A dialogue with collector Michel Cox Witmer at TEFAF 2014, who suggests: never buy based on what is for sale

Michel Cox Witmer is a long-experienced collector as well as a member of TEFAF’s board of trustee. On the way to the press room where we are going to have a very interesting conversation with him, Mr. Witmer points us a rare second edition of the “Lives” by Vasari – printed while the artist was still alive. To explain where he lives in Paris he tells us that his apartment is located just a few doorstep away from where Picasso painted the famous Guernica. He also says that before coming to Maastricht, he was in New York, where he resides, for the Armory Show. At this point we are just becoming more and more curious.

And of course the first query is:

From Vasari to the Armory show, we are very interested to know what you do collect..

Everything! That won’t surprise you. My family has started collecting generations ago, thank God! I think it’s wonderful to have such a variety so I enjoy pretty much everything. My apartment in NY is right in the heart of where galleries are, not far from the Armory and Park Avenue where we have the art fairs. Christie’s is on the one side, Sotheby’s is on the other so I can go and study things, and look at things. I like that.

Even if the galleries are now moving to Chinatown…

I would still go to Chinatown, that’s so fun. It’s important to be adventurous. My family seemed to be collecting everything, without a central focus so when I got my place in Florida I decided  I should try and have a focal point so I took all the impressionist pieces. Having all the impressionists in one home came out to be beautiful which I am very happy with.

Do you also collect contemporary art?

Some contemporary. I don’t collect hard-core contemporary very much.

When talking about contemporary do you mean “under 30s”?

Had I been born into a family that was not already collecting or if I started out without any history of collecting at all I would collect contemporary. I love contemporary. I go to all the contemporary fairs. I’m interested in it. I like the energetic creativity which is going on. But I was born into a family that had already started collecting and in America we collect for a purpose which is greater than ourselves. We collect so that we can give to museums and we can lend to museums. We do not collect to display our wealth on our walls. Even now still I buy something that I think has a meaning and a place in art history. We have this ethics that we want collect works of art which would be helpful to other museums. In Palm Beach this last winter there were many different museum groups that came there from all over America for a week-end, just like museum groups come here to Maastricht to visit TEFAF and I had constant requests from them to come to my apartment and see the paintings. I was happy to have them although they were so many that there were times of course when I wished I had an afternoon free and I didn’t have to have another group come in but we still invite people in to see what we have. That’s the ethic of our collecting. It’s not meant to be a selfish thing. We believe that these are like public treasures and we can never really own them, we are only their caretakers.

Is this why you are not really going into contemporary art?

I love contemporary art but I’m following a long line of collectors. Since there was already a collection established I think it’s more my role not to collect what I like and what is cool right now but to instead carry on the tradition, hopefully to always upgrade the collection and maybe to augment it. It’s my responsibility to work with the collection that is already there, not to begin a new one.

How much time in your day is dedicated to collecting?

It depends on the day. Sometimes it’s all day long… it’s a seasonal thing. You saw when you visited the Armory Show that there were many other art fairs going on, all of the galleries were bringing out the best of what they had in modern and contemporary to go along with what was going on at the Armory Show so that’s an intensely busy period.

I mean, is this a kind of job for you or is it a passion you dedicate a lot of your time to?

I don’t think of it as a job but it ends up taking quite a lot of time.

What was your last purchase?

I think it must have been a Degas’ Ballerina, a few months ago. Actually, my last purchase could have been a couple of hours ago but I don’t know whether it’s going to happen or not…

And do you remember your first purchase?

I definitely do. I think I was about 11 years old, I was at an auction with my family when a little drawing came up. The prices were completely different then, so this was totally not the same price category that would be today. It was a Picasso’s drawing and I loved it. After me pleading and begging, my parents finally said ok, I could buy it. That was my first purchase, which is so funny because if we consider what the drawing would be worth now, they should be happy that I wanted it.

Is there any collector who has inspired you, besides your parents?

Oh yeah, many. Collectors like Paul Mellon.

Who? Paul Allen?

No, not Paul Allen. Even though I think Paul Allen is actually a great guy.

Do you know him personally?

I’ve met him but I don’t really know him. There was a painting that I wanted. It was at Christie’s and I bid on it but the price kept going up up up… It got to a ridiculous point. It was so extremely over its estimate that I finally stopped bidding. I think not only because of the price, but also because I was just tired of bidding at that stage. It was maybe a couple of weeks later that I found out the painting was hanging in Paul Allen’s home so I figured out he would have kept bidding all day and all night long anyway.

Going back to the previous question on collectors who inspired you…

Actually I admire the way they collected in the early days in Dallas and If I had to pinpoint one collector I think it would be James Clark. In Dallas few families got together and they decided that they would collect not only for themselves but for their city. So they divided up the areas of collecting, one person bought old masters, another French impressionism, one bought modern art. James Clark bought modern art. And the funny thing is that when he agreed on this, he didn’t really like modern art. He loved impressionism. But he decided he would challenge himself. So he would study the modern paintings, learn about them and buy them. He ended up really enjoying the challenge and building one of the finest collection of modern art in America. He owned the largest amount of Mondrian paintings outside of the Hague, he bought one of the greatest masterpieces that Constantin Brâncuși ever created and many more interesting works of art. I admire the way he collected because he was not an art historian. I studied art history, I am an art historian, he was not. Nonetheless, he did a fantastic jobs.

Where did you study?

Franklin & Marshall College, Pennsylvania and a couple of masters at Christie’s.

Do you like antiques?

I do. I love some of the early eighteenth century french art. The workmanship is remarkable. It’s not that high in price right now and not so much in style yet if you look at it, some of the great craftsmen nearly dedicated their lives to their craft.

What about Greek and Roman art?

I like it but I don’t feel as confident in my purchases as I do If I am looking at paintings. When I look at paintings, I feel more like I know what I am doing.

Which has been your worst mistake as a collector so far?

My worst mistake as a collector… (eheheh) how many hours do you have?! I bought an absolutely gorgeous Léger from 1925 and there was someone who wanted to buy it so I finally agreed to sell it. I don’t know if this was a mistake but I haven’t replaced it since and there are times when I think that maybe I should have kept it. It was a wonderful piece. 

What piece would you recommend at TEFAF 2014?

There are four Van Goghs here right now…

Which is your favorite one?

A pencil drawing of trees in Saint Remi that he would have sketched in the asylum. It’s a very simple drawing but those trees just really feel like they are full of life. I think that’s gorgeous. Around the corner of that, there is a Van Gogh’s watercolor of the Parsonage garden at Nuenen. That’s interesting because it was done just before Vincent would go to Paris. It was at Nuenen where he grew up, then he moved to Antwerp for a short time and after that he went to Paris. He had never been to France and never seen the works of the French impressionists at this stage but Theo had been writing to him telling him that he had to lighten his palette and put more blue in it, making lighter and brighter. So he is trying to do that in his watercolor and you can see it. 

What is the tip you would give to someone who is just beginning to collect?

To look at the history of art, go through a museum, buy an art book and don’t buy based on what is for sale.

March 20, 2017