Ketterer Kunst will be celebrating its fifth anniversary as an auctioneer for Contemporary Art in Berlin with the 258th auction Perspective 45/01 - Contemporary Classics on Monday, 8 October 2001 at Dresdner Bank, Pariser Platz 6. With works by artists such as Joseph Beuys, Klaus Fußmann, Rainer Fetting, Jörg Immendorff or Gerhard Richter coming up for auction in the German capital, the auction house is remaining true to its concept of presenting the works of art in the most appropriate surroundings.
The future is the present – this was the motto that Ketterer Kunst adopted when it started its involvement in Berlin back in 1997. Which other city in Germany - or even in Europe - would be more suitable for the auctioning of contemporary artNULL This bubbling, open-minded city, in a permanent state of innovative change, now provides more than ever before the ideal setting for Perspective 45/01 – Contemporary Classics, with which Ketterer Kunst is also paying tribute to the Dresdner Bank's Year of Culture.
After the opening auction on 1 October 1997 in the Philip Johnson House at Checkpoint Charlie, Ketterer Kunst will be guest at the Dresdner Bank Rotunda right by the Brandenburg Gate for the fourth time. In collaboration with this invaluable partner, we are becoming more and more successful every year in presenting the quintessence of contemporary art to a public of the highest calibre. With our laboriously researched catalogues, we are, in particular, able to highlight the background to the art, says Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and director of Ketterer Kunst.
One of the prime attractions of the fifth Perspective is certainly Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Picture). This oil painting on canvas from 1983 (size: 70 x 50 cm) is estimated at DM 90-120,000. Non-representational painting has dominated the artist's creative concept since 1976. Strongly coloured compositions presented in vehement gestures are the result of an often lengthy inventive process. In contrast to the spontaneous painting process of abstract expressionism, Richter applies colours and structures in stages with brushes and spatulas.
The abstracts of Gerhard Richter are essentially landscapes - but whether they are specific landscapes or landscapes of the soul is not clear. What is so impressive in the present work, too is the dynamic aura of the situation, which leaps towards the viewer in an explosion of colours and shapes.
The realisation of the Dresden-born painter that the object no longer possesses the illustrative function of reality reaches a culmination point with the Abstract Pictures. He succinctly questions the opportunities presented by painting and redefines them. He himself explains: With abstract painting, we created a better way of approaching that which is unseeable, unchanging, because it does not depict anything in a way that is directly graphic, that is to say, with all the means provided by art (G.R. 1982, in: Kat. documenta 7, Kassel 1982).
The viewing of all the works being auctioned will be held from 3-7 October in Berlin in the Dresdner Bank Rotunda at Pariser Platz 6. In addition, selected highlights of the auction will be presented at exhibitions for invited guests and in public previews in September in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich.
The colour catalogue with many artists' biographies and a comprehensive cataloguing of the works can be obtained for DM 50 by calling telephone number +49 (0)89-55244-0 or -158. The catalogue is available in German and English.
Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has become established as one of the most important book and art auction houses. The parent company in the Prinz-Alfons-Palais in Munich plays a leading role, with two auctions each year in the area of Classics of the XXth Century & Münchner Schule (Munich School), whilst the Messberghof in Hamburg, with its Modern & Contemporary four times per year concentrates on Modern Art, with the focus on print graphics. In addition, it also covers Valuable Books and Autographs (two auctions per year, Old & New Masters (two auctions per year) and Maritime Art (two auctions per year). Ketterer Kunst has also been represented in Berlin since 1997, with an auction for Contemporary Art after 1945, the Perspective, and is thus the only auction house to offer its customers a total of 13 auctions a year at three locations in Germany.
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