To sell or not to sell? Attempts at reopening the Venice Biennale’s sales office after 1973

ABSTRACT

Through a consideration of specific cases where attempts were made to reopen the Venice Biennale sales office, this article investigates how the institution negotiated its legitimation role through sales and awards. Selling services were available at the Biennale since its inception in 1895 until 1973. Its closure led scholars to believe that sales were a closed book. However, minutes and documents of the board showed how restarting sales was a recurrent topic. Furthermore, the article brings the account into the 1980s and 1990s, when the contrast between the symbolic and economic value of art was radicalized. Discussions over the need to reopen the sales office demonstrate how the agency, or counter-agency, of the market played an important and invisible role in shaping the contemporary Biennale’s exhibition format. Untangling specific complexities of the Venice Biennale’s history, the article ultimately shows how the changed role of the institution would not allow the sales office to reopen.

RIASSUNTO

A partire dal ritrovamento di documenti che attestano diversi tentativi di riapertura dell’ufficio vendite della Biennale di Venezia, il testo indaga il modo in cui l’istituzione veneziana abbia negoziato il suo ruolo di legittimazione culturale attraverso vendite e premi. La chiusura del servizio vendita, attivo sin dal 1895 e fino al 1973, ha indotto a credere che le vendite fossero un capitolo chiuso. Tuttavia, tanto i verbali quanto i documenti del consiglio direttivo mostrano come la possibilità di riavviare le vendite fosse un argomento ricorrente. In particolare il saggio si concentra su due episodi negli anni Ottanta e Novanta mettendo il luce il contrasto tra il valore simbolico ed economico dell’arte. Districandosi tra le complessità della storia della Biennale, il testo mostra inoltre come il mercato abbia svolto un ruolo di agente, e contro-agente, nel plasmare il format espositivo della Biennale contemporanea e che, altresì, il mutato ruolo dell’istituzione non consentirebbe la riapertura dell’ufficio vendite.

KEYWORDS:

• Venice Biennale
• sales
• art market
• contemporary art
• sales office
• collecting
• art fair

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• Biennale di Venezia
• vendite
• mercato dell'arte
• arte contemporanea
• ufficio vendite
• collezionismo
• fiera d'arte

Notes

1. Paolo Baratta was twice president of the Biennale between 1999 and 2001 and then again from 2008 until 2019.

2. Baratta’s speech is available on La Biennale website at https://www.labiennale.org/it/arte/2019/intervento-paolo-baratta. Last Accessed 25 February 2021. The point on market was criticised by the press, i.e. by Scott Reyburn (2019).

3. The Historical Archive of the Venice Biennale was funded in 1928 (Dorigo 1975).

4. “these exhibitions of ours also contribute to its [Venice’s] financial growth by attracting many more foreigners and through their ability to gradually turn it [the city] into one of the most important centres in the art market.” (translation of the author), Minutes of the Municipal Council of Venice, session of 30 March 1894, La Biennale di Venezia Archivio Storico (ASAC), Scatole Nere, Fondo Storico, Scatole Nere, b. 01, f.3. (La Biennale Archivio Storico = ASAC; Fondo Storico = FS; Scatole Nere = SN; Arti Visive = AV; Esposizioni ed Eventi = ESP; Amministrazione = AMM; Ufficio Vendite = UF; Registro Vendite = RV; Verbali e Altri Materiali = VM; Registro = reg.; Box = b.; Folder = f.)

5. Provisional Budget, La Biennale, ASAC, FS, SN, b. 01, f.12.

6. The percentage retained on sales was initially 10 per cent and rose to 15 per cent in 1924. Only in 1970 a clause stated that the percentage retained was 50 per cent for those artworks produced by the artists within the Biennale at the temporary ateliers.

7. Many anecdotes on sales before the Second World War are recounted in Romolo Bazzoni (1962).

8. Only in 1948 was the office subcontracted to another Italian gallerist, Emanuele Barbaroux.

9. Ettore Gian Ferrari, letter to Romolo Bazzoni, n.d., in La Biennale, Asac, AV, ESP, b. 77.

10.. La Biennale, Asac, AMM, reg. 6.

11. The Biennale during the 50s opened a call for the position of Gian Ferrari (Ricci 2017, 9; 11–12).

12. President Massimo Alesi, Letter to Ettore Gian Ferrari, 11 February 1957, La Biennale ASAC, AV, ESP, b. 77.

13. Ettore Gian Ferrari, letter to Palma Bucarelli, 30 July 1956, La Biennale, ASAC, AV, b.40.

14. Pino Pascali’s notification form, in La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS. AV, b. 161.

15. Half of the artworks were owned by Galleria L’Attico and the other half by the Alexander Iola Gallery in Paris. However, it was Fabio Sargentini, head of the Galleria L’Attico, who acted on behalf of the artist. In a letter to the Biennale, Sargentini asked to move Pascali’s work from the room of Colombo fearing that his work would overshadow Pascali’s sculptures. Fabio Sargentini, letter to the Biennale, in La Biennale ASAC, AMM, reg. 34.

16. Perilli’s painting prices would range from 1.000.000 lire to 4.000.000, Achille Perilli notification form, in La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS. AV, b. 161.

17. This hypothesis was wrongly perpetuated by a popular account on the history of the Venice Biennale Enzo Di Martino (1995, 61).

18. R. D. L, 21 July 1938, n. 1517, Between 1938 and 1973 there were only minor adjustments to this Statute, see Dorigo (1975, 707–716).

19. Report references La Biennale, ASAC, UV, RV, reg. 72.

20. When the 1968 Biennale closed in October the president and the Boards resigned to allow the Italian government to make the needed reforms. Since nothing happened, an autonomous group of people merged in an assembly, then called the “staff assembly”, because most of the people who joined were Biennale employees. After these measures the government nominated a special commissioner to supervise the transition towards the needed charter reforms.

21. Documento riservato [Reserved document], 1969, La Biennale, ASAC, AMM, reg. 34.

22. Idem.

23. Idem.

24. The full International Committee of the Biennale that year also comprised Flavio Caroli and Jean Leymarie.

25. Minutes of the International Committee meeting “Lavori dei commissari per la mostra Internazionale”, 1–2 December 1979, 4, in La Biennale, ASAC, FS, AV, b. 312, f.2.

26. Program, “Programmazione Biennio 1985–1986”, Incontro pubblico, 1 December 1984, Ca’ Giustinian Venezia, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS, AV, b. 376.

27. The directors of the sectors were: Maurizio Calvesi (art), Gian Luigi Rondi (cinema), Carlo Fontana (Music) Franco Quadri (Teatro), Aldo Rossi (Architettura). Paolo Portoghesi was president of the Venice Biennale twice: 1982–1986 and 1987–1992.

28. Ripa di Meana was the President and Vittorio Gregotti the director of the first board (1974–1978) after the 1973 charter reform (Martini 2011)

29. “Maurizio Calvesi: linee programmatiche per il biennio 1985–1986”, 2–3, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS, AV, b. 376.

30. “il ripristino dell’ufficio vendite, che verrebbe incontro ad una esigenza particolarmente sentita sia dai collezionisti sia dai mercanti.” Ibidem.

31. This sum was made bigger by the other smaller contributions of the Province and the Municipality.

32. “Esame progetto riforma statuto Ente per trasmissione Ministeri competenti,” La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS dep., b. 119.

33. Minutes, “LIX Riunione del Consiglio Direttivo,” 22 May 1992, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS dep., b. 112.

34. Documents presented at the IV Board Meeting, 19 March 1992, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS, VM, b. 120.

35. Achille Bonito Oliva letter to Raffaele Martelli, 24 March 1993, in Corrispondenza interna “13 Agosto 1992 – 31 Dicembre 1993”, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS dep., b. 521.

36. Minutes, “V Riunione Consiglio Direttivo,” 30 April 1993, 21–31, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS dep., b. 122., “Resolution no. 72,” 30 April 1993 (Prot. Gen. no. 189), La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS dep., busta n. 121; also in La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS., “Deliberazioni del Consiglio direttivo”, b. reg. 63

37. This point has also been raised by other scholars including Alloway (1968), Lamberti ([1982] 2020), Wyss (2010) and Jones (2016).

38. Munich Secession Folder, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, SN, Attività 1895–1948, b. 1/f. M; on the Secession model, see Bruno (2009, 13).

39. Grand Prizes were awarded at the Biennale from 1930 to 1968. In 1986, they were introduced as prizes for best painter and sculptor. In 2008, the name was changed to ‘Lions’.

40. Francesco Dal Co’, email with the author, 23 October 2015.

41. Italian Council of Ministers, New Regulations for the Autonomous Body ‘La Biennale di Venezia’, no. 438, 26 July 1973, Article no. 1

42. “Piano Quadriennale di Massima delle attività e delle manifestazioni. 1983–1986”, 3, La Biennale di Venezia, ASAC, FS. AV. b. 376

43. On the importance of the documenta model cf Gardner and Green (2016).

44. Therefore, this idea of a contemporary art museum was highly debated in the 90s. An attempt to realize this project materialized during the organization of its centenary anniversary, see Minutes “Verbale XXVIII Riunione Consiglio direttivo”, 3–4, La Biennale, ASAC, FS dep., b. 142.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Clarissa Ricci

Clarissa Ricciis lecturer at the University of Bologna. She was a recipient of the Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art (2019–2020) and previously she was entrusted by Iuav University in Venice (2017–2019) with researching the foundation of Arte Fiera. Moreover she was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City and was awarded a Library Research Grant by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. She is author of an upcoming monograph on the 1993 Venice Biennale (Marsilio 2021) and has written numerous essays. She was editor of many volumes as the one on the Venice Biennale entitled Starting from Venice. Studies on the Biennale (2011), latest being Double Trouble. Exhibitions facing fairs in Contemporary Art (2020). She has also published the entries of ‘Venice Biennale’ for Grove Art Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2018). Moreover she is founder and editor of OBOE journal.