Andrea Bernardi’s residence in the Cotswolds.
The works which inspire and motivate a collector are as unique as the displays they take in the home, creating arrangements that tell the stories of pieces as part of a whole. Sarah Krueger, Head of Department, New York, and collector Andrea Bernardi discuss his enchanting collection A View from the Garden: Photographs from a Private Cotswolds Collection, on offer with Phillips' main Photograph sale on 22 November in London.
SARAH KRUEGER: Your beautiful collection encompasses so many important artists across various genres and periods. What would you say is the common thread and/or feeling throughout when you were building this selection?
ANDREA BERNARDI: The common thread is that all of the images are related to memories, or I should say feelings of memories in my life from childhood to present.
SK: In this selection, what was the first work you acquired and what about it specifically spoke to you?
AB: The Armpit by Mapplethorpe. I bought it in the '90s not knowing who Robert Mapplethorpe was.
SK: Fascinating! Collecting has always been an instinctual for you.
What about the medium of photography do you find most engaging/exciting?
Andrea Bernardi’s residence in the Cotswolds.
AB: I am obsessed with black and white American street photography. I grew up watching old Hollywood movies and I believe street photography documents real life in America from the '50s through to the '80s.
SK: When did you start collecting in general and when did you start to delve into photographs in your collecting?
AB: In 1996, I went to see an exhibition at the Public Library on Fifth Avenue, New York. It was titled A History of Women Photographers. It was the first time I saw an exhibition of just photographs. I noticed one of the photos in the exhibition was by Eva Barrett. I had a photograph of my grandmother taken by her. I felt so inspired and that was really the first ever photograph in my collection.
SK: What an incredible story.
How do you like to live with the artworks in your collection?
AB: I like to see them daily.
Andrea Bernardi’s residence in the Cotswolds.
SK: How do you choose where to place a photograph or work of art within your home?
AB: Always by theme and by instinct.
SK: There’s a fascinating tension in your collection between abstraction and figuration. We don’t always see works by, for example, Alison Rossiter and Marco Breuer alongside images by Diane Arbus and Garry Winogrand. Is this a distinction that you, as a collector, make? Or are your choices more intuitive?
AB: I use the three-second "emotional technique." If I feel an emotional connection within three seconds of seeing the photograph, then it resonates with my feelings and I absolutely love it and need to have it. Be careful when using this technique. It could become an addiction…
SK: You’re quite right!
The two Peter Hujar works you have are exceptional. Can you tell us what brought you to these two works?
AB: When I moved to New York, the life on the piers on the Hudson River by the West Side Highway was exactly like the one in Hujar’s Christopher Street Pier #2 (Crossed Legs). He really captured that moment and it made me so happy to see. The Cow with Straw in its Mouth of course is iconic. No other photographer besides Hujar captured animals with such humanity allowing them to be truly seen.
SK: I almost hate to ask this, but which of these photographs will you miss the most?
AB: None of them. I am happy other people will be able to love them as much as I did.
Andrea Bernardi’s residence in the Cotswolds.
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