Mr. Horowitz and Rare’s director, Lauren Miller Walsh, tell us about their truly multidisciplinary, multimedia endeavors, and about their inaugural show, “Matter/Giacometti,” which examines Herbert Matter’s book on Alberto Giacometti and his work.
Could you tell me about the history of Glenn Horowitz Bookseller and your experience both here in New York City and in East Hampton?
Glenn Horowitz: Glenn Horowitz Bookseller has been in business since 1980. It started as a traditional rare books business — buying and selling individual books, building collections for individuals. Shortly after beginning, we realized that large American institutions had an appetite for archival material collections, and that this appetite would grow as technology advanced. So the business grew on parallel tracks: one that was a rare book trading business, the other geared toward working with writers, estates, publishing firms and agents on moving collections and papers to institutions.
In 1991, I decided it was time to bring our business and expertise to the street level in New York City. That impulse was quickly dampened by the reality of what it meant to run a rare book business on the street. I learned the difficulty in trying to bring a rather top-heavy business to a broader audience when the audience was, by definition, thinner, based on both the economics and the aesthetics of what we were doing. By the winter of 1992 we’d found the space and quickly put together a rare book shop. I discovered within days of the opening that there was an audience, but it wasn’t an audience that was interested in buying the type of classical rare books that I was interested in. They were interested in contemporary culture — art, specifically — and all the subscripts of that. So, once again, we spun on a dime. And, by 1993, we not only had a bookshop dedicated to contemporary culture — first editions and relatively elevated material — but we had a four-wall gallery that had been injected into the shop.
A lot of the work we did initially, stepping forward into the art world, was second generation Abstract Expressionists like James Brooks or Esteban Vicente. Now, as we developed this activity, the rare book business started to grow, and we’re now considered at the top of that game. Last year alone we closed transactions for Tom Wolfe’s papers, García Márquez’s and William Faulkner’s.
What has been your relationship with primary markets as you’ve dealt with contemporary work?
GH: As far as the gallery work is concerned, we’ve never set out to represent artists; we work project by project, which is good because this way we don’t put ourselves in conflict with primary dealers or artists. We did an exhibition of Cindy Sherman’s photographs from 2002 to 2003, which, in this instance, did put us a bit at odds with Metro Pictures at first. But they were completely disarmed when they realized that all we wanted to do was the show, that we’d discovered the work in Cindy’s archive, published a book on it, and created an edition that they could then sell afterward. And Cindy wanted to do the show. We were clear that after the show, all that would be left was a shadow of it, and that we would move forward.
Glenn Horowitz: Glenn Horowitz Bookseller has been in business since 1980. It started as a traditional rare books business — buying and selling individual books, building collections for individuals. Shortly after beginning, we realized that large American institutions had an appetite for archival material collections, and that this appetite would grow as technology advanced. So the business grew on parallel tracks: one that was a rare book trading business, the other geared toward working with writers, estates, publishing firms and agents on moving collections and papers to institutions.
In 1991, I decided it was time to bring our business and expertise to the street level in New York City. That impulse was quickly dampened by the reality of what it meant to run a rare book business on the street. I learned the difficulty in trying to bring a rather top-heavy business to a broader audience when the audience was, by definition, thinner, based on both the economics and the aesthetics of what we were doing. By the winter of 1992 we’d found the space and quickly put together a rare book shop. I discovered within days of the opening that there was an audience, but it wasn’t an audience that was interested in buying the type of classical rare books that I was interested in. They were interested in contemporary culture — art, specifically — and all the subscripts of that. So, once again, we spun on a dime. And, by 1993, we not only had a bookshop dedicated to contemporary culture — first editions and relatively elevated material — but we had a four-wall gallery that had been injected into the shop.
A lot of the work we did initially, stepping forward into the art world, was second generation Abstract Expressionists like James Brooks or Esteban Vicente. Now, as we developed this activity, the rare book business started to grow, and we’re now considered at the top of that game. Last year alone we closed transactions for Tom Wolfe’s papers, García Márquez’s and William Faulkner’s.
What has been your relationship with primary markets as you’ve dealt with contemporary work?
GH: As far as the gallery work is concerned, we’ve never set out to represent artists; we work project by project, which is good because this way we don’t put ourselves in conflict with primary dealers or artists. We did an exhibition of Cindy Sherman’s photographs from 2002 to 2003, which, in this instance, did put us a bit at odds with Metro Pictures at first. But they were completely disarmed when they realized that all we wanted to do was the show, that we’d discovered the work in Cindy’s archive, published a book on it, and created an edition that they could then sell afterward. And Cindy wanted to do the show. We were clear that after the show, all that would be left was a shadow of it, and that we would move forward.
How did you come upon this new space? What makes it ideal for the type of work you’d like to do here?
GH: The space we have at present actually found us. When we were negotiating the lease for our larger premises, the penthouse of the building that is contiguous to the 55th street Rockefeller apartments, the president of the board suggested that we take over this space, which had been occupied for years by an aging dentist. As a landmark building, there were actually a very small number of users that could come in and take this space. They wanted us here, and they made it very appealing to us. He essentially sold me something I’d always wanted: a small, discreet, street-level space in the appropriate neighborhood of New York City, which could function as a laboratory in many ways. I’ve always said — though Lauren disputes it — that what we were looking for was a project space. I wanted was a space that was flexible, that wasn’t punitively expensive, where we could do things that were both for profit and not for profit. We’re really interested in trying to identify a handful of people who could be educated as to what makes ours a distinct and unusual business - a blending of the archival with the contemporary. The use of material in this show, I think, embodies all of those values.
“I've always said that what we were looking for was a project space.”
Glenn Horowitz
So, Lauren, would you say this will function as more of an exhibition space than a project space?
Lauren Miller Walsh: We have gone back and forth on that. But the description of it as a project space is probably more accurate because what we want to do is show a variety of different kinds of material, things that reflect what we work on upstairs, things that interest us, on a project-by-project basis. We want to show things that shape the cultural discourse, in many ways. And this show is emblematic of all of that.
“We want to show things that shape the cultural discourse.”
Lauren Miller Walsh
Yes and inaugural shows can be tricky. They’ve got to sort of embody your intentions for a space and show what you’ll do with it. This really seems like the perfect show to accomplish that.
LMW: Well, because we are one of the leading purveyors of archives in the United States and, I would say, beyond the United States, it shows the depth of what we deal with in archives, it shows our interest in photography, in fine art, letters etc. And, since we had the material, and it’s so visually arresting, we thought this would be a great inaugural show to demonstrate the breadth of our interests and our expertise in these different worlds. And, going forward, we want continue to involve many spheres: art, photography, graphic arts, design, the book arts, archives, letters, literature - to show them on their own, but also how they work together. And to get people talking, discussing, maybe forging some reassessments along the way. And, in some cases, to bring out people that might not have the greatest platform at the moment. Alberto Giacometti is instantly recognizable, but Herbert Matter is not necessarily known to a lot of people. And we felt maybe he should be.
Could you tell me about his work and his history with Giacometti?
LMW: Interestingly, they’re both Swiss, and both followed very similar educational paths, but they didn’t run into each other until 1950. Both were friends of Pierre Matisse and had been exhibited by him. He introduced them, and they became close friends. Matter worked with Giacometti and the Guggenheim in 1955, when the museum had a retrospective of GIacometti’s work. Matter was hired to both design the catalog itself and to do the photography. He was an interesting person because he worked in both worlds. He was a highly regarded photographer, but he was also known for his graphic design, having created the very famous modernist Swiss travel posters in the 1930s, among other things.
So he worked in both worlds. He worked in fashion photography, graphic design, as well as filmmaking. He directed a film on his friend Alexander Calder for MoMA in 1952, with music by John Cage. In 1960, Matter decided he wanted to create a book on Giacometti. He traveled to Paris and spent a couple of days in the studio photographing him and his work, not in a documentary manner, but trying to capture the impressions that his artwork made on people. So he shot it from unusual angles, or with interesting perspectives, to really give life to the sculptures. A lot of artists don’t like to be photographed while they’re working, yet you have these images of Giacometti working, which really gets to the heart of the trust that the two artists had in each other. Matter then takes these photographs and spends the next twenty-four years creating this book. It was a project of love; you could, perhaps, call it a singular obsession. He designed the typefaces used on the cover, hand-drawing the letter forms on graph paper. He designed the page layouts, and his drafting skills are shown in the pages we have in the show. All the way to the maquettes and potential binding options considered. So, he was very immersed in all of this.
Unfortunately he died before it could be published. His wife Mercedes then took over, and it was finally published in 1986. And most people don’t know about the book. It’s singularly beautiful and highly illustrated, with a minimum of text. But it’s not really a recognized book within the canon of editions on the work of Giacometti. So it’s great to be able to give it greater recognition.
Could you tell me about his work and his history with Giacometti?
LMW: Interestingly, they’re both Swiss, and both followed very similar educational paths, but they didn’t run into each other until 1950. Both were friends of Pierre Matisse and had been exhibited by him. He introduced them, and they became close friends. Matter worked with Giacometti and the Guggenheim in 1955, when the museum had a retrospective of GIacometti’s work. Matter was hired to both design the catalog itself and to do the photography. He was an interesting person because he worked in both worlds. He was a highly regarded photographer, but he was also known for his graphic design, having created the very famous modernist Swiss travel posters in the 1930s, among other things.
So he worked in both worlds. He worked in fashion photography, graphic design, as well as filmmaking. He directed a film on his friend Alexander Calder for MoMA in 1952, with music by John Cage. In 1960, Matter decided he wanted to create a book on Giacometti. He traveled to Paris and spent a couple of days in the studio photographing him and his work, not in a documentary manner, but trying to capture the impressions that his artwork made on people. So he shot it from unusual angles, or with interesting perspectives, to really give life to the sculptures. A lot of artists don’t like to be photographed while they’re working, yet you have these images of Giacometti working, which really gets to the heart of the trust that the two artists had in each other. Matter then takes these photographs and spends the next twenty-four years creating this book. It was a project of love; you could, perhaps, call it a singular obsession. He designed the typefaces used on the cover, hand-drawing the letter forms on graph paper. He designed the page layouts, and his drafting skills are shown in the pages we have in the show. All the way to the maquettes and potential binding options considered. So, he was very immersed in all of this.
Unfortunately he died before it could be published. His wife Mercedes then took over, and it was finally published in 1986. And most people don’t know about the book. It’s singularly beautiful and highly illustrated, with a minimum of text. But it’s not really a recognized book within the canon of editions on the work of Giacometti. So it’s great to be able to give it greater recognition.
What projects do you have on the horizon as you move forward with Rare?
LMW: Our next two exhibitions deal with artists who are recognized within segments of their discreet worlds, but maybe not in the broader sense. Next we have James Evanson, who’s generally associated with Memphis. But his work is really extraordinary, and we feel it deserves a platform. Sari Dienes is our third exhibition. And that’s going to be a really interesting show because she knew everyone; she was friends with John Cage, Jasper Johns, etc. And we’re dealing with her archives at the moment. There will be archival material as well as elements of the work that she did - from jewelry, to rubbings, to prints and assemblages. So, again, it will show the breadth of what we do, and always in conjunction with books - some of the rare first editions that have been the backbone of the company for a very long time.
Thumbnail: Glenn Horowitz photographed by Jill Krementz on January 11, 2015; all rights reserved.
LMW: Our next two exhibitions deal with artists who are recognized within segments of their discreet worlds, but maybe not in the broader sense. Next we have James Evanson, who’s generally associated with Memphis. But his work is really extraordinary, and we feel it deserves a platform. Sari Dienes is our third exhibition. And that’s going to be a really interesting show because she knew everyone; she was friends with John Cage, Jasper Johns, etc. And we’re dealing with her archives at the moment. There will be archival material as well as elements of the work that she did - from jewelry, to rubbings, to prints and assemblages. So, again, it will show the breadth of what we do, and always in conjunction with books - some of the rare first editions that have been the backbone of the company for a very long time.
Thumbnail: Glenn Horowitz photographed by Jill Krementz on January 11, 2015; all rights reserved.
