Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler - at The End

At The End

The closest one has to an autobiography of Kahnweiler is the series of interviews Mes galeries et mes peintres first aired on French television then published and translated as a book. For his 80th birthday, a Festschrift was published with contributions by the world's leading philosophers, art historians, and artists, all expressing the vital importance of his unique contribution to art history – an importance still not yet fully appreciated, probably due to the fact that he has been seen mostly as an art dealer and not as an art historian. The situation was aggravated because some of his major works on aesthetics were either never translated into English or badly translated, missing the key elements of a proper understanding of Cubism and by focusing on small and sensational elements of his complex relationship with Picasso.

Although revered by artists (for his business and aesthetic sense), respected by art dealers and art historians the true impact of his life and work (despite a recent biography by Pierre Assouline) has yet to be recognized. He died in 1979 in Paris aged 95.