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Galerie Gmurzynska

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Galerie Gmurzynska
Formation1965 in Cologne, Germany
FounderAntonina Gmurzynska
PurposeCommercial Art Gallery
HeadquartersZürich, Switzerland
Location
OwnersKrystyna Gmurzynska
Mathias Rastorfer
Websitegmurzynska.com

Galerie Gmurzynska is a commercial art gallery in based in Zurich, Switzerland that specializes in modern and contemporary art and work by the Russian avant-garde. It has additional branches in Zug and St. Moritz.

History

The gallery was founded in 1965 in Cologne, Germany by Antonina Gmurzynska. It held an exhibition of Japanese art in its first year. The following year, the gallery presented the work of David Burliuk. Until 1971, the gallery's program focused on the Russian avant-garde. The gallery buys and sells modern and contemporary artists and sells pieces at art fairs by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Kurt Schwitters, Fernand Leger, Lyonel Feininger, Robert and Sonia Delaunay and Sylvester Stallone. The gallery works with the estates of Yves Klein, Wifredo Lam, Louise Nevelson, Karl Lagerfeld and Robert Indiana among others.

Galerie Gmurzynska made its name as a supplier of avant-garde Russian art to Western collectors.[1] From December 1979 to March 1980, the Galerie exhibited Künstlerinnen der russischen Avantgarde/Women Artists of the Russian Avante-Garde 1910-1930, the first exhibition in the West to concentrate on the work of female Russian avant-garde artists.[2] The exhibition included the work of Liubov Popova and Varvara Stepanova.[3]

Krystyna Gmurzynska took over the Cologne gallery with her business partner Mathias Rastorfer following her mother Antonina's death in 1986.[4]

The Galerie held the last exhibition of Donald Judd's works prior to his death in February 1994.[5] The installation included some work from a 1990 exhibition in Moscow and an additional series of works in steel and aluminum.[5] The exhibition ran until May 1994.[5] The show catalogue included an essay written by Judd entitled "Russian Art in Regard to Myself."[5][5]

Forty years after its establishment, in 2005, the gallery relocated from Cologne to Switzerland and opened a flagship gallery on Zürich's Paradeplatz. The Paradeplatz building that houses the gallery dates back to 1857 and it is the same building in which the first important Dada exhibition was on show in 1917.[citation needed] Each exhibition at the gallery is accompanied by a self-published catalogue.

In 2010, the gallery held an exhibition entitled "Zaha Hadid and Suprematism", which was designed and curated by Hadid and Patrik Schumacher. The installation was designed to be viewed through the gallery's window on Paradeplatz.[6][7] The show also included suprematist and constructivist art that hung alongside Hadid's installation, including the works of Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Ilya Chashnik and Alexander Rodchenko.[6]

The gallery was the first to exhibit collages created by American architect Richard Meier in Europe.[8] Meier had mentioned in conversation to Isabelle Bscher, daughter to gallery co-owner Krystyna Gmurzynska, that he made collages, and Isabelle, Krystyna and Mathias Rastorfer visited Meier in his New York City apartment where the art was stored.[8] In 2013, the trio hosted shows of Meier's work in Zurich and Zug.[8] In October 2014, a show entitled "Richard Meier: Collages" opened at the State Russian Museum.

Controversies

The gallery was involved in the removal of a major collection of documents, drawings and paintings by Russian Futurist artists estimated at around £100M belonging to Nikolai Khardzhiev and his wife Lidia Chaga. The gallery arranged the packing and removal of the couple's Moscow flat, but little of their archive ever reached them in Amsterdam.

According to Geraldine Norman OBE, an advisor to the Hermitage Museum, Antonina Gmurzynska (the present owner's mother) 'sought out the artists' families in Russia and became adept at sneaking art out of the country - art which was anyway banned by the Soviet government.'[9]

The case was also covered by Tony Wood in 'New Left Review'.[10]

From 2007-2009, Galerie Gmurzynska was involved in a dispute between New York dealer Asher B. Edelman and their insurance company. Edelman had loaned a work by American painter Robert Ryman to Galerie Gmurznyska for exhibition in 2007 and Edelman claimed the work was later returned damaged.[11] In 2009, a U.S. district court judge awarded Edelman a default judgment of $765,000.[11] Later that year, four of the Galerie's paintings were seized and held for two days until the Galerie paid the judgment.[12]

In 2013, the gallery came under investigation by the Swiss Federal Customs Administration regarding VAT on imported artworks worth 85M Swiss France supplied to the Dolder Grand Hotel, owned by Urs Schwarzenbach.[13][14][15]

References

  1. ^ John E. Bowlt; Szymon Bojko. Von der Fläche zum Raum: Russland 1916-24/ From Surface to Space: Russia 1916-24.
  2. ^ Alexandra Exter. Amazons of the avant-garde.
  3. ^ "The Mother and Daughter Behind Galerie Gmurzynska". Artsy. 14 November 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  4. ^ "In blauer Fülle" (in German). Zeit Online. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Calendar". The Burlington Magazine. May 1994.
  6. ^ a b "Zaha Hadid and Suprematism, Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich".
  7. ^ Cynthia Davidson (Fall 2010). "Drawn In". Log.
  8. ^ a b c "Richard Meier On Collages, Picasso, and, Well, Sex". Artnet News. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  9. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4713862/A-tragic-flight-to-freedom.html
  10. ^ https://newleftreview.org/II/26/tony-wood-a-futurist-ark
  11. ^ a b "Seized the Day". Blouinartinfo.com. 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  12. ^ Pollock, Lindsay (2009-12-03). "U.S. Marshals Seize Degas, Miro Works at Miami Fair (Update1)". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  13. ^ "Hotel Dolder Grand and Galerie Gmurzynska raided - In The Local News - ZURICH4YOU.CH - THE NEW ENGLISH WEBSITE FOR EXPATS IN ZURICH". ZURICH4YOU.CH. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  14. ^ "Galerie Gmurzynska blitzt vor Bundesgericht ab - News Zürich: Region". tagesanzeiger.ch. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  15. ^ http://www.welt.de/kultur/kunst-und-architektur/article123277175/Kunst-Keine-schoene-Bescherung-in-Zuerich.html
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