The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York

Yaëlle Biro, PhD (2010), Africanist art historian and independent scholar, was formerly Curator of African arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007-21). She notably published Fabriquer le regard : Marchands, réseaux et objets d’art africains à l’aube du XXe siècle (2018), and co-edited Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency, and Materiality, 1700–2000 (2022). Christine E. Brennan, PhD (2019), is Senior Researcher and Collections Manager, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Met (1992-present). Her recent publications include “Prince Pierre Soltykoff’s Famed Collection of Medieval Art” in Collecting and Provenance: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2019) and “Fragmented Histories” in Making The Met, 1870-2020 (2020). Christel H. Force, PhD (2001), independent scholar, formerly held curatorial positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2005-2018) and the Museum of Modern Art (1990-2005), New York. She edited Pioneers of the Global Art Market: Paris-Based Dealers Networks, 1850-1950 (2020); and her recent publications include "Otto Feldmann, promoteur de Picasso en Allemagne avant 1914” in Les artistes et leurs galeries: Paris-Berlin (2020), and "The Elliptical and Anonymous Format of Provenance Revisited” in Collecting and Provenance (2021).'

List of Figures and Tables


Contributors





Introduction


 Christel H. Force, Yaëlle Biro and Christine E. Brennan





1 The Brummer Galleries: A Chronology


 Christel H. Force





Part 1: A Family Affair—The Brummers and Art Dealing in Paris, 1906–1914


2 Innate Taste or Construction of the Gaze: Joseph Brummer and the Promotion of the African Object as Art


 Yaëlle Biro





3 Picassos at ‘Brummer Frères—Curiosités’ and Beyond: From Frank Burty Haviland’s Collection to John Quinn’s


 Christel H. Force





Part 2: From Paris to New York—A Gallery in Transition, 1914–


4 Joseph Brummer and the Flourishing of Byzantine Art History


 Elizabeth Dospěl Williams





5 Pioneers or Followers? The Brummer Brothers and Egyptian Art, 1910–1922


 Tom Hardwick





6 Curiosités at Brummers


 Julie Jones





Part 3: New York—The Triumphant Years


7 The Brummer Gallery and Medieval Art in America, 1914–1947


 Christine E. Brennan





8 The Brummer Gallery and the Conservation of Medieval Sculptures in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century


 Lucretia Kargère





9 Joseph Brummer, the Met, and Classical Antiquities in the United States


 Maya Muratov





10 The Brummer Gallery and the Making of Iranian and Islamic Arts


 Anne Dunn-Vaturi and Martina Rugiadi





Part 4: Direct Witnesses


Appendix A





Interview with John Laszlo





Appendix B





Interview with Richard S. Brummer (1924–2022)





Appendix C





Curatorial Reflections on the Brummer Gallery, Joseph, Ernest, and Ella Baché Brummer


 William D. Wixom





Index