Pierre Dumonteil, expert in contemporary sculpture

Pierre M. Dumonteil

Pierre M. Dumonteil is an expert in modern and contemporary sculptures. He answers to the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the art market.


ARTFINDING: can you present yourself?

PIERRE M. DUMONTEIL: the gallery was created nearly 30 years ago in 1982. We are specialized in 20th Century figurative sculpture: from the end of WWI up to tomorrow's artists since half of our artworks have been made by contemporary artists.


AF: what do you like so much about sculpture?

PMD: I am into sculpture for three major reasons: first of all I think this art is above the others by its volume, as Bourdelle used to say. This three dimensions sensitive aspect is very important to me, because this is obviously what a flat two dimensions picture lacks.
Second point is related to my personal family background, which has to do with tapestry. This art mixes both pure artistic creation and craftsman skills. So same as tapestries, a sculpture is an art of transformation. And this idea of multiple actors in the creation process is very important to me.
And finally the last reason is that as an art dealer, I must be useful to art History. As I created my business, no one was interested by figurative sculpture and have and still make sure this art will be appreciated as a major one.


AF: you launched your gallery in China in the middle of the Chinese art market's crisis, why?

PMD: there isn't any relation between the opening of my new gallery in China and the collapse of the Chinese's contemporary art market. We are into China because Asia is in our culture, since my wife is from Asia, and China isn't a business opportunity, but a cultural and intellectual one. So we wanted to move in Asia and have chosen China, it's center and Shanghai, it's major door.
We are totally disconnected from the Asian market's evolutions : we only go there to promote our own modern and contemporary occidental artists, and if we happen one day to deal in Asian artists, the criteria will exclusively be based on our personal taste. We do exhibit all around the World in major art fairs, because clients are not present in a single Country. So we present our artworks to all the Countries where we feel like we will find strong and interested collectors. Same for our Chinese gallery we didn't created for opportunistic reasons, we don't sell to Abu Dhabi or Moscow because we will find money there, but because we will meet art lovers. This is part of what we owe to our artists as art dealers.


AF: how do you see the next years in this art market crisis?

PMD: what crisis? First of all there isn't a general crisis of the market, only a few aspects of the art market are affected. Fortunately our specialty is very protected because we are just a few dealers specialized in such a field and we deal with a very large demand. So we haven't been affected by the crisis. The even better news is that we have witnessed lower prices, and the come back of many clients who left for speculative artists, and decided to focus on more artistic and financial sure values. So this clientele is clearly coming back in our galleries.

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