“ART allows you to go off on the wrong track,” said Damien Hirst, whose only real challenger in that particular arena is Tracey Emin, who recently sold for £108,250 her Exorcism of the the Last Painting I Ever Made, an installation of 14 paintings, 78 drawings and five body prints plus assorted art supplies, household items and furniture. “Wrong-tracked” too in six figures in this same sale were top sellers Gary Hume and Sarah Lucas. These artists’ work and that of many contemporary artists others can be seen in your local bank, the Deutsche Bank, who have 3000 works on the walls of their premises in central London and from which the body of illustrations for this book come. Or rather, they can’t be seen. The public cannot “access this corporate collection” – the Young British Artists paintings are in the trading room – hence this book. What about holding exhibitions of those paintings not in the trading room?
The 48,000 works on contemporary works of art on paper is the largest in the world, owned by the Deutsche Bank, and bought by them solely for the staff to stare at – as in benefit of art in a working environment, introduce staff to works of art etc. Using Keystone Exhibitions, the author has curated this collection of works from most of the well-known artists from the 1960s to the present day. It is emphasised that the bank does not buy art for investment – but they are investments nonetheless, judging by the names which litter the pages: Joseph Beuys, RB Kitaj, Gerhard Richter, Anish Kapoor, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paula Rego – and does it matter? I’ll just nip down to the Halifax and ask to see my Jeff Koons. Big book, big bank, biggish study.
Banking on a corporate collection
British and German Art from 1960 to 2000, by Alistair Hicks, edited by Mary Findlay, Alistair Hicks and Friedhelm Hutte, published by Merrell Publishers in association with Deutsche Bank. ISBN 1858941180. £45.
