Vernissage

A vernissage (varnishing, from French) is a term used for a preview of an art exhibition, which may be private, before the formal opening. If the vernissage is not open to the public, but only for invited guests, it is often called a private view.

At official exhibitions in the nineteenth century, such as the Royal Academy summer exhibition, artists would give a finishing touch to their works by varnishing them. The custom of patrons and the élite of visiting the academies during the varnishing day prior to the formal opening of the exhibition gave rise to the tradition of celebrating the completion of an art work or a series of art works with friends and sponsors. In the twentieth century it became an opportunity to market the works on view to buyers and critics.

There is a comparable ceremonial ending of art exhibitions, called a finissage. Larger art exhibitions also may have an event at half time of the exhibition called a midissage. These latter terms are rare in English; they are more commonly used in German but not in French.

Art Cologne

Art Cologne is an art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as Kölner Kunstmarkt. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries from more than 20 countries at the Cologne Exhibition Center. It is open to the public and attracts about 60,000 visitors.

Background

The Art Cologne was the first art fair organized by and for commercial galleries to exhibit and sell Modern and Contemporary art. This kind of art fair distinguished itself from earlier art fairs such as the 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago or the Ann Arbor Art Fairs in Michigan, in which artists themselves marketed their works directly to the public from stands set-up in the streets. The Art Cologne and other international art fairs that followed offer private galleries conditions similar to their own back home: booths in buildings enabling them to present art works of high value.

History

The Kölner Kunstmarkt was founded by galerists Hein Stünke and Rudolph Zwirner in 1967 in an attempt to reinvigorate the weak market for contemporary art. With Bonn as the new capital city of Germany, the Rhineland – an industrial powerhouse at the centre of Europe driving the West German economy and acting as a hub for the entire western European economy – took over as the centre of the West German art world. The first Kölner Kunstmarkt took place in the Gürzenich festival hall in the medieval part of the city; the following year Kunsthalle Köln was added as an additional location. The fair helped to establish Cologne as a new center of contemporary art. A West German dealer and a West German artist set new records at the 1969 edition of Kölner Kunstmarkt: René Block sold a work by Joseph Beuys – known later as Das Rudel – at DM 110,000, making Beuys the first West German artist to beat the one-hundred-thousand-mark mark.