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Lot Essay
THE COLLECTOR'S EYE
Jerry Ganz was a highly successful entrepreneur who achieved fame with the marketing of retractable seatbelts to the automobile industry. He leveraged his success in business to become an avid art collector in numerous categories, amassing a collection with a focus on sculpture and sculptural design, rooted in an appreciation for rigorous materiality.
Mr. Ganz appreciated the strong, geometric lines and aesthetics of the Bauhaus, and in 1959 he moved into Mies van der Rohe’s iconic residential masterpiece, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Collecting became his hobby for the next 70 years and he drew immense pleasure being surrounded by his collection. The public sculpture, museums and modern architecture of Chicago inspired his collecting, cultivating an attraction to urban materials such as bronze, stainless steel, granite and marble.
Jerry Ganz cultivated this unique sensibility and developed an attraction to art by Alberto and Diego Giacometti, Arnoldo Pomodoro, Fernando Botero, Scott Burton, Jean Arp and Sam Francis. Jerry Ganz was fortunate to enjoy a friendly relationship with several artists including Pomodoro, visiting with him at his studio in Milan.
The sculptural furniture of Alberto and Diego Giacometti had a particular resonance with Ganz who took great delight in the functionality and usefulness of the works, striking a balance between a timeless, old-world aesthetic and the zeitgeist of the avant-garde.
Jerry Ganz was a highly successful entrepreneur who achieved fame with the marketing of retractable seatbelts to the automobile industry. He leveraged his success in business to become an avid art collector in numerous categories, amassing a collection with a focus on sculpture and sculptural design, rooted in an appreciation for rigorous materiality.
Mr. Ganz appreciated the strong, geometric lines and aesthetics of the Bauhaus, and in 1959 he moved into Mies van der Rohe’s iconic residential masterpiece, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Collecting became his hobby for the next 70 years and he drew immense pleasure being surrounded by his collection. The public sculpture, museums and modern architecture of Chicago inspired his collecting, cultivating an attraction to urban materials such as bronze, stainless steel, granite and marble.
Jerry Ganz cultivated this unique sensibility and developed an attraction to art by Alberto and Diego Giacometti, Arnoldo Pomodoro, Fernando Botero, Scott Burton, Jean Arp and Sam Francis. Jerry Ganz was fortunate to enjoy a friendly relationship with several artists including Pomodoro, visiting with him at his studio in Milan.
The sculptural furniture of Alberto and Diego Giacometti had a particular resonance with Ganz who took great delight in the functionality and usefulness of the works, striking a balance between a timeless, old-world aesthetic and the zeitgeist of the avant-garde.