Interlude
mezzotint by GH Rothe
When Gail Bruce asked me to represent her art I was already friends with Gatja Rothe, the mezzotint master. Gatja had already consigned to me a portfolio of her mezzotints in hope that as Director of the Circle Gallery on Madison Avenue I'd be able to sell them to Circle chief Jack Solomon. I did show them to Jack, Jack didn't buy them. (Thanks to my having the art on hand I'd been able to sell one on a payment plan to the lead ballet dancer of the Met.) I wouldn't have let Gail talk me out of Circle Gallery and onto the street quite so easily had it not been for the additional backing of Gatja. The moment I announced that I was thinking of going independent, I had not only a couple of Gail Bruce serigraphs in my portfolio, I had Gatja's lifetime production of mezzotints, a few Ed Solol serigraphs, spare art by Will Barnet, and dozens of other artists who suddenly appeared out of nowhere to fill up my sales portfolios.
mezzotint by GH Rothe
mezzotint by GH Rothe
A Note on Money
When I find time I will explain how Gail Bruce promised me financing but the only person ever to actually give me any was Gatja: she bought my PK Fine Arts. Ltd.-mobile: a new VW bus. I paid her $100 a month, when I had $100, for years. Gatja waited and waited, while I fed her money to Gail Bruce, uncomplaining, I'd explained "why" to her. By the end of the 1970s I'd paid Gatja most of what I owed her: though what I owe her is debatable: Gail promised me backing, but actualy only delivered art, and there only in sluggish dribs and drabs. A lot of time and money was wasted: a lot of earn-able money was not earned: no financial lubrication.
But Gatja too sabotaged me as well as supported me. I drove to LA in the winter of 1974, taking PK inventory to sell out west. Gatja mailed me more art c/o Texas. I phoned her from Texas to tell her I'd received it: she told me — after buying my car for me and filling it with art — that I couldn't sell her art in California: she'd just sold an exclusive to Ed Weston!
Can you imagine. She invested in me, then pulled the rug out!
Ed and I were under each other's feet ever after. He could afford it; I couldn't. Gatja hurt me, herself, Gail ... all my artists.
Then again, think of this: Gail's husband was unsure about investing in his wife's art. He was unsure about investing in his wife's trusted dealer: me. Murray was always looking for investments. He made tons, lost tons. He could have invested in Gatja Rothe! and didn't. Armond Hammer, Hammer Graphics, bought Gatja away from all of us: me, Ed, Hugh McKay, all of us. Murray Bruce could have had big pieces of those millions. But then I've always been surrounded my morons.
Notes on the Images
I put Interlude at the top. I love this one best as it is the first Rothe mezzotint I ever published entirely by myself (and sold out entirely by myself). Dance of Tom Gatja had done years before I met her. A zillion other publishers had had their hands on it before I took over the bulk of the edition. Gatja gave me time, all the time I needed, to pay. I promised her $20 each. The first guy she'd offered them to declined to pay her $1! I sold the last of them at $1,000 retail. My own print was stolen: along with most of my framed Rothes, all dedicated to me: my Interlude 1/100 for example.
Audience Favorites was one of two editions I sold to a mail order catalogue out of Baltimore. That secondary publisher ordered 50 each. I made the editions 100. Gatja sold me the remaining 50 and 50: again, on time: again all the time I needed.
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