55 YEARS OF SCHELLMANN ART

To celebrate 55 years since the founding of Schellmann Art (formerly known as Edition Schellmann), we take you through seminal collaborations with artists including Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Keith Haring, Donald Judd, and Thomas Ruff, our cooperation with Documenta and Venice Biennale for whom Schellmann published the official editions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the many boundary-pushing edition projects Jörg Schellmann has brought to life. 

Jump to chapters: Andy Warhol | Joseph Beuys | Christo & Jeanne-Claude | Keith Haring | Donald Judd | Thomas Ruff | Dan Flavin | Peter Halley | Nam June Paik | Liam Gillick | Bernd & Hilla Becher | Jeff Koons | Daniel Buren | Joseph Kosuth | Documenta & Biennale Venice | Wall Works | Pushing the Limits of Editions

ANDY WARHOL

 
Jörg Schellmann: “In 1968, when I was still in law school, I travelled to New York with a friend and managed to find someone who could give me the address of Andy Warhol’s Factory at 33 Union Square. There was no sign for "Warhol" to be found but the upper signs of the elevator buttons were empty, so I figured that could be the studio. Upon arriving at the top, the two wings of the elevator door opened and revealed an empty room with a black-painted floor and three heavy desks, covered in mirrors. At each of the three desks lounged a handsome young man on the phone. They took notice of me only with a delay. I shyly asked to speak to Andy Warhol, to which one of the young men loudly called: "Andy, there is somebody for you." Andy appeared without any fuss and quietly greeted me with "Hi, I’m Andy." I introduced myself and asked to do a print with him, which he didn’t seem very interested in. Instead, he asked “Why don’t you do some dirty movies with me?” I had no idea what that meant or how to respond, so eventually we agreed that maybe we could do something at a later time. 
We met a few more times and finally started to actually work together: after a meeting between Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol, we published Andy's portraits of Beuys (Joseph Beuys, 1980-83). Later followed Goethe, 1982, Details of Renaissance Paintings, 1984, Neuschwanstein, 1987, etc. In 1985, together with Frayda Feldman, we also published the catalogue raisonné of Andy's prints, which is currently in its fourth edition."

JOSEPH BEUYS


JS: “In the late 1960s, when the art world and I were fascinated by Pop Art and the new images coming in from London and New York, there was this German artist both galleries and collectors were talking about: Joseph Beuys, a man who drew deer and mountains and used basic materials like felt, fat and copper. This was in complete contrast to the striking world of industrial signs and consumer products the Pop artists were celebrating. But in 1970, Bernd Klüser, my gallery partner at the time, and I decided to visit Beuys and convince him to let us do a show of the roughly thirty multiples that he had realised by that time. This visit resulted in not just a show, but also the first catalogue raisonné of these works and our very first edition with him. It was the beginning of a long collaboration, which had a profound impact on me, both personally and professionally.”

CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE


JS: “Working with Christo has always been particularly easy and pleasant as he and Jeanne-Claude were so generous and kind. And since the two introduced me to my now ex-wife Joséphine at their Pont Neuf Project in 1985 and affectionately called our two children “children of the Pont Neuf”, the relationship became exceptionally personal and meaningful. Whenever I was in New York, visiting Christo and Jeanne-Claude was one of my highlights. 
Joséphine and I later edited their first edition catalogue raisonné and I worked with them on numerous projects – from Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Australia, 1969 in 1975 over Wrapped Payphone, 1988 to Show Window, 2013 and Wrapped Chair, Project, 1963 in 2019. When they died in 2009 and 2020, respectively, I lost two wonderful friends.”

KEITH HARING


JS: “When I first approached Keith in 1985, he happily agreed to do an edition with a simple ‘cool’. After a few months, he invited me to his studio to see his finished designs. As I approached the building on the corner of Broadway and West Houston Street, loud music was blaring from the open windows of the 2nd or 3rd floor. I instantly thought that could be the studio. In any case, the cool music and the fact that I was about to visit Keith Haring instantly made me feel like I had fully arrived in the hip New York of the 80s. Of course, the music did indeed come from Keith’s studio. As I entered the studio, whose door was slightly ajar, the music swelled to disco volume and I could see a room filled with hundreds of drawings on the floor, a boom box in the middle of the room, and Keith at the back by the window. As if we were old friends, Keith signalled that I could pick something from this abundance of drawings. It took me a moment to take it all in. Then I carefully balanced on the gaps between the drawings to see everything while Keith let me roam around and gave only a few comments. I ended up choosing two series of three drawings each that I took with me proudly, without a receipt, without any financial arrangements, just like that. Incredibly cool. When the prints were printed, I boldly asked Keith to do an exhibition with us in Munich to which he agreed. As soon as he arrived at the gallery in Munich, he started painting on the walls – accompanied by the sounds from his boom box.”

DONALD JUDD


JS: "After becoming a little frustrated that Don had not responded to some projects that I had suggested to him in 1989 and 1990, I changed tactics and asked him if there was anything that he was interested in doing. Unexpectedly, his face lit up, and he said: “There is something, an object that is simple to make, all made out of one piece with no welding or screwing but pretty expensive to do as it requires the production of an industrial tool”. In order not to miss out on an opportunity, I immediately said I was ready to bear the costs. Don explained that the factory in Switzerland needed to produce a minimum 200 metres of the unique aluminium profile that Don had in mind. He made a little sketch of the design on a restaurant receipt, and I was immediately thrilled by the concept. The portcullis-like cross-sectional profile of this multiple does not appear in any other edition by Don, and is realised in twelve different anodized colours, each in an edition of twelve. However, Don did reserve the right to use a few of the anodized pieces, several metres long each, for separate one-off works. When it came to the actual production at Alu Menziken, I asked Don to determine the colours. Don said: “that’s a business aspect of the pieces, so you choose the colours.” I was thrilled to do so although the colour chart proved to be pretty limited and mainly contained the spectrum of industrial anodizing tones. When the pieces were released in 1991, sales were pretty poor and I asked Don if we could lower the price a bit or offer better discounts to dealers. He rejected the suggestion, so it took a few years until suddenly there was a great demand and prices went up. Looking back on the pieces – Untitled (Aluminum), 1991 – today, I feel it is one of the most significant editions I have produced within my 55 years of publishing."

THOMAS RUFF


JS: "In 1986, I saw three small photos in a group show of a public space. The photos showed interiors of lower middle class German apartments taken in an emphatic documentary and minimal manner, with no whiff of arrogance, lending dignity to these generic bourgeois interiors. I decided to contact the artist behind these photos. Some months went by without communication until I saw Thomas Ruff’s large-scale portraits at the Kunstverein, Munich. Now it was clear, I had to see this artist. I met Thomas in his little studio compartment in a municipal industrial building that he was sharing with a number of other artists at the time, which he now owns. We started working on editions together and have now been doing so for 35 years; always with the understanding that Schellmann Art publishes a set of prints for each subject or theme the artist explores – a wonderful working relationship realising over 150 works since 1988."

DAN FLAVIN


JS: “When I first approached Dan for an edition in 1991, I was disappointed that he wanted to do something on paper instead of a light work. But I figured, I had to do it if I ever wanted to work with him again. The coloured paper rolls we ended up doing (Untitled, 1994) were rather beautiful and became fast sellers. And I was right, several more edition collaborations followed, including some of his iconic light works. Untitled (to Jörg Schellmann) is still one of the most beautiful and treasured editions I have published.” 

PETER HALLEY


JS: “In the 80s, Metro Pictures was one of the most influential galleries and I had worked with a number of their artists, including Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo. So, when they suggested I reach out to Peter Halley, I didn’t hesitate. Since then, we have worked on multiple prints, objects and wall works together and developed a kind of friendship. 
Our most recent edition with Peter was inspired by his Heterotopia show at the Venice Biennale 2019. He had covered the walls of one of Venice’s historic salt warehouses with yellow paint and hieroglyph-like drawings. It was a stunning installation and truly exceptional experience walking through these halls that resembled Egyptian tombs. Because it was rather complicated to achieve technically, the edition took 4 years to make but eventually we had our miniature version of Peter’s show: Glossary, 2023.”

NAM JUNE PAIK


JS: “Paik, who like Beuys, was among the early Fluxus circle, was a natural candidate for our portfolio for Joseph Beuys. It was our first collaboration, and I was eager to work with him again. Of course, I was interested in his TV works and luckily, they were to follow soon. A self-portrait in bronze inside a TV set from the 60s, a bronze with 3 small built-in TV sets, a 40s TV set with an aquarium and goldfish behind the screen, and another with a burning candle as the TV image. That was Paik, the father of video art, at his best. The objects reflected the modern reality of television in wonderful wisdom and tranquility. 
Paik would give me the details of an antique TV set he wanted, provide me with some sources and task me with finding them. Each antique dealer had perhaps one or two devices, so we would have to source and purchase the pieces over months until we had enough for the edition. And then of course we had to refurbish these old and sometimes scratched TV sets and gut them if necessary. 
Paik was incredibly unpretentious and a joy to be around with his enigmatic, self-ironic sense of humour. While working on Color Bar Theme and Variations, a video he made for us in 1997, he declared ‘I never watch videos.’”

LIAM GILLICK


JS: “Liam and I started working together when he participated in Door Cycle and immediately hit it off. We speak the same formal language and appreciate each other’s advice and take on things. Our latest collaborations, Equal Quarters and Replicated Revision, both 2022, are exceptionally beautiful wall pieces.”

BERND & HILLA BECHER


JS: “A conversation with Lothar Schirmer, the publisher of Bernd & Hilla Becher’s books, sparked the idea to systematically publish several of the artists’ images, mainly of their typological series. The Bechers liked the idea and gave me a small collection of older prints to put together a show in our gallery to start our collaboration. The typologies were then published over the course of several years until Bernd’s death in 2006.”

JEFF KOONS


JS: “One of the most tedious tasks of a publisher is to repeatedly reach out to artists, only to receive little to no response. So, I was all the more surprised when Jeff Koons, who had lived in Munich for a while, called one day saying he needed my advice as a publisher. The prints he had produced in recent years were not selling as expected, and he wanted to know what could be done. I suggested that reproductive prints were a problem, and prices were too high. I proposed making a new series of prints together with an object, as these were his strength and his trademark. He thought this was a worthy piece of advice. I offered to do it with him as we had suitable craftsmen at hand for very different techniques. He agreed and we published the portfolio Jeff Koons, 1995, which was encased in a polished stainless-steel casket with a balloon toy mounted on top of it.”

DANIEL BUREN


JS: "I first approached Daniel Buren to invite him to participate in a series of wall objects in 1988. This made sense, as Buren’s works are generally conceived to relate to the wall and space they’re in (i.e. in situ). He proposed three different-sized lightboxes with his trademark stripes in different colors, which were to be installed at equal distances from the floor to the ceiling, depending on the height of the wall. As a conceptual artist, he only developed the principle and left the execution to us and partially even to the owner of a piece. I received a diagram via fax that precisely defined the work. It was a concept determined by the given width of the stripes and the dimensions of the wall. The colours, different for each piece, were then determined together.

Through this first collaboration, I fully realised that it was not merely about stripes, but that the design was the basis for more complex, varied possibilities. Buren wanted to see what could be achieved with inherently non-artistic stripes. Pieces marked by design (by Buren) and execution (by others). Daniel became influential to the way we thought about and produced editions.”

JOSEPH KOSUTH


JS: “I have known Joseph Kosuth for quite some time and worked with him on some wonderful projects, including Sigla, Finnegans Wake, his contribution to the Wall Works series. Our most recent edition with him, a series of aluminium and paper works based on 16 neon works Joseph created between 2005 and 2015 that quote Piet Mondrian, may be my favourite yet. Joseph found a beautiful way to approach Piet Mondrian’s paintings on a conceptual level by placing quotes taken from Mondrian’s writings into the colour fields of his iconic compositions.”

DOCUMENTA & BIENNALE VENICE


JS: “Schellmann Art published the official editions for the Documenta in 1997 and 2002 and for the Biennale Venice in 2003 and 2005. Working towards a deadline with several new artists could sometimes be a little challenging, but it was a wonderful opportunity to meet new artists and work with them for such a special occasion. I then continued to work with some of these artists, including Alfredo Jaar, Luc Tuymans, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Rosemarie Trockel, Candida Höfer, Monica Bonvicini, Mona Hatoum, Tony Oursler, and Shirin Neshat, on other edition projects.”

WALL WORKS

The Wall Works project commenced in the 1990s and aimed to establish a relationship with architecture, presenting art in the context of a surrounding space. This series was born of Schellmann’s interest in architectural installations, and how this could be realised as an edition. Artists were asked to create a conceptual design for a work to be executed professionally by skilled craftsmen in the specific space/wall of the buyer. The resulting wall works consist of many different media and combinations of media, including painting, installation of objects, wallpaper, photo, projection, light, drawing, typography, etc.

A signed and numbered certificate defines the wall work, giving all artistic and technical parameters and allowing for a small number (12-15 approximately) of executions. The designs allow for installation on walls of varying size and proportion according to the artist's exact specifications given in the certificate and in separate installation instructions.
The complete Wall Works series comprises over 50 unique wall works and is now part of the collection of Hamburger Bahnhof / Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. 

PUSHING THE LIMITS OF EDITIONS


Schellmann Art's variety and originality in terms of media and production techniques is almost unparalleled in the edition publishing world and makes for a particularly interesting portfolio of works. Jörg Schellmann’s desire to take edition publishing beyond the typical print and explore different materials and techniques has resulted in group projects like Wall Works or the Door Cycle, diverse collaborations with Keith Haring or Nam June Paik and numerous other wall objects and installations, handmade collages or light boxes. Due to their three-dimensionality, unfamiliar techniques and often no need for a frame, many of these works are close to unique works in their appearance and character.