Fernando Botero - Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann) - image-1
Fernando Botero - Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann) - image-2
Fernando Botero - Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann) - image-1Fernando Botero - Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann) - image-2

Lot 120 D

Fernando Botero - Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann)

Auction 1162 - overview Cologne
08.12.2020, 18:00 - Evening Sale - Modern and Contemporary Art
Estimate: 20.000 € - 30.000 €
Result: 27.500 € (incl. premium)

Fernando Botero

Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest (Harald Szeemann)
1971

Pencil on paper. 50 x 65.2 cm. Framed under glass. Signed, dated and titled '"Dr. Wibke von Bonin and guest" Botero 71'. - Minor traces of age.

The drawing originates after a photograph by Manfred Tischer, Dusseldorf, and shows Wibke von Bonin and Harald Szeemann Oktober 1970 in Cologne. The photograph is enclosed.

In this drawing, Fernando Botero portrays two significant patrons of German contemporary art: Wibke von Bonin and Harald Szeemann.
Following her doctorate, von Bonin started working at the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden where she and Szeemann conceptualised an exhibition on kinetic art. In 1965, she switched to the WDR in Cologne and remained in charge of the fine art department for more than 3 decades. She focused mainly on contemporary art and brought its national and international protagonists closer to a broad public through numerous film portraits and studio visits.

A native of Switzerland, Szeemann was the director of Berner Kunsthalle from 1961-1969, making a name for himself with progressive curatorial concepts. His 1969 exhibition “When attitude becomes form” was ground-breaking, bringing happenings and installations into the museum context. In 1972, he curated documenta 5, thowing over its previous concept in order to give the artists free creative scope and to include “non-artistic visual worlds”. Szeemann developed numerous successful, innovative exhibitions which in part deal with large-scale thematic complexes. Twice, he has been director of the Venice Biennale.

Provenance

Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia