Discovering the Julius Baer Art Collection: a conversation with the collection’s curator Barbara Staubli
Barbara Staubli
Hans J. Baer (1927-2011) established the Julius Baer Art Committee in 1981. I’ve read that the objective, both then and now, is to buy and display contemporary Swiss art with the purpose of supporting artists who, at the time of a first purchase, are not yet firmly established, but clearly have a great deal of potential. Who is part of this committee today and how are the artists selected?
Since the very beginning, the main idea was that art should be an integral part to the culture and environment of the company. The art committee therefore consists of five employees with an interest in art, Giovanni Carmine, our external expert and director of the Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen and myself. We regularly attend exhibitions and art fairs to maintain the requisite overview of the contemporary Swiss art scene and to catch talent early on. After a first acquisition of an artist, we then follow his or her career, in order to acquire a meaningful group of artworks from the artist.
How do you think the presence of art can influence the working environment in your offices and who are the most prominent artists in the collection?
The artworks are spread throughout the Julius Baer offices worldwide, in meeting rooms, offices, staff canteens, foyers and corridors. The presence of art in the workplace is inspiring and a good starting point for discussions and exchange of views. The collection includes prominent artists such as: Pipilotti Rist, Sylvie Fleury, Peter Fischli / David Weiss, Silvia Bächli, John Armleder, Lutz & Guggisberg, Markus Raetz, Miriam Cahn, Shirana Shahbazi, Ugo Rondinone and Yves Netzhammer among others.
With Jean Tinguely we are connected by a special history, as he was a friend of the Baer family, and produced in the 1980s for the former Café zur Münz eleven light sculptures for the bank.
Impressive additions over the course of the last 30 years have solidified its reputation as a Swiss contemporary art collection. Where do you store all this art and do you organise exhibitions from the collection?
For logistical reasons we do have art storages, but we try to have as many artworks as possible on display. New acquisitions usually arrive here to the headquarters where we conduct a comprehensive inventory. After that, the artworks travel to the various offices worldwide, for example we just opened a new branch in Barcelona. Upon request, we also loan to museums or exhibitions, to provide more visibility for the collection. In the past twenty years, parts of the collection were shown in three institutional exhibitions in Switzerland: in 2001 at the Helmhaus in Zurich, in 2005 at the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève and in 2013 videos and photography from the Julius Baer Art Collection were exhibited at the Museo Cantonale d’Arte di Lugano.
How else do you communicate about the collection?
This fall, on occasion of the 130 years jubilee of Bank Julius Baer, we have produced a publication titled “Surrounded by Art” which gives an overview of forty years of strategic collecting. A dynamic mix of artworks by established Swiss artist and up-and-coming talents provides an insight into the history of the art collection and reflects the passion for collecting of the past years up to the present day.
Could you tell us about an art piece from the collection that is special to the collection and why?
In 1985, the collection acquired its first photographs, with three works from the “Équilibres / Stiller Nachmittag” series by Fischli / Weiss. This purchase was trend setting and further photographs followed. After visiting the studio of Pipilotti Rist in 1995, the art committee decided to buy the audio and video installation “Edna”. This wonderfully sensuous, handbag-sized video work from the series “Yoghurt on Skin–Velvet on TV”, was the first-ever video to be included in the Julius Baer Art Collection and is regarded today also as one of its highlights.
