Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access originally published online on March 30, 2009
Journal of the History of Collections 2009 21(2):221-228; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhp012
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
This article appears in the following Journal of the History of Collections issue: Special Issue: The art collector-between philanthropy and self-glorification [View the issue table of contents]
The art dealer and collector as visionary
Discovering Vincent van Gogh in Wilhelmine Germany 1900–1914
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Abstract |
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The Berlin Jewish art dealer Paul Cassirer was the main instigator of the creation of a commercial market for Vincent van Gogh in Wilhelmine Germany. The narrative is set against the artist's controversial reception in the Netherlands and in Republican France, and follows his art's progress to Imperial Germany, where it was also received with considerable opposition, culminating in the Vinnen Protest of 1911. By contrast, the country also witnessed the enthusiastic acceptance of Van Gogh's work among liberal museum directors and Cassirer's client-collectors, a small but dedicated circle of modernist art patrons. The paper concludes that Wilhelmine patrons of Van Gogh were leaders of the European visual avant-garde, and by welcoming radical new art, they accepted its ideological component, which became an inspiration in their search for identity and modernity. This was especially the case among German Jewish patrons, who made up a disproportionately high percentage of Van Gogh patrons before 1914.
Address for correspondence Dr Veronica Grodzinski, University College London, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Foster Court, Gower Street, London WCIE 6 BT. veragrod{at}aol.com