"Les Hussarts de l'art : The Michael Warner Collection" by Eric Mircher

[This is a continuation of my translations of Eric Mircher's original articles.  Please read this introduction for the background behind this project.]

    In 1905, the parliament of the Third Republic of France, voted to separate the functions of church and state and this was the culmination of a process of secularization that began in 1881 when the the Jules Ferry laws were passed, establishing the structure of a new secular education system.  The lay teachers of the public schools were called “Hussards noir,” literally “black hussars” by the French writer, Charles Péguy.  The etymology of the word hussar comes from the Hungarian “huszar”, fearless horsemen of the Hungarian calvary created in the 15^th century.  Péguy coined the term Hussards noir to describe the lay teachers who were given this fundamental and important task : mandatory, free, universal, and secular primary education for all the boys and girls of France.

     Fabrice Hergott and Michael Werner are our “Hussarts de l'art.”  Their collaboration has produced the single most gratifying exhibitions in Paris of the Fall 2012 season : an exhibition of the collection of Michael Werner including his gift of 130 works of art, sculptures, paintings and drawings from his personal collection to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.  It is an exceptional gift to the museum and is the largest of all legacy donations given to the museum since its creation.  The donation tallies to some twenty artists that have been in the rosters of Michael Werner's gallery, and includes the works of Marcel Broodthaers, Gaston Chaissac, André Derain, Otto Freudlich, Etienne-Martin Robert Filliou, Jörg Immendorff, Per Kirkeby, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck, Niele Toroni, amongst others.

     Why would an art dealer, who has had such a successful career, give to the City of Paris such an enormous treasure trove of contemporary fine art ?  Werner's enigmatic response is perfect, “it's because of him,” referring to Fabrice Hergott, the director of the museum. We can try to finish his sentene by adding “it's because of me”(referring to Werner himself),  but he does not congratulate himself.  He just adds that he has simply been loyal to the memory of Paris : a visit to the museum in 1962 as a young man, seeing an exhibition of the work of Jean Fautrier, inspired him to become a dealer of contemporary art.  

     The dialog that has taken place between Werner and Hergott, the former an art dealer, who is known to have taken risks in his choice of artists, and the latter, a man of culture who has had to grow tough against the rough machinery of museum administration, shows how a long sustained conversation can be fertile.  Their dialog demolishes the easy caricatures that separate the world of money from the world of ideas.  The fairy-tale ending to their conversation is the gift from the German.  Of course, the symbolic gesture is meaningful in itself as we celebrate the 50 years of Franco-German reconciliation, in 2013, but more importantly, the works in the collection will fill in large lacunes in the public collections of contemporary art here in Paris.  Paris was once a city brimming with contemporary art, but this is in the past, the old art capital's influence and successes have been for a long time much more restrained.  The past 30 years has seen the rise and rise of contemporary art elsewhere, including the other side of the Rhine.  Though Paris has stayed an important center for the viewing of contemporary art, it is no longer its creative nerve center.  

     The Werner donation is a double gift made to the City of Lights.  One can now discover Immendorf here, shown masterfully, and also Markus Lupertz, who gave so much encouragement to French painters during his stays here, encouragement to paint when painting was seen to be old fashioned if not obsolete.  Reality is cruel, however, and none of the quibbles amongst the French about the French will change this : the great artists of today are American, German, English, and Chinese, and the majority of them are painters.

     Werner is extending a hand to Paris with this generous gift.  Will we in return live up to it ?  The hussarts of the republic of art are those individuals who are possessed by an ideal : transmit that which they have received, as a duty.  Werner and Hergott have submitted themselves to this duty with joy.  

• Article written by Eric Mircher
• (Translated from French by Roy Forget)