I’ve just written an article on the great New York dealer Leo Castelli for the State of Art newspaper and found it a fascinating exercise.
Jasper Johns, Target With Four Faces, 1955
Castelli started his gallery on East 77th Street when he was 50 years old, which shows that opportunity can knock at any age. It can also come at any time, as Castelli found when he went to visit Robert Rauschenberg to discuss his forthcoming show. Castelli happened to mention a picture he’d just seen by one Jasper Johns, which he couldn’t get out of his mind.
It turned out that Johns lived in the apartment below, and Rauschenberg introduced the two. Castelli took one look at the amazing images the 27-year-old Johns had in his studio, and promptly offered him a show. That no doubt miffed Rauschenberg, but Castelli smoothed over any problems and, along with Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein, the pair formed the foundation of all Castelli’s fabled future success.
But this great discovery of Pop Art was never quite repeated. In fact, Castelli missed out on at least one movement - colour field painting - and on several artists whom he would have loved to represent.
Then in the latter part of his career, he fell for a rather bogus figure, Julian Schnabel, with all the enthusiasm and admiration he had shown for the Big Four.
This was a marked lapse of taste, which shouldn’t really be a surprise. All collectors (and all dealers are collectors, have at least one major lapse. It takes a particular combination of knowledge and self-assurance to pick out an artist from the incredible number of possibilities presented at any one time.
Dealers, naturally, tend to wax enthusiastic about any artist they wish to sell. But it’s well worth looking out for dealers who impress you by the quality of what they have on offer and the help which they are prepared to give to help you make up your mind.
But look out for the signs of creeping conservatism, to which everybody is liable as they age. And use your dealer choices to get into the work of new, highly promising artists at the earliest possible stage, when the value for money is at its highest - and the hype at its lowest.
