First gallery, rue Vignon, the discovery of cubism
Highly educated, curious, a sharp observer, self-assured in his tastes, and with virtually no knowledge of the art world, he embraced his career with the insouciance of youth and his family's support for this unique undertaking, far from patriarchal traditions. He opened a gallery in 1907 in a miniscule venue at 28 Rue Vignon, in the 8th arrondissement in Paris. His name is forever linked to Cubism for his contribution to promoting the movement. He was also the only dealer in his generation who succeeded in associating his name irreversibly to that pivotal moment in modern art.[1]
As soon as he arrived in Paris, Kahnweiler began to inquire about the artists of the younger generation and visited the Salon des Indépendants, where he bought or spotted works by Derain, Vlaminck, and Braque. Kahnweiler and Picasso met for the first time that same year. The painter had gone twice to see what the new gallerist had on view —once alone and once with Ambroise Vollard— but without introducing himself to Kahnweiler. It wasn't until Kahnweiler went to visit the studio at Bateau-Lavoir that the two finally met. There the gallerist discovered Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which the painter was working on at the time. It came as an artistic shock to the young German, struck by a painting like none other he had ever seen and that had a lasting impact on his choices and his commitments. The encounter would lead to a professional relationship three years later; at the time, Ambroise Vollard was still acting as a dealer for the young Picasso. The artist painted Kahnweiler's portrait in 1910, which proves that there was already a certain closeness between them.
The gallery became a meeting point for the young generation of poets and artists, and, in a broader sense, for supporters of emerging art.[2]
Kahnweiler sensed that something new was brewing in the creative efforts of these young artists. He was aware of witnessing a "pictorial revolution" unfolding before his eyes, as Cubism was being forged by Braque, Fernand Léger, and Juan Gris. They were deconstructing space, objects, and bodies into geometric shapes, breaking free from reality and perspective. According to André Salmon, it was from 1906 on that Picasso began to explore other forms of expression that led him to what was soon referred to as "Cubism": renouncing resemblance, deconstructing and reconstructing forms, fragmenting volumes, and breaking lines, before what Pierre Daix describes as "inventing the structural architectures. His Cubism, thus defined, subsequently included his collages, his assemblages, his transmutation into synthetic Cubism, and the reconquest of the portrait after 1914."[3] As regards Picasso, "his" Cubism was above all the result of the explorations he undertook with Georges Braque, which drove him to take his artistic expression in a different direction. For Kahnweiler, "Picasso's Cubism is actually the lyrical painting [that] is the expression of the spiritual life of our age."[4] Braque and Picasso began a close collaboration in the summer of 1908, the result of the two artists' parallel paths following common quests and similar concerns. Their fusional connection and their exchanges did not cease until they were separated by the war. They saw each other every day, or met during their stays in southern France; they compared notes and discussed the disquisitions in which they had engaged, the work they had done, and their respective questionings.
[1] Pierre Assouline, L’Homme de l’art. D.-H. Kahnweiler 1884-1979, Éditions Balland, 1988; Folio collection, Éditions Gallimard, 1990
[2] See the article on Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, pp. 20-23, published in the special edition of Cahiers du musée national d’Art moderne in 2022
[3] Pierre Daix, Dictionnaire Picasso, "cubisme" entry, p. 226, Éditions Robert Laffont, 1995.
[4] Kahnweiler, Weg zum Kubismus, written in 1914, quoted by Pierre Daix, op. cit. p. 228.
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Summary