Robert Landau at the Landau Fine Art booth at Expo Chicago, September 2012 / photo Wayne Cable
Landau Fine Art made a big splash at the 2011 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The Montreal-based gallery was located at the entry point to the massive fair and its museum-like art installation captured attention with news of a big Jean Arp sale on opening night. This year, Landau held the same spot, from which the gallery waved a flag for Canadian acumen on the international art scene.
Gallery owner Robert Landau is a collector who became an art merchant, a job that lets him combine his passion for art with a competitive approach to commerce. Hard work and steely ambition earned Landau early success in real estate and the fur business, and while he still has real estate holdings, it is art deals that now hold his focus.
Founded in 1987, Landau Fine Art specializes in classical modern masters of the first half of the 20th century. At any given moment, iconic masterworks from that era are on show at the gallery, which overlooks rue Sherbrooke Ouest. On a recent visit, no fewer than 10 Picassos—mostly from the later period—were on view, along with paintings by Jean Dubuffet, Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Rouault, Juan Gris and Wassily Kandinsky. Large charcoal compositions by Henri Matisse and a drawing by Alberto Giacometti were also on display. Landau admits to a personal preference for Kandinsky and for Marc Chagall’s early Russian phase.
Most days, many gallery works are in storage, or lent to international museums for exhibition, or appearing at art fairs. Landau prefers dealing in paintings and drawings. “We buy what is known to be best in the world and cater to the circle of international collectors,” he says.
Discretion is of paramount importance to a successful gallery. Landau emphasizes: “We value clients more than our paintings. This is related to the quality of art we represent. People trust our judgment.” According to Nathalie Bondil, director of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, the gallery is “the most important Western modern-art painting gallery in Montreal, and probably in Canada.”
Media coverage in Canada is rare, but the gallery gets enthusiastic mention in publications like the New York Times and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. As Landau sees it, the gallery belongs in the world’s top 10 for modern art, alongside New York’s Gagosian Gallery and Acquavella Galleries.
Besides Miami, Landau Fine Art makes regular appearances at other well-known art fairs, including TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, Art Basel in Switzerland and Expo Chicago. This year, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands visited Landau’s Maastricht stand—along with 72,000 other visitors. An assiduous traveller, Landau keeps homes in Montreal, New York and Lucerne. Wherever his journeys take him, he is on the lookout for the modern masterworks that have become the trademark of his gallery.
This is an article from the Winter 2013 issue of Canadian Art. To read more from this issue, please visit its table of contents.
