Krystyna Gmurzynska & Isabelle Bscher

Ages:62 and 25

Places of Birth:Breslau, Poland, and Cologne, Germany

Preside Over:galerie gmurzynska in Zurich, Zug, and St. Moritz

Gallery’s specialty:20th-century modern and contemporary masters

Artists Shows:Robert indiana, Yves Klein, Wifredo Lam, Kazimir malevich, Joan miró, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, alexander Rodchenko, Kurt schwitters

Gallery’s First Show:Impressionism and Post-impressionism in 1966, organized by Krystyna’s mother, antonina gmurzynska

What is the first work of art you remember being affected by?

IB:My mother, Krystyna, continued the gallery my grandmother had started, so I grew up with amazing art at home. I recall having loved the intense blue in one of Yves Klein’s anthropometric paintings there. I also remember giving my school class a guided tour of a Klein show at the gallery when I was eight years old.

What led to the founding of the gallery?

KG:My mother, Antonina, left Poland in the early 1960s. When she arrived in Cologne, she was struck by the lack of recognition for
the Russian avant-garde, which was unknown in the West. So she combined her academic training and love for Constructivist art
with a private enterprise, organizing gallery exhibitions accompanied
by scholarly publications. How has the focus of the gallery changed with the generations? KG: The gallery started with Constructivism and other Russian avant-garde as well as with modern masters. After my mother’s death
in 1986, I enlarged the classic modern part. Later, with my business partner Mathias Rastorfer,
 I added contemporary classics such as Donald Judd and Robert Indiana, as well as bringing to the gallery estates such as those of Klein, Louise Nevelson, and Wifredo Lam. And
we show the exceptional: Zaha Hadid and Karl Lagerfeld. By 2005, we had seen some important changes in Germany. With Cologne no longer being the undisputed art center, we decided to move the gallery to Switzerland. Since my daughter finished her master’s degree in art history, she has added the very contemporary—for example, Scott Campbell, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, and Marco Perego.

What are the most challenging and most rewarding parts of running an art gallery today?

IB:I love that we are a family business, but the difficult part of that arrangement can be to develop a life separate from that. At times it is challenging that my life is so completely immersed in the gallery.

KG:For me, the most rewarding
is clearly research and publications. I love the thrill of discovery while looking through archives and putting together a show.

What has been your most memorable experience in the art trade?

KG:When my mother was still alive, 
I was able to curate the first exhibition and publication on the women artists of the Russian avant-garde.

Are there any works that have been painful to part with?

KG:Parting with works will never come easy to me.

In which art fair do you most enjoy participating?

IB:Art Basel. I learned to walk there.

What is your personal taste in art, and how does it influence the type of work you show?

KG:Somehow I’ve always loved collage, in all of its forms, from the Russian avant-garde to Kurt Schwitters to Nevelson.

IB:I personally collect drawings: Raymond Pettibon and some of the psychedelic art from California that I wrote about for my thesis. I really love drawings; that’s probably the reason why the artists I choose to work with all happen to be excellent draftsmen. Perego to me clearly belongs to the amazing tradition of Italian draftsmen.

If you could own any artwork, price no object, what would it be?

KG:I already own it: Dissolution of
a Plane, a Suprematist painting from 1917 by Kazimir Malevich.

If you were not an art dealer, what would you be doing?

IB:I don’t feel like I am a dealer; at this point it is not just about the buying and selling for me. I feel like I follow in the footsteps of my grandmother and mother, who taught me to care about the history of art and the pleasure you get from it. Therefore to become what I would call a gallerist is all I ever wanted.