Anton Zwemmer (1892–1979) was a Dutch-born British

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of libra ...

, book distributor,

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and collectorChloe Rendall
Zwemmer's
modernistarchives.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021. who founded Zwemmer's Bookshop and the Zwemmer Gallery in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

.Zwemmer Gallery
artbiogs.co.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2021.Jane Carlin
"Anton Zwemmer: London's Bookseller and Publisher for the Arts"
in: Book Club of Washington Journal, Fall 2012, Vol. 12, No. 2. Retrieved 17 February 2021. He was a "friend and patron of many leading artists", from Picasso to Henry Moore and

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

,Nigel Vaux Halliday, ''More Than a Bookshop: Zwemmers and Art in the Twentieth Century'', London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1991, publisher description."Anton Zwemmer's Anniversary", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 3 March 1962.Frances Spalding, "Time of yer life", ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', 5 January 1992, p. 42. and he played "an important role in spreading knowledge and appreciation of modern art" in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s."Anton Zwemmer"
in: Ian Chilvers and John Glaves-Smith, eds., ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', Oxford University Press, 2015 (online edition). Retrieved 17 February 2021.Anna Jozefacka
Zwemmer, Gallery, London, 1929–1968 (Index of Historic Collectors and Dealers of Cubism)
metmuseum.org. Retrieved 20 February 2021.

Early life

Anton Zwemmer was born in Haarlem,

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 18 February 1892. His parents were Arie and Baukje Huizinga Zwemmer who were of modest means. Leaving school at the age of fifteen, he worked for the publisher Herman Tjeenk Willink and the bookseller H. N. Mul in his hometown, before moving to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

where he took up a position with the booksellers Kirberger & Kesper, a specialist in English literature, which sent him to England to develop connections with booktrade there. In 1914 he moved permanently to England to work for that country's leading book wholesaler, Simpkin Marshall. After a short period he was appointed as the manager of Harrods department store's bookshop in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

and in 1916 as a staff member of Richard Jäschke's antiquarian, modern first editions and foreign language bookshop at 79 Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster.

Arts bookseller

When Jäschke, a German citizen, was interned during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Zwemmer was left in charge of the business until 1918. Eventually the latter became a partner and in 1923 purchased the bookshop and renamed it A. Zwemmer (it would be commonly referred to as "Zwemmer's"). Zwemmer changed the focus of the business from antiquarian books to art books and magazines, and in particular imported European books. After years of being cut off from the "primary sources of modern art" in France and Germany due to the war, and with their taste whetted for a new kind of art by

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developme ...

's pre-war exhibitions of

Post-impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

, and dissatisfied with the restraint of the Royal Academy and the major galleries, the British public and artists were keen on Zwemmer's offerings of quality art books, art prints and "domestic and foreign art journals". Zwemmer's bookshop for a long period was the main place in London where modern and

avant-garde art The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...

could be explored and where books and journals on the new artists such as Gauguin, Van Gogh and Matisse, and with the latest criticism regarding their work, could be obtained. Zwemmer's was the only place in London where one would be "likely to see" ''livres d'artiste'', Wyndham Lewis's ''The Enemy'' and

Stanley Morison Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces o ...

's typographical journal ''

The Fleuron ''The Fleuron'' was a British journal of typography and book arts published in seven volumes from 1923 to 1930. A fleuron is a floral ornament used by typographers. In 1922 Stanley Morison — the influential typographical advisor to Monotype — ...

''. The bookshop's display windows were famous for the bold imagery and the bright colours of the books and artworks on show. Sir

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

and Sir Anthony Blunt both testified to the value of this bookshop in its early days to the "scholarly student of

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

" while Henry Moore, John Piper and

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...

spoke of the "inspiration" its art books gave young sculptors and painters. Zwemmer was a lifelong friend and business associate of

Albert Skira Albert Skira (1904–1973) was a Swiss art dealer, publisher and the founder of the Skira publishing house. The Skira publishing house, Editions d'Art Albert Skira Skira founded the eponymous publishing house in Lausanne in 1928, at various tim ...

, a Swiss publisher who ran an eponymous publishing house offering lavish colour art books and '' livres d'artiste'' and who was a friend of artists such as Picasso and Matisse. Zwemmer was notably an early buyer of Skira's books and was later the agent for Skira's books in Britain.

Arts publisher

From the mid-1920s Zwemmer supplemented his bookselling activities with the publication of art books, firstly, on

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

(1927) and then on Botticelli (1930) and Picasso (1931), with the Picasso book being the first in the English language on that artist. He gave support to British artists and sculptors, such as Henry Moore, and the modern movement in British art, by publishing works such as Herbert Read's ''Henry Moore, Sculptor: With an Appreciation by Herbert Read and Thirty-six Full-page Plates'' (1934), the first monograph to be published on that sculptor. Books with Zwemmer's imprint, A. Zwemmer Ltd., featured quality printing with full page photographs of paintings and sculptures, "integrated" text and illustrations, "modern typefaces" and a "sophisticated" design format. They were often produced as international co-editions with distinguished European or American art publishers, which led to economies of scale and a great publicity exposure for the books. Moreover, his co-editions gave the English public access to many French and German works which would "otherwise have remained inaccessible".

Zwemmer Gallery

In 1929 Zwemmer established an art gallery, the Zwemmer Gallery, at 26 Litchfield Street, London, not far from his bookshop in Charing Cross Road. ''The Times'' at the time argued that the move was a "logical ... development" as "a selection of English and foreign books on modern art" was on show in the gallery. The Zwemmer Gallery became a "mecca" for British artists and a centre for the modern art movement in Britain, staging shows on such artists and sculptors as Henry Moore,

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produce ...

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving. Biography Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910, ...

and

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

, as well as, in 1932, an exhibition on the

Curwen Press The Curwen Press was founded by the Reverend John Curwen in 1863 to publish sheet music for the "tonic sol-fa" system. The Press was based in Plaistow, Newham, east London, England, where Curwen was a pastor from 1844. The Curwen Press is bes ...

. Later exhibitions were mounted for Joan Miró, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall,

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a ...

and other modern artists. In 1934 the Gallery staged

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

's first one man show in Britain. In 1934, the exhibition ''Objective Abstractions'' was held in the gallery, featuring the work of the British Objective Abstraction movement. In October 1935, the

Seven and Five Society The Seven and Five Society was an art group of seven painters and five sculptors created in 1919 and based in London. The group was originally intended to encompass traditional, conservative artistic sensibilities. The first exhibition catalogue ...

's final exhibition was held in the gallery, which notably was the first all- abstract show ever to be held in the country. Through his gallery, as through his bookselling and publishing, Anton Zwemmer's constant goal was to "support the recent work of modern artists".

Second World War and after

During the war years from 1939 Zwemmer's collaborative projects with European publishers had to be suspended. Due to the impossibility of importing books from the Continent he concentrated on selling antiquarian books and due to his age, he brought in his two sons, Desmond and John, to assist in running the business. In the postwar period the gallery promoted younger and emerging British artists including

John Bratby John Randall Bratby RA (19 July 1928 – 20 July 1992) was an English painter who founded the kitchen sink realism style of art that was influential in the late 1950s. He made portraits of his family and celebrities. His works were seen i ...

and Harold Cheesman, the latter being a pupil of the English surrealist Paul Nash. In 1960 the Australian painter

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

had his first London exhibition there. From 1944 Anton Zemmer published, with

Lund Humphries Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in ...

, a multivolume work on the sculpture and drawings of his friend Henry Moore and in 1949, he collaborated with Skira to publish Stuart Gilbert's translation of

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and Minister of Culture (France), minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Go ...

's two volume work, ''The Psychology of Art''. During the 1950s his son John would go on to supervise the bookselling side of the business while Desmond would concentrate on the publishing. The Zwemmer Gallery would continue operating until 1968. Anton Zwemmer died on 23 January 1979. His residence at that date was The Priory, Rotherfield, Crowborough, East Sussex. His inferred spouse, Lilian Zwemmer (17 May 1893 – 23 April 1971), had in 1971 been living at the same address.

Legacy

In his ''Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations'', Henry Moore observed: "I could mention eight or nine such individuals (apart from artists themselves) whose efforts during my lifetime have helped to change the whole climate of the English art world (...) one of them is Anton Zwemmer (...)." His bookshop, art gallery and publishing house occupied a central place in the history of twentieth century British art. Art critic Herbert Read wrote of the bookshop in 1962 that: "Zwemmer's was always more than a bookshop: it was a challenge in the midst of our provincial ignorance and philistinism, a beacon of enlightenment."

In popular culture

Zwemmer's bookshop is mentioned in

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

's spy novel, ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...

'': "In Zwemmers he examined a coffee-table book called ''Musical Instruments Down the Ages'' and remembered that Camilla had had a late lesson with Dr. Sand, her flute teacher".

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Penguin Books, n.d. (e-book). Retrieved 17 February 2021.

References

External links

Anton Zwemmer (1892-1979), Art bookshop owner
- portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Zwemmer Gallery
at

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwemmer, Anton 1892 births 1979 deaths British booksellers British art dealers British book publishers (people) People from Haarlem Dutch emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Rotherfield 20th-century British businesspeople