Cy Twombly – Reiner Speck. Fragments of an Adoration

Rich intellectual and aesthetic interfaces between artist and collector

Dr Reiner Speck is a renowned doctor and one of the most important bibliophiles of our time. Over more than six decades, he has built up an unrivalled collection of antiquarian literature, including world-famous collections by the Renaissance poet and scholar Petrarch and the French writer Marcel Proust. However, Speck's passion for collecting goes beyond books. Since the late 1960s, he has been intensively involved in contemporary art through the acquisition of artists' books. His extensive collection of works on paper by the American artist Cy Twombly (1928-2011) is of particular importance. This collection of drawings from the 1950s to the early 1980s, prints, multiples, photographs and artist's books reflects the intensive and decades-long intellectual engagement with Twombly's work. The connection between Dr Speck and Twombly began around 1970, when the two met in front of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. Speck had travelled to Rome especially to meet the artist and ask him to sign a drawing from 1957 that he had acquired two years earlier in Cologne. This meeting marked the beginning of a deep friendship based on mutual respect and a shared passion for art and literature. Over the years, their dialogue developed far beyond a typical artist-collector relationship and was enriched by Speck's numerous visits with his family to Twombly's residence in Italy. The book focuses on Speck's collection of Twombly's works on paper and places them in their literary context, describing the multiple intellectual and aesthetic intersections between the artist and his collector. By focussing on the works in this collection, it offers a rare opportunity to discover the deep connection between Twombly's artistic practice and Speck's literary engagement.

Exhibition:
Maison d'Art, Los Angeles, 11/2 - 24/5/2025