Passionate about contemporary art and, more broadly, art history, his life has been built on transmission and sharing. In parallel with a 49-year medical career, he formed his first collection of Symbolist works in 1972, and discovered the youngest artists of his generation in the New York of the 80s, before bringing contemporary Chinese art to France with his daughter Alexandra through the creation of the Asia Now fair. An entrepreneur involved in numerous projects, Claude Fain is a builder, a builder turned towards mankind and driven by the desire to understand its evolution. Here, he tells us about his career as a joyful collector, his relationship with art and his thoughts on creation.
" Collecting is first and foremost a conversation with others, like medicine, which I practice in the same way. The exchange of ideas is a fundamental notion of life.. "
1. How did your passion for art begin?
I was born into a family of couturiers, with a strong artistic influence. My aunt Rose Mett ran the Torrente fashion house she had created, while her brother Ted Lapidus had founded his own a few years earlier. My parents were themselves major ready-to-wear manufacturers. Their work of transmission was fundamental. My father was a collector of post-war artists, the second generation of the great abstract painters of the 50s - Poliakoff, Lanskoy, as well as the Russian artists who settled in Montparnasse. From the age of 7, my father dragged me into their studios, where I gradually trained my eye. At school, I was also predisposed: right up to my final year, I won all the first prizes for drawing. After that, the presence of artworks in our daily lives awakened my eye and my mind. The eye is a blotter that interprets everything it sees.
2. What is your background as a collector?
In parallel with my work as a dental surgeon, I started collecting quite early on, particularly the Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite artists of the 1880s-1900s. Coming from a family decimated by war, I soon wondered about the meaning of symbolism. I wanted to know how it was possible to manipulate brains and whole peoples, but also to understand how artists dealt with symbols. I used to buy in the auction rooms of Drouot, where I was one of the few to raise my hand to win a bid. Symbolist artists were neglected by the market. Later, my collection grew in size and value, with works by Burne-Jones, Gustave Moreau, Lévy-Dhurmer, Armand Point, Puvis de Chavannes...
"My whole life as a collector has been guided by the coup de coeur."
3. You explain that you felt a "punch in the gut" when you discovered a work by Basquiat in 1986...
That's right. At that time, I realized that I was finally living with the works of my ancestors, and I needed something modern. My friend, the auctioneer Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, suggested I visit the Basel Fair. I stopped in front of a small stand with a very young boy representing him: Thaddeus Ropac. I was able to buy a work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was unknown at the time. It was my first purchase of contemporary art. I then decided to sell my entire 19th-century collection and moved to New York. There, I acquired a Marylin by Andy Warhol, and a painting on paper by Georg Baselitz, who was still relatively unknown. Later, I met up again with the young gallery owner Annina Nosei, who had launched Basquiat in the United States. I met the artist at her home, painting in her cellar. An exceptional period! After that, I got to know Keith Haring, Warhol, Mapplethorpe, Schnabel, Bickerton... They were barely 30 years old and already incredibly popular. That's when I realized how important it is to steer clear of speculative effects. The overbidding on certain artists who are no longer talked about today has shaped my thinking and my decisions as a collector.
Testimony, text and images by Thaddeus Ropac: " The winter of 1986 had been long and harsh in New York, and I still remember the day I visited Basquiat in his studio. We met to discuss the exhibition we were planning for July in Salzburg. We talked at length about the history of Salzburg music, which he didn't know. Following our conversation, he created the fantastic work Saxophone, in which he presented his personal idea of music. The culmination of this exhibition ended up being the work Rubber, which depicts a central figure emerging from the fires of hell. " Original text available here © Thaddeus Ropac
4. What interests you most in a work of art?
It's all in the heart and in the mind. I see no point in living with a piece of art every day just for its value, real or potential. When I feel something vibrate deep inside me, that's a sign. I merge with a work because it corresponds to the vision of what will touch me inside, whatever the period or the medium. If I ask myself the question, it's because I don't need to go any further. I explain to future professionals in the art professions that you have to "feel" a work, to enter into communication with its creator. And what interests me in Man is his creation. In other words, how human life has advanced through creation, whether artistic, industrial or otherwise. The message of artists helps me to think. I absorb their sensibility to the utmost.
"I need to be open about Man: to understand his evolution, his thinking, the origin of his creation and what he seeks to express."
"Statue of a walking man" © Fondation Martin Bodmer. Egypt, 5th or 6th dynasty, 2510-2140 B.C. Polychrome wood, with bronze inlays. Originally equipped with a specter and a staff, this sculpture is representative of Egyptian statuary at the end of the Old Kingdom or under Pepi. Courtesy of Claude Fain
5. What learning experience has had the greatest impact on you through art?
I've come to understand how limited human creation can be. I'm very interested in the philosophers of Ancient Greece, and collect their original editions. One year, I visited the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Geneva, one of the most important private collections of papyri, manuscripts and ancient books in the world. An exhibition there was devoted to books from Antiquity and Upper Egypt. I came across this wooden sculpture, in the position of Giacometti's "Walking Man". 5,000 years ago, craftsmen of the time would make this wooden statuary for the family of the deceased to place in the sarcophagus as a companion on their journey to the afterlife. A few years later, I discovered the exhibition presented by the Giacometti Foundation and its Egyptian origins. This discovery was a shock to my way of thinking. I realized to what extent everything had already been created by the great civilizations. Since then, the human brain may have created in different forms, but the essence has not changed. This discovery brings me back to an important moment in my life. It gave me a new perspective on the human condition. "Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed", as Lavoisier said back in 1777.
6. What do you remember about your experience as a gallery owner?
After undergoing heart surgery following a health problem, I returned to New York where I met gallerist Peter Langer. We became partners in opening the Langer-Fain gallery in Paris, ideally situated between the Yvon Lambert and Karsten Greve galleries, which had just opened. We used Peter's American stock to exhibit in Paris. Photography wasn't appreciated as it is today, just as our first Gilbert & George show was much maligned. I was terribly disappointed, so convinced was I by the quality of the works. For our second Joseph Beuys exhibition, a very important American museum in Los Angeles acquired one of his works, as did a major German collector. At the end of our first year, we hadn't sufficiently seduced French collectors, with proposals that were undoubtedly too international and avant-garde.
7. You were one of the first to introduce contemporary Chinese art to the West. How did you discover it?
I stumbled across Alain Peyrefitte's book, " Quand la Chine s'éveillera... le monde tremblera ". He visited China in 1971 and wrote an investigative report on the state of the country, then in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. In view of China's growing population, the author explains how it will eventually impose itself on the rest of the world once it masters sufficient technology. So I began to take an interest in the younger generation of Chinese artists. I went there, quickly realizing that they lacked artistic outlets in their own country. Towards the end of the 90s, when a little cousin of mine moved to Shanghai, I encouraged his sister and brother-in-law to take an interest in the subject. Today, the DSL Collection (Dominique and Sylvain Levy) is one of the three largest collections of contemporary Chinese art in the world, alongside the Fondation Ullens and Jean-Marc Decrop.
8. How have you brought contemporary Chinese art to France?
With a group of friends, we founded " Happy Art Collectors ". We wanted to offer collectors the keys to understanding contemporary art, open the doors to the world's most sought-after studios and art venues, and share buying tips in a convivial spirit. We have organized guided tours all over the world, including Shanghai with Ami Barak, and Beijing with Jérome Sans. This is how the idea of presenting the artists in France began to mature. With my daughter Alexandra, we finalized the concept of a fair dedicated to Chinese contemporary art in France in 2012. I asked Amy Barak to bring back from each major Asian city the best galleries and their artists. We sponsored her trip through a major Taiwanese airline. On her return, Amy Barak told me about the immense enthusiasm she had encountered in Asia. For them, France represented the jewel in the crown of culture and a gateway to Europe. The first edition opened in 2014 at the Espace Cardin: it was a huge success because the concept was completely new. Many collectors began to perceive Asia differently. After 6 years at Avenue Hoche, we were lucky enough to be welcomed for this 8th edition at La Monnaie de Paris. This magical venue attracted a huge number of galleries and collectors from all over the world, with almost 25,000 visitors!
Izumi Kato © Courtesy of the Artist and Claude Fain
9. Your latest favorite?
The Japanese artist Izumi Kato, discovered about ten years ago. His subject of childhood appeals to me because, through my profession, I've treated a lot of children. I know how sensitive they are, and I've always been very touched by their suffering. You'd give your life to save a child. My first and last favorites are portraits (Basquiat - Izumi Kato). I love portraits, simply because I love people, and understanding how they are interpreted and perceived.
10. What message would you like to leave your daughters?
My two daughters have each taken half of me: one in obstetric surgery, the other in the art world. It's a wonderful way to live. The message I can give to mankind in general, and to my children in particular, is this: "love one another". I see so many families destroyed by futile things. Artists are beings apart, with a hypersensitivity that is beyond our field of vision. What counts is to see what love of humanity can emerge from a work of art: to try to understand it and feed off it. To rise intellectually through the creations of our contemporaries is to understand our society and its evolution. If this were a universal approach for everyone, it seems to me that there would be more tolerance, and perhaps a more humane society.
Biography Claude Fain
- Dr in Dental Surgery until 2020
- 1986 Participates in the draft law of July 1987 on corporate foundations, alongside Alain Dominique Perrin, then Chairman of Cartier and in charge of corporate philanthropy under the François Léotard government.
- 1987 Director of the Langer-Fain gallery
- 2010 Founder of "Happy Art Collectors
- 2012 Co-founder with his daughter Alexandra of Asia Now
