National Gallery

Michael Werner is one of the most internationally influential gallerists of the post-war era. His first exhibition in 1963 caused a scandal, as did many that followed. Yet his aim was never provocation for its own sake, but always the potential of art to resist rigid structures and assert its own reality. In this book, Werner reflects on his childhood during the Second World War and the struggles of finding his own path. He speaks of the artists with whom he worked, quarreled, spectacularly failed, and achieved great success. Together with photographs and documents, his accounts not only form an impressive historical record; they also demonstrate that the artistic tensions that erupted at that time are far from over.