Born in Madrid, christened in Paris, and having grown up in London, Catherine Loewe had a very European outlook from day one. “My mother was Viennese and took me to see Gustav Klimt in the Belvedere which started my life-long love of art.”
“She was my greatest influence, as a follower of Jung and Buddhism, and she was obsessed with Gustav Mahler – my father even resembled the composer!” In fact, the Adagietto from Mahler’s 5th Symphony, famously used by Lucino Visconti in his 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, is the piece of music most associated with her childhood.
Catherine is one of the speakers in Monaco for the “Breaking Boundaries: Women Leaders in the Art World Conference” on July 10, “highlighting remarkable females in the region with the global expertise”.
The independent curator studied Art History when, as she says, it was not really considered an academic subject. “The Courtauld Institute of Art was the only place, but I wanted to leave my family home in London so went to the then ‘Lefty’ progressive University of East Anglia where the emphasis was on radical feminist theory.”
The newly-opened Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts designed by Lord Norman Foster (the architect of the Monaco Yacht Club) was hugely inspiring – combining African, Contemporary and Renaissance under one roof. After university she went straight to work at Waddington Galleries. “I couldn’t believe I was suddenly working with artists like Barry Flanagan, Mimmo Paladino, Elisabeth Frink, John Hoyland and Michael Craig-Martin, who introduced many of the Young British Artist’s from Goldsmiths like Ian Davenport and Fiona Rae.”
Today, she’s an international name in the world of art curators. “An art curator used to be the custodian of a museum collection, but today curators work in a variety of roles – running private or corporate collections or organising exhibitions for museums and galleries. There is a great deal of competition, but each curator has a particular focus and style – they can relate to artists in that respect and at best it is this dialogue that forms the basis of exhibitions.”
Since the pandemic, the art advisor has seen a paradigm shift towards women, African Diaspora artists and global indigenous people. “Hence the big show at Tate opening in July of renowned artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, c.1914–1996, whose powerful works reflects her extraordinary life as an Anmatyerr woman in the Northern Territory of Australia.”
She adds, “The last two Venice Biennales summed up the mood and pushed forward historically overlooked media such as textiles heavily associated with women and domestic work and therefore not deserving of high art status – this is dramatically changing now – Olga de Amaral and Sheila Hicks are superstars. It is a subject that fascinates me, and I put together an exhibition called ‘The Fabric of Life’ on this theme.”
Women closing the art investment gap
Catherine shines a positive light on female artists and the future. “There’s evidence of a closing gap between prices fetched for contemporary male and female artists, and some predict women artists may soon outpace men in overall auction value. Recent years have seen record-breaking sales for women artists – both contemporary and historical. Many have reached the global Top 50, often soaring ten times above high estimates proving that work by women can perform at the top of the market. Marlene Dumas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Cecily Brown, Julie Mehretu have all achieved multi-million-dollar sales.”
The cofounder of The Eye of the Huntress says despite the suffragettes and feminists it has taken a long time for the male-dominated art world to get here. She points out how Vasari, known for his biography Lives of the Artists on the “great male” artists of the Italian Renaissance, only named four women in his book” Most of whom were lost in the dust,” says Catherine.
Today progress is “incredible”, Catherine shares, with women running major institutions, galleries and collections. “When I started at Christie’s there were very few female directors, and no auctioneers or women artists let alone living ones. Women artists in the 20th century have been famously overshadowed by their male counterparts, only now receiving lavish posthumous retrospectives like Lee Krasner, the wife of Jackson Pollock, or Picasso and Françoise Gilot, and Leonora Carrington and Max Ernst. Many of these women are in the book Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel.”
Institutional shows have had a huge impact on women, like Joan Mitchell at the Whitney 2022 and Fondation Vuitton. Since the Zwirner Gallery has taken control of her estate, no less than 13 out of 14 lots have exceeded $10 million at auction. The artist now holds 12th place in the world, ahead of Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly.
“I am keen supporter of women artists, particularly emerging ones which does not necessarily mean young women. This is what the textile exhibition The Fabric of Life was about, many of the women who were overlooked as they worked quietly in the background for years before social media and influencers came along, like Isabella Ducrot who is 94.”
Catherine was invited to speak at the Breaking Boundaries conference at One Monte-Carlo Monaco (5pm; €40) by Alessia Corsini, who runs Maison d’Art and created the One Masters event, and Valentina Colman of the Monaco Women Forum.
“Inclusive means all women from all socio-economic backgrounds, all nationalities, religions, gender and ages,” says Catherine. Now we see women supporting other women, like Tracey Emin and her Margate studios.”
One Masters Monaco takes places at One Monte-Carlo: July 9 (2-10pm) and July 10 & 11 (2-8pm). Photos: Good News Monaco.