Re-view Onnasch Collection

Cat. Hauser & Wirth

Exhibition catalogue, ed. by Paul Schimmel, Michaela Unterdörfer
text (English) by Paul Schimmel and interviews with Reinhard Onnasch by Ernst Busche, Dieter Honisch, Rainer Höynck, Christine Breyhan, and Thea Herold and Katrin Wittneven
264 p with 225 coloured illustarions
293 x 228 mm, clothbound embossed

ISBN 978-3-86442-075-7

(out of print)

A splendid show

A list of artists that brings together names like Bell, Brecht, Buren, Christo, Copley, Darboven, di ­Suvero, Dine, Flavin, Hamilton, Kienholz, Kline, Louis, Motherwell, Noland, Oldenburg, Rauschen­berg, Reinhardt, Rivers, Roth, Segal, Serra, Stella, Still, Tuttle, Twombly, Weiner, Wesley or ­Wester­mann is not merely intended as an international who’s who. The collection of Reinhard ­Onnasch, who was born in 1939 and worked as a gallerist initially in Berlin from 1969 to 1971, then from 1971 to 1974 in Cologne and from 1973 to 1975 in New York, subsequently returning to Berlin from 1982 to 1987, demonstrates an astounding art and culture transfer between America and Europe. This book published in conjunction with the exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth in London in the fall of 2013 and in New York in early 2014, »Re-View: Onnasch Collection« is the first in-depth study of Reinhard Onnasch’s activities as a gallerist, art dealer, catalogue publisher and art collector. Its chronology presents a wealth of previously unpublished documents and photographs, and includes, for the first time in English translations, several interviews with Onnasch. From these conversations one gains a sense of the passion with which he has built up his remarkable collection. Paul Schimmel, curator of the exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in London notes: »It is an extraordinarily varied collec­tion, very fruitful thanks to its strong commitment to both American and European art. It ­demonstrates a uniquely open and informed attitude towards collect­ing and an extraordinarily rare, breathtaking view oriented both towards and against the mainstream.« So alongside works that could be considered exemplary of Pop art or Minimalism, it also features important works of color-field painting, Fluxus, assemblage and Abstract Expression­ism, which the publi­cation illus­trates with new photographs in honor of the occasion. The works reproduced in the catalogue represent a veritable vanguard of the twentieth century’s most important art movements.

Exhibitions:
Hauser & Wirth, London, 20/9–14/12/2013
Hauser & Wirth, New York, 8/2–12/4/2014