Deutsche Bank Collection in London Light, colour, dynamism Not far from Liverpool Street in the heart of the City of London, bankers, couriers, staff members and visitors to the British headquarters of the Deutsche Bank hurry through the great entrance hall of Winchester House - a constant coming and going of humanity that appears to embrace all cultures, ages and social classes. One almost has the impression that the stream of people is being sucked up into the spiralling maelstrom of colours of a gigantic painting located at the far end of the foyer - James Rosenquist's monumental The Swimmer in the Econo-mist, created on commission for the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin in 1997 and relocated here in the foyer of Winchester House in 1999. Probably no other setting is better suited to reveal the work's programmatic scope: Rosenquist's garishly colourful vision of the beginning of the 21st century takes as its themes the virtualisation of physical space and the break-neck tempo of economic change. Entrance hall of Winchester House, Deutsche Bank, London Deutsche Bank Collection Like the monumental work of the American pop artist, British artist Tony Cragg's Secretions (1998), also located in the foyer, takes as its theme modes of thinking and perception that have come to dominate the information age. Constructed of myriads of plastic dice, joined together like a gigantic model of organic molecules to create a shimmering surface of innumerable black dots, Cragg's work is located somewhere between contingency and strategy, chaos and order. The rear entrance hall towards the London Wall is dominated by a cool lightness and typically British elegance: Damien Hirst's minimalist painting Biotin-Malemide (1995) hangs there, mirrored in Anish Kapoor's stainless steel sculpture Turning the World Upside Down III (1996), whose interplay of light and form almost makes it appear to liquefy. Sculpture by Tony Cragg in the foyer of Winchester House, Deutsche Bank, London Deutsche Bank Collection © Henning Bock The impression of light, colour and dynamism imparted by the art and architecture of Winchester House is the result of intensive planning. Dr. Ariane Grigoteit and Friedhelm Hütte, directors of Deutsche Bank Art, helped develop the architectural concept for the Deutsche Bank's London headquarters, which were opened in 1999, and ensure optimal conditions for presentation of—and access to—the works in the building. For curator Mary Findlay and her colleague Alistair Hicks, who have been responsible for the London collection and for furnishing the British branches of the Deutsche Bank with works of art since 1997, integrating art into the daily life of an office building in which 2,000 people work has been a major undertaking. It has entailed a lot of "storytelling"—suggesting art historical relations through the way works are arranged in the building. Whereas in the twin towers in Frankfurt each one of the over 50 floors is dedicated to a single artist, an entirely different concept had to be evolved for the elongated curve of the Winchester House building. Sculpture by Anish Kapoor and painting by Damien Hirst in the foyer of Winchester House, Deutsche Bank, London Deutsche Bank Collection © Richard Bryant, Arcaid In London the dialogue between contemporary German and British art takes place not in vertical but in horizontal space. Works by either a German or an English artist are displayed in close to 60 conference rooms and give the latter their names—staff members might ask: "Is Freud free at the moment?" or "Shall we meet in Richter?" Such formulations, which may at first seem rather bizarre to a visitor, are now part of the everyday vocabulary of the staff members who work here and their business partners. Coming into contact with a wide range of different artistic styles in the workplace is such a natural circumstance in Winchester House that Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton and Sigmar Polke are mentioned as if they were old acquaintances. The conference rooms, in which artists' biographies and art catalogues are always laid out for visitors and staff members to read, focus on specific themes including individual artists or art movements—or famous exhibitions that have shaped the history of post-war art such as The Human Clay, the group exhibition initiated by R.B. Kitaj in 1976 that established the "London School" in the public consciousness, or the Zeitgeist exhibition in 1982 in Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau that celebrated "Vehement Painting", or the Sensation exhibition in the London Royal Academy that helped the YBAs (Young British Artists) to achieve their international breakthrough. Francis Bacon's lithograph Study for a Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1989) on the 8th floor initiates a fascinating perspective on British post-war art. On the exterior walls of the room devoted to his work hangs his bullfight series Miroir de la Tauromachie (1990), next to a photographic portrait of the artist by Bruce Bernard. If one continues along the corridor, one comes across other artists of the London School, including Leon Kossoff, Frank Auerbach, R. B. Kitaj, and Lucian Freud. The unsparing realism of Freud's etching Woman with an Arm Tattoo (1996) illustrates the opinion voiced by R. B. Kitaj in the late seventies that the study of the human form had never been so important—urging us to examine anew the early works of this illustrious older generation of artists. Corridor and conference room on the 8th floor with works by Francis Bacon Corridor with works by Gillian Ayres and Sigmar Polke On the same floor are works by post-war German artists. Besides Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, and K.H. Hödicke, whose neo-expressive style paved the way for the return of figurative painting in the late sixties and who as mentors of the "Young Savages" were represented at the 1982 Berlin Zeitgeist exhibition, these include the "universal artist" Dieter Roth, whose 1970 series 6 piccadillies records his impressions of his stay in the Swinging London of those years. Richard Hamilton, a friend and colleague of Roth, is also represented, as is the renowned British pop artist Peter Blake - Hamilton by prints of some of his most famous works including She (1958), Aah! (1961), and Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealling? (1958); and Peter Blake by his 1991 Alphabet Series, an overview of the mass-media icons of the 20th century. And "pop" also goes the pistol in Eduardo Paolozzi's silk screen print I Was a Rich Man's Plaything (1972), displayed with other of his works on the first floor of Winchester House. Paolozzi's contemporaries David Hockney, Joe Tilson, and Patrick Caulfield likewise have entire corridors dedicated to them in the London headquarters. Prints by Michael Graig-Martin in the trading room of Winchester House, Deutsche Bank, London Deutsche Bank Collection © Dennis Gilbert Landscape artists such as Andy Goldsworthy; photographers such as Susan Derges, Rut Blees Luxemburg and Catherine Yass; YBAs such as Damien Hirst, Simon Patterson, Rachel Whiteread and Gavin Turk - the curators of the London collection's aim is to provide a broad and objective panorama of contemporary British art. This also entails supporting Britain's younger artistic generation as well as lesser known older artists. While Gary Hume's brilliantly coloured silk screen portraits and Johnnie Shand Kydd's documentary black-and-white photographs in the trading rooms of the 4th floor document the rise of the YBAs and the art of "Cool Britannia", works by young native artists such as Tim Stoner, Anya Gallaccio, Nigel Cooke and Charles Avery are also displayed—acquired well before they became well known names on the art market. These links with the young British art scene hold promise for the future—the London collection endeavours not only to document current developments in art but also to encourage rising native talent. To date the culmination of this endeavour has been the Deutsche Bank's support, as principle sponsor, of the London art fair Frieze - the biggest of its kind in Britain. » back to overview