 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting between September 14, 2006 - January 7, 2007 the first extensive exhibition dedicated to the personality of Ambroise Vollard, one of the most important French art dealers, with the significant title "Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde" Vollard was not only a respected dealer, but also a patron of the avant-garde and a publisher, playing a key role in promoting and shaping the careers of some of the most important young artists, beginning in the last decades of the 19th century, till the start of the Second World War. |
The organisers have prepared an unique experience, documenting the life and passion of the famous dealers through 100 paintings, as well as dozens of sculptures, prints, ceramics, livres d'artists. Most of these work were commisioned or published by Vollard, from the start of his early years, in the last two decades of the 19th century till his death in 1939.
Most of the famous artists from this time frame are present in the exhibition : Bonnard, Cezanne, Degas, Derain, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Maillol, Matisse, Picasso, Redon, Renoir, Rouault, Rousseau, Vlaminck, Vuillard, all of them being at some time promoted by Vollard. This major event is organizes by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, and the Reunion des Muses Nationaux, Paris.
Ambroise Vollard, the most important patron of the avant-garde at the end of the 19th century, was born in 1867 in Saint Denis. His father was a notary, so Ambroise decided to study Law in Paris. However his greatest passion was art, but he considered himself to lack the talent to dedicate himself fully to art. He went to Paris and received his Law doctorate, but after that decided to abandon his career as a lawyer and dedicate fully to art. Discovering the rich artistic life in Paris, he was fascinated especially by the young avant-garde artists. He started working as a dealer, being also a renowned collector, selling and buying the avant-garde works, a market which was just evolving at the moment and on which he would be a key-player. He proved to be not only a skilful dealer, but also a great business man, managing to buy the works at low prices and selling them at record prices, therefore helping and supporting most of the artists.
He opened his first gallery in 1893, with a exhibition of sketches by Manet, and in short time the gallery became the centre of interest for the avant-garde. In 1895 he organised his first major exhibition, dedicated to Cezanne. During all his life he was a respected patron of the artists, and in his gallery one could easily find works by Renoir, Degas or Pissarro, even if the avant-garde was disregarded by the official critics.
It didn't take long for Vollard to be considered the most important French dealer for contemporary art, a status that he would keep until his death. He organised several important and controversial exhibitions, promoting the works of artists such as Van Gogh, Picasso or Matisse, and was also interested in Fauvisme and Cubism.
He was not only a dealer, but also a relentless editor, publishing several litographs and books illustrated by young artists, and also a series of monographical studies of Cezanne, Degas and Renoir. In 1937 he published his autobiography, "Memoirs of an art dealer". He died on the 21st July 1939 in a car crash.
