Donation of an early painting by Gerhard Richter: The “Right Home” for Alfred Schmela

A record-breaking donation for the Freundeskreis, and a permanent loan: the Freunde und Förderer der Kunstsammlung (Association of Friends of the Kunstsammlung) receive a spectacular gift – an early painting by Gerhard Richter, a welcome addition to the permanent collection of the K20.

For #32, Gerd Korinthenberg was present at the handover ceremony of the portrait into the custody of the museum.  

Unquestionably, this painting by Gerhard Richter has now found a “new and fitting home,” according to Viktoria von Flemming. No one is likely to contradict the television journalist and art expert, who has parted from her Richter painting, the “Portrait of Schmela,” so that it can be admired by all in the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Her generous gift to the Association of Friends of the Kunstsammlung will enhance the Richter collection of the K20 as a permanent loan. Marion Ackermann, director of the Kunstsammlung, referred to Viktoria von Flemming’s gift as “a marvelous act of patronage.”

The legendary Düsseldorf avant-garde art dealer Alfred Schmela returns home: the “Portrait of Schmela,” a striking early work by Gerhard Richter, arrives as a gift at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Dating from 1964, the portrait depicts the art dealer Alfred Schmela (1918-1980), one of the most important pioneers of the artistic avant-garde in Germany beginning in the late 1950s. Experts estimate the work’s market value at several million euros. “Not just materially, but spiritually as well, this is the most viable gift we could possibly have received,” emphasizes Robert Rademacher, Chairman of the Association of Friends. During the 50-year history of the Kunstsammlung, moreover, it sets a record.

Frau von Flemming admits with a chuckle that she would “never have dared” to donate the painting without Richter’s explicit approval. Back then, when she purchased it, the artist himself grumbled that works on the art market were “much too expensive.” In 1964, Gerhard Richter – who had left the GDR to come to the West only a few years earlier – depicted the bearded art dealer in his well-known “blurry” painting style based on a black-and-white photograph. It is one of the first works Richter – then 32 years old, and today regarded as the most important painter worldwide – created based on family photographs. “

With this precious gift, Alfred Schmela truly returns home,” commented Marion Ackermann, Director of the Kunstsammlung: “Many of the then aspiring artists who are represented in the collection, among them Yves Klein, Joseph Beuys, and Richter himself, received their first shows through Schmela. His remarkable gallery building, the F3 Schmela Haus, one of the three venues of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, has already been in operation for years as a stage for events, discussions, and performances.” This striking portrait makes an ideal addition to the collection’s already wide-ranging inventory of works, dating from various creative periods, by the now 82-year-old Richter. His “iconic picture” is – in Ackermann’s words – “the first early work and the first figurative work by Richter in our collection.”

Gerd Korinthenberg is Head of Communication at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.

(images on first page: © Gesellschaft der Freunde der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V.)