Deadline for applications is Tuesday 18 February to attend our free art-writing course, in collaboration with Bergen Kunsthall and Office for Contemporary Art Norway. Which is why so much gets done here, and why the Dusseldorf scene is so open. This situation fostered both the emergence of a caste of well-heeled, well-informed art collectors in the Rhineland, and the creation of a dense network of cultural institutions museums, galleries, kunstvereins that is distinctive and unique to this day.
New artistic networks grew up across national borders. At first, during the s, Paris was the most important point of reference for artists in the Rhineland. During the s, Wilhelm became an important conduit between French and German cultures, between Paris and Dusseldorf.
He introduced the Rhineland not only to the French purveyors of Informel, but also to the American artists Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, who he presented in the last show at Galerie 22 in May On his initiative, Henry Moore also visited Dusseldorf. Its founder and director Alfred Schmela —80 was a well-known Dusseldorf character, a temperamental man who liked to deliver his concise, unerring judgements on art in a local dialect. His teaching at the academy and his international reputation rubbed off on the city to no small extent.
Although Wilhelm and Schmela could not have been more different in terms of character, temperament and rhetorical skills, with their feel for art and their talent for creating cross-border networks they each performed a great service to contemporary art around Wilhelm represented strong links to western Europe, especially Paris, while Schmela focused on American art and experimental exhibition formats.
The space was in fact a passage for cars from the street to a back courtyard, but Fischer installed French windows at either end, creating a simple, functional space for art. Prior to this, Fischer had been an artist himself.
