Thomas Ammann

Thomas E. Ammann (1950-1993 [1]) was a leading Swiss art dealer in Impressionist and Twentieth Century Art and major collector of Post-war and Contemporary Art .

Life

Born 1950 in Ermatingen, Switzerland, as the youngest of four children (Eveline, Doris, Susan, Thomas), Ammann became an art collector while still a teen-ager. Aged 18 he went to work at Galerie Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich. It was during this time of apprenticeship that Ammann first met Andy Warhol who would become a close friend [2]. In 1977 Ammann went into business for himself. His unique combination of knowledge, eye for quality, charm, humor, looks and absolute discretion catapulted him to the top of the art world by his mid 30's.

Gallery

His gallery, Thomas Ammann Fine Art [3] was visited by major collectors throughout Europe and the Americas. Its patrons included Giovanni Agnelli, Eli Broad, Gustavo Cisneros, David Geffen, Ronald Lauder, Samuel Newhouse Jr, Stavros Niarchos, Ronald Perelman, Charles Saatchi, Stephan Schmidheiny [4] and Heinrich Thyssen amongst others. .

From his villa by Otto Rudolf Salvisberg [5] on the hill of Zurich, his chalet in Gstaad or his apartment at the Pierre in New York, Thomas Ammann dealt mainly in major paintings and sculpture of twentieth century masters such as Francis Bacon, Balthus, Max Beckmann, Constantin Brancusi, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Barnett Newman, Pablo Picasso and Mark Rothko.

Since Ammann's discretion and secrecy in business were legendary, only a few prime examples of artworks which found way into the worlds great museums through his hands are known, such as Max Ernst's "The Blessed Virgin Chastises the Infant Jesus Before Three Witnesses" [6] in the collection of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne [7] or Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Joseph Roulin" [8] which Ammann sold to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ammann proved to be a major player in the international art auctions in London and New York as a bidder and buyer on record breaking artworks. The press noted "his presence in the worlds salesrooms created a mood of optimism, whatever the market conditions, and his enthusiastic bids for paintings by Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol were driven by genuine passion as much as potential profit". Thomas Ammann started organizing exhibitions [9] at his gallery from 1987.

Thomas Ammann Fine Art today is directed by Ammann's second oldest sister Doris Ammann [10] who joined the gallery in the late seventies and worked many years as the financial director. Today she can be seen at the international auctions bidding for top lots by artists such as Modigliani [11] or Schiele [12]. Another family member, Tobias Mueller Ammann [13], Thomas Ammann's only nephew, is the director of Zurich's Galerie Bruno Bischofberger [14] since 1995, after working for Sotheby's and Christie's.

Collection

Besides becoming the leading dealer of his generation by the end of the 1980s and playing in the league of older dealers such as William Acquavella and Ernst Beyeler, Thomas Ammann was an equally keen supporter and friend of contemporary artists, whose works he exclusively purchased for his own collection. A small selection of his holdings were exhibited at the Kunsthalle Basel [15] in 1985 with the title "From Twombly to Clemente - Selected works from a private collection", curated by the well known art critic and former museum director Jean-Christophe Ammann [16]. The art world agreed on Thomas Ammann's collection of works of the second half of the twentieth century to be amongst the finest in existence , with unparalleled workgroups of artists such as Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Robert Ryman, Eric Fischl, Francesco Clemente and Neil Jenney. Living up to his maxim "You shall not collect what you want to sell", Ammann strictly divided his dealing in early twentieth century art from his collecting postwar and contemporary works . After Ammann's untimely death in 1993,[17] part of his private collection was embedded in Swiss Industrialist Stephan Schmidheiny's corporate collection "Daros", which itself actively buys and sells works [18] nowadays.

Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné

It was in 1977 that Thomas Ammann envisioned a Catalogue Raisonne of all of Andy Warhol's paintings, sculptures and drawings, and with the artists consent, started the vast undertaking of assembling the material needed for such a project to finally create a comprehensive, scholarly and authoritative publication. The initial volumes were eventually published in 2002 and 2004 by Phaidon Press [19] in a joint effort of Thomas Ammann Fine Art and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., New York [20].

Publications

• Exhibition Catalogues
• Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné Vol. I (1961-1963)
• Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné Vol. II (1964-1969)
• Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné of Prints

Artists represented by Thomas Ammann Fine Art

• Francis Bacon
• Giacomo Balla
• Balthus
• Jean-Michel Basquiat
• Max Beckmann
• Ross Bleckner
• Constantin Brancusi
• Georges Braque
• Alexander Calder
• Eric Fischl
• Alberto Giacometti

• Damien Hirst
• Neil Jenney
• Jasper Johns
• Wassily Kandinsky
• Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
• Paul Klee
• Willem de Kooning
• Fernand Léger
• Roy Lichtenstein
• Brice Marden
• Agnes Martin

• Henri Matisse
• Joan Miró
• Barnett Newman
• Albert Oehlen
• Pablo Picasso
• Jackson Pollock
• Mark Rothko
• Robert Ryman
• Philip Taaffe
• Cy Twombly
• Andy Warhol

Works of Art

• Vincent Van Gogh
• Willem de Kooning
• Cy Twombly
• Max Ernst

See also

• Museum Of Modern Art
• Beyeler Foundation
• The Andy Warhol Museum
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• Tate
• Menil Collection
• Museum Ludwig
• Kunsthaus Zürich
• List of most expensive paintings

External links

• Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG
• Daros Collection, Switzerland
• Cult of Personality - Art & Auction
• Hall of Fame - Vanity Fair
• [21] Art of the Dealer - Thomas Ammann
• [22] Steven A. Cohen's $137.5 million De Kooning
• [23] Fashion Designer Valentino - Artnewspaper
• [24] How the MoMA got the Van Gogh
• [25] Warhol Skulls - Sotheby's
• [26] Larry Gagosian / Peter Brant Tax Scandal
• [27] Tate -International Council Members
• [28] Thomas Ammann, Modern Art Dealer And a Collector, 43 - NY Times
• [29] Bob Colacello's Out
• [30] The Andy Warhol Museum
• [31] Spirited Auction
• [32] Saatchi Collection for Sale
• [33] Masterpieces from the Merzbacher Collection
• [34] Artmarket in slow recovery
• [35] Warhols Mao to be auctioned