Dusseldorf’s state museums have acquired more than 200 works of minimal and conceptual art, by artists including by Dan Flavin, Bruce Nauman, Sol LeWitt and Gilbert & George, assembled by the gallery owners Dorothee and Konrad Fischer.
The collection, acquired half as purchase and half as donation, was assembled by the Fischers over 50 years. Around a quarter of the works are installations—the rest comprises paintings, drawings, sculptures and designs. Other artists represented in the collection include Richard Long, Piero Manzoni, Jannis Kounellis and Gregor Schneider. Some works were created specifically for the Fischers.
Konrad Fischer was a pioneering champion of avant-garde conceptual art in the 1960s, promoting then-unknown artists such as Carl Andre with exhibitions at his gallery in Dusseldorf’s Neubrückstrasse. “He made things possible,” was Nauman’s verdict on the dealer’s contribution. Fischer died in 1996, and his wife Dorothee Fischer managed the art gallery after his death. The donation includes the gallery’s archives.
The acquisition is “without doubt a momentous event for the art scene in the west,” North Rhine-Westphalia Art Collection, the authority that manages Dusseldorf’s art museums, says in a statement. Negotiations with Dorothee Fischer began in 2009. She declined offers from the US because she wanted the collection to find a home near the gallery, the statement said. She died in 2015, and her children sealed the accord.
The collection will be exhibited in a show called “Cloud and Crystal” (Wolke & Kristall) at the K20 art museum in Dusseldorf from 24 September through to 8 January. The acquisition was supported by the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, Kunststiftung NRW, friends of the North Rhine-Westphalia museums and a private donation.