Eine Schwarz/Weiß-Fotografie von der Kunsthändlerin Grete Ring: sie trägt einen schwarzen Hut, ein gemustertes Kleid, verschränkt ihre Arme und hält einen Auktionskatalog aufgeschlagen auf ihrem Schoß und beobachtet konzentriert das Geschehen.
Bela Balassa, Grete Ring and Max J. Friedländer at an auction, 1931, photo: private collection

Grete Ring. Dealing in Modernism

From Cézanne and Renoir to Liebermann and Kokoschka

Grete Ring (1887–1952), born in Berlin, was a force of nature, “Truly irresistible […] admired by all, if occasionally a little feared, for she shrank from no one and nothing” (Marianne Feilchenfeldt, née Breslauer). As one of the first women to study art history, she was highly respected as a scholar and critic – and has now almost been forgotten.

From September 30, 2023, the Liebermann Villa on Lake Wannsee will stage an exhibition dedicated to the impressive modernist art dealer and her collection for the first time, with unique loans of French and German drawings from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. As the niece of Max Liebermann, a close friend of his daughter Käthe and godmother of his granddaughter Maria, Ring was a regular guest at Liebermann’s summer home on Lake Wannsee. High time to welcome her back to Wannsee.

Audio guide “Grete Ring”

Find out more about the art dealer and art historian Grete Ring with our audio guide. Click here

Highlights

Historisches Schwarzweißfoto einer Frau mit einem aufgeschlagenen Buch auf dem Schoss in einem Raum mit vielen Personen.
Bela Balassa, Grete Ring und Max J. Friedländer bei einer Auktion, 1931, Foto: Privatbesitz
Aquarell einer Frau
Oskar Kokoschka, Bildnis Grete Ring, Aquarell und Zeichnung, ca. 1923, Foto: Privatbesitz
Grete Ring mit ihrem Pudel im britischen Exil, ca. 1942, Foto: Privatbesitz
Historisches Schwarzweißfoto von einer Frau und einem Mann vor einem Oldtimer-Auto
Grete Ring und Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin, um 1932, Foto: Privatbesitz
Kreidezeichnung einer Düne mit Häusern
Max Liebermann, Dünen bei Noordwijk, ca. 1895-1900, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Historisches Schwarzweißfoto einer Frau mit einem aufgeschlagenen Buch auf dem Schoss in einem Raum mit vielen Personen.
Bela Balassa, Grete Ring und Max J. Friedländer bei einer Auktion, 1931, Foto: Privatbesitz
Aquarell einer Frau
Oskar Kokoschka, Bildnis Grete Ring, Aquarell und Zeichnung, ca. 1923, Foto: Privatbesitz
Grete Ring mit ihrem Pudel im britischen Exil, ca. 1942, Foto: Privatbesitz
Historisches Schwarzweißfoto von einer Frau und einem Mann vor einem Oldtimer-Auto
Grete Ring und Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin, um 1932, Foto: Privatbesitz
Kreidezeichnung einer Düne mit Häusern
Max Liebermann, Dünen bei Noordwijk, ca. 1895-1900, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

About the exhibition

After completing her doctorate with Heinrich Wölfflin, Grete Ring initially worked as a research assistant at the Berlin museums before joining the Kunstsalon Cassirer, the leading art gallery in Berlin, shortly after the First World War. Their discovery of the so-called “Wacker Van Gogh forgeries” in 1928 caused a sensation. Being confronted with the threat of persecution by the National Socialist regime, she was forced to leave Berlin in 1938. In exile in London, she was able to successfully continue her career by founding a branch of the Cassirer art salon.

Ring’s life is reconstructed for the first time in the exhibition with works of art that she exhibited herself or with which she once traded, using photographs and surviving documentary materials. Her close friendship with Oskar Kokoschka is presented thanks to works of Ring herself, which he gave her. Ring also amassed an impressive collection of French and German drawings over the years, which was bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford after her death. These include works by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Caspar David Friedrich, Edgar Degas, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. The Liebermann-Villa considers itself lucky to be able to show a selection of these masterpieces as part of the exhibition.

The exhibition is funded by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds; the accompanying catalog by the International Music & Art Foundation. The exhibition is under the patronage of Dr. Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life In Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism as well as Paul Smith, Director of the British Council in Germany.

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