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Ambroise Vollard: Man for his Times!
Ambroise Vollard, the foremost Parisian art dealer of the early twentieth century and the man who gave Cezanne, Picasso, and Maillol their first one-man shows was the subjest of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The show's nearly three hundred items-prints,illustrated books, and bronzes-were all commisioned by Vollard and reveal him as the vortex of the Paris art world from the 1890's until his death in 1939.
What Vollard understood-as any successful dealer must- is that artists, in order to survive, need exposure and emotional support as much as they need money. Maillol once said, "It is thanks to Vollard that I am able to live." At a time when most dealers and critics ignored or castigated the modernists, Vollard boldly and perceptively bought their work. His gallery on the rue Lafitte became the rendezvous for the avant-garde, and an invitation to a boisterous banquet in Vollard's cellar was highly prized among fashionable aesthetes.
A shrewd businessman, Vollard bought cheap and sold dear to adventurous collectors, such as H. O. Havemeyert, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and Alfred Barnes. With this fortune Vollard launched a second career as a publisher of prints and fine illustrated books. He commissioned graphics from Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon, Degas, Rouault, Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso. He also wrote biographies of his favorite artists, brought out bronze casts of sculptures by Maillol, Bonnard, Picasso, and Renoir, and found time somehow to sit for portraits.
A large, gruff, boorish fellow-who was once described as "looking like a giant ape"-he nevertheless inspired his artist friendsicasso did a cubist study of him, Bonnard painted him as a genial host, and Renoir portrayed him as a toreador. "The most beautiful woman who ever lived," Picasso said,"never had her portrait painted, drawn, or engraved more often than Vollard."
Ambroise Vollard, the foremost Parisian art dealer of the early twentieth century and the man who gave Cezanne, Picasso, and Maillol their first one-man shows was the subjest of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The show's nearly three hundred items-prints,illustrated books, and bronzes-were all commisioned by Vollard and reveal him as the vortex of the Paris art world from the 1890's until his death in 1939.
What Vollard understood-as any successful dealer must- is that artists, in order to survive, need exposure and emotional support as much as they need money. Maillol once said, "It is thanks to Vollard that I am able to live." At a time when most dealers and critics ignored or castigated the modernists, Vollard boldly and perceptively bought their work. His gallery on the rue Lafitte became the rendezvous for the avant-garde, and an invitation to a boisterous banquet in Vollard's cellar was highly prized among fashionable aesthetes.
A shrewd businessman, Vollard bought cheap and sold dear to adventurous collectors, such as H. O. Havemeyert, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and Alfred Barnes. With this fortune Vollard launched a second career as a publisher of prints and fine illustrated books. He commissioned graphics from Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon, Degas, Rouault, Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso. He also wrote biographies of his favorite artists, brought out bronze casts of sculptures by Maillol, Bonnard, Picasso, and Renoir, and found time somehow to sit for portraits.
A large, gruff, boorish fellow-who was once described as "looking like a giant ape"-he nevertheless inspired his artist friendsicasso did a cubist study of him, Bonnard painted him as a genial host, and Renoir portrayed him as a toreador. "The most beautiful woman who ever lived," Picasso said,"never had her portrait painted, drawn, or engraved more often than Vollard."