“Bares for Rares”
“That’s actually scrap”: Horst Lichter bursts his collar with this picture
Salesman Ben Gambach is happy about the deal he has made with “Bares für Rares”.
© ZDF
Ben Gambach wants to sell a graphic by Emil Schumacher at “Bares für Rares”. But the interesting thing is on the back of the work. It’s not just the dealers who ask themselves: Is art – or can it be done away with?
The incorruptible eye of the moderator, who was elected from more than 1300 “Bares for Rares” editions, recognized it immediately: “This is definitely modern art,” says Horst Lichter when looking at the aquatint graphic by the artist Emil Schumacher from Hagen. The picture was brought by Ben Gambach from Pohlheim, who bought it at an internet auction.
What makes this object so special: It is not a finished picture, but a preprint that is offered together with a signed photograph by the painter. The really exciting thing is on the back of the picture: “Don’t park, the house is being painted”, the artist wrote on it.
The seller explains what it could be all about: Schumacher lived on a narrow street in Hagen. When his house was being painted, he wanted to warn of the end of parking with the note – and used this pressure of all things.
“Bares for Rares”: Horst Lichter is not convinced
It is part of the creative process, explains Colmar Schulte-Goltz. It takes a long time for a graphic to look the way the artist imagines it, explains the expert. “That’s why it’s an intermediate state that I only recognize in this copy.” In 1988, Schumacher created seven graphics for a cycle, which further develop the theme of a horse’s body, and the unfinished picture here also comes from this process.
Lichter now wants to break the lecture down for “gentlemen who are not so art-loving”: “That is actually rejected.” The seller immediately contradicts him: “This is not a scrap, this is authentic,” says the 39-year-old copywriter for his property.
Who is right now? Schulte-Goltz resolves the dispute by asking Ben Gambach to explain the genesis. He points out that the provenance is certain because Emil Schumacher gave the unfinished picture to a family friend as a gift. From this one can conclude that it is not waste.
Ben Gambach would like to have 800 euros for this. The expertise is significantly higher: Schulte-Goltz estimates the picture at 1,800 to 2,000 euros. But whether he can actually realize this sum is doubtful. Because in the dealership you don’t really know what to do with the work: “Is that art or does it have to go?” Asks David Suppes when examining the object.
Despite all the uncertainty, Wolfgang Pauritsch enters with 300 euros. But I have to admit: “That is very speculative.” “I love speculative objects,” says Suppes purely, who, together with Pauritsch, drives up the price. The end is reached at 1500 euros. David Suppes wins the contract – and Ben Gambach is more than satisfied. He has almost doubled his desired price.
source: “Bares for Rares” in the ZDF media library