Contemporary art gallery

A gallery is related to the visual arts a place that is used for the issue and usually also for the sale of new contemporary art. There are galleries, for example, for paintings, drawings, editions, photography or sculpture. Most the gallery program is not specific to the material structure, but follows content programmatic tendencies.

While the primary market gallery mainly " atelier fresh " sold works by new young artists, the secondary market gallery ( art trade ) lives in contrast, exclusively from the resale already established art. Frequently also the primary market galleries accept the return and resale of works by the artists they represent.

Term

The term goes back to the gallery, galleria, an archway on the first floor of the Uffizi in Florence, the ruling family of the Medici used since the 16th century to the exhibition of his art collection. From here, the term developed further by designated art galleries and art museums, and finally commercial sales spaces for art.

Function

The art market uses the term gallery especially for businesses and premises of traders exhibit the artists and their art, sell and market. Operators of galleries called gallery. The gallery accepts, among other things, the duties of care, presentation, organization - including tax and legal issues - and the marketing of artists and receives a commission of usually 40 to 50 percent. This value is set with the artist contract. In addition, the agreement provides that the artist may sell only via the gallery representing him. On the other side of the gallery owner of his share to pay all expenses for operating costs, personnel costs, dinners, openings, invitation cards, catalogs, books, posters, magazine advertisements, etc..

Many professional galleries have joined the Association of German Galleries and Art Dealers Association ( BVDG ). After that, the gallery must be at least 20 hours per week open, the gallery must be in possession of their own gallery spaces to showcase the art, it may not require any entrance fee, he must hold at least four temporary exhibitions a year and he has the professional ethics of European Gallery Association FEAGA ( Federation of European Art Gallery Association ) comply.

A gallery, which is run by the artists themselves, called Produzentengalerie.

Historical Development

An extensive gallery beings originated from the 19th century. Gallerists such as Eduard Schulte, Fritz Gurlitt and Johanna Ey also offered artists, who faced the learned in the art academies conception of art critically, the ability to exhibit their paintings. Some gallery owners have significantly influenced in this way the history of art. To include for example, Ambroise Vollard, Daniel -Henry Kahnweiler and Heinz Berggruen to the important personalities of 20th century art. In 1901 Ambroise Vollard was the first exhibition of paintings by Pablo Picasso instead, he promoted Vincent van Gogh and 1904 followed with him the first exhibition of works by Henri Matisse. Heinz Berggruen was the first to recognize the importance of silhouettes of Henri Matisse and those collected in the 1950s and exhibited. Galleries are therefore always meeting points for artists been who wanted to deal with the works of their contemporaries. So Paula Modersohn -Becker saw the works of the then completely unknown Paul Cézanne, they had a major influence in her artistic development, for the first time in the trading rooms of Vollard. A high importance to the art of post-war Germany had the gallery Schmela.

As new species to try the online galleries to establish in virtual showrooms. The global presence of the availability of accommodation at the local site changes. However, the internet medium is missing the real encounter with the object, the personal relationship with the gallery owners, collectors and the exhibiting artists - " the important things are always analog" according to the motto

Legal Aspects

In secondary sales of works of art is to be paid on the basis of the so-called droit a donation to the artist. These are (2010) from a selling price of 400 euros to 50,000 euros 4% of the sales price. Provided, however, that the artist is a member of a collecting society ( Bild-Kunst, ProLitteris ) (§ 26 paragraph 6 of the Copyright Act ).

Works of art are still generally a reduced VAT rate of 7%; from 2013 but is planned following a complaint by the EU Commission to increase to the normal value of 19%.