist illustrates a work of a contemporary writer - he expanded his presentations by bringing together artists, writers and poets to produce their works as a joint project in more than 40 books, so Picasso illustrated the works of Max Jacob etc. In fact as an art and literary publisher he had no equal; being the first to publish works by Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, André Masson, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and many others and in so doing launched many literary careers.
So strong a business ability did Kahnweiler have that by the 1950s his art gallery was in the top 100 companies in France in terms of turnover from export.
[edit] Art history
But although the survival and financial success of his artists was important, it was as an art historan and as an eyewitness to Cubism (1907-1914) and to art history to which he made his major contribution. When working in Paris his spare time was devoted to reading and understanding the history of art and aesthetics. He also spent his time visiting the city's museums and art galleries; including trips around the continent to see what was being shown in museums and art galleries outside France. He gave his first interview in 1912 on Cubism, and it was actual historical events that led to his career as a historian. There is a view that Kahnweiler's sensibility was such that his gallery, and the way he styled and developed it, was as much a cubist gallery as were the paintings by Picasso and the other cubist painters. The gallery had a clear aesthetic position, uncompromising integrity, financial stability and creative development. During the years 1907-1914 - the central cradle for Cubism was his gallery - not only to see the works of what was the most important art movement since Impressionism but where one also met the artists, discussed art and where artists discussed each others works.
[edit] World War I and World War II
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 not only ruptured the Cubist experiments in art but resulted in Kahnweiler, of German origin, being considered by the French as an alien; and being forced to live in exile in Switzerland. During the years of exile (until 1920) he studied and wrote on his experiences. He wrote works such as the Der Weg Zum Kubismus, and Confessions Esthetique, writing becomming a passion he continued over his lifetime, creating hundreds of books and major articles. The second period of enforced writing was the internal exile which occurred during World War II where as a Jew, the Nazi barbarians forced him to flee Paris. He remained in France in hiding; where as he put it under the clouds of the gas chambers he wrote the seminal work on Juan Gris.
[edit] At the end
The closest one has to an autobiography of Kahnweiler is the series of interviews Mes Galleries est mes Peintres first aired on French Television then published and translated as a book. For his 80th birthday a Festschrift was published with contributions by the world's leading philosophers, art historians, and artists. All expressing his vital importance, his unique contribution to art history. An importance still not yet fully appreciated, probably due to the fact that he has been seen mostly as an art dealer and not as an art historian. A situation aggravated because some of his major works on aesthetics were either never translated into English or badly translated, missing the key elements of a proper understanding of Cubism and by focusing on small and sensational elements of his complex relationship with Picasso.
Although revered by artists (for his business and aesthetic sense), respected by art dealers and art historians the true impact of his his life and work (despite a recent biography by Pierre Assouline) has yet to be recognised - he died in 1979 in Paris.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
NY Times review of Bio pic, retrieved online April 26, 2008
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