Affairs of Art

Some weeks ago, an individual unknown to me got in touch to ask whether we had any drawings that might be of interest. His inquiry stemmed from finding a video we had made 37 years ago called “Affairs of Art”. When I told him that I was impressed that he had watched such an outdated video, he wrote back, “That video isn't outdated - it's history”. We had commissioned “Affairs of Art” to tell the history of our gallery, Rosenberg & Stiebel founded in Frankfurt am Main, Germany around 1870 and celebrating its 50th anniversary in the United States. This recent comment had me thinking and looking at it in a totally different light.

To go back to the beginning, Karl Katz who was a scholar, curator and a museum director, became head of the Department of Special Projects at the Metropolitan Museum in 1971. By 1980 he had established a department of film and television as a joint venture between the Met and the Getty. It’s first project was to create a database of all films that had been made about art. Karl then recruited teams of curators and videographers to pitch ideas for productions in the joint venture. One such team was between a young videographer, David Kutz and my wife, Penelope Hunter-Stiebel. They wrote a proposal for a short film recreating the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Louvre workshop and art collection of the early 18th century French cabinet maker André Charles Boulle. Unfortunately, the project was not chosen for production.

This failure, however, introduced us to David Kutz and we hired him to create “Affairs of Art”. We had hired a PR firm as well to help us publicize our 50th anniversary but when the head of it saw the first cut of the film, she fired us! So much for a PR agent. By happenstance, Jim Rosenthal a film editor from LA, who had worked with David on a string of HBO projects, was staying with him. Rosenthal spent a few days of his New York visit re-editing the raw footage. We were thrilled with the results which you will see if you click on the link below.

We wanted to show what the gallery had accomplished over that past half century. Who would we want to help tell the gallery’s story? Of course, that had to include my mother and father, who were forced to leave Germany in the 1930’s, and my father being the only remaining participant in the firm in Frankfurt. I also wanted to have individuals from the museum world and collectors we had dealt with. We were lucky and very honored to put together a most illustrious group.

Liliane de Rothschild represented the French branch of the Rothschild family, fabled for their collections. Leonard Lauder heir to the cosmetics firm, Estée Lauder, is best known for his Cubist collection, which was to go the Metropolitan Museum, but, little know, he was also a collector of French 18th century furniture. Michel David-Weill being the third generation of his family as Chairman of the banking house Lazard as well as all being great art collectors. Patrick Gerschel was a New York investment banker, and his wife Elizabeth enjoyed surrounding themselves with French art of the 18th century. Sherman Lee and Tom Hovingwere directors of two of the most important museums in the country, The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum. I wanted to have both directors since their views of museology were quite different. Tom Hoving was a showman he literally opened the Metropolitan Museum to a far wider public with his populist approach and blockbuster exhibitions. His expanded museum shop included reproductions and souvenirs made by the museum and had branches around the city. Sherman Lee, however, was a quiet, serious scholar who kept his museum store small, within the museum building and focused on books relating to the museum’s collections. Still, they shared a deep love of art and made major acquisitions for their institutions.

All of these participants in our film had fascinating and influential lives and made a difference to the art world but unfortunately most are no longer with us. I believe it is seriously worthwhile listening to what they had to say about art and collecting.