Local Gallerist Makes German Papers (from Palmdesert.patch.com)
Christian Hohmann, owner of Christian Hohmann Fine Art on El Paseo, likes to joke that his crib was permanently placed in the art world when he was born.
His parents have run a successful gallery in Germany for 30 years and Christian has made his career in the desert out of introducing local fine art collectors to the talents of European artists. Bridging cultures through art has been a lifelong calling.
“I am blessed to be able to live in paradise in a city where people from all walks of life come from all over the world,” said Christian. “I take great pride in showing our residents and visitors a taste of the European art world.”
On his summer trip to Europe, he was interviewed for Walsroder Markt, a paper which gave his story a full front page. Proud of their German-born son, they wrote about his relationships with European artists and his success at getting them exposure in America.
While there, Christian nailed down details for two major shows coming up in Palm Desert this season.
In October, he will be bringing in the Egyptian artist Mohamed Abla to speak to desert residents about his journey as an artist in Egypt and the obstacles he’s had to face to inject art and culture into the lives of young artists in the tumultuous country.
In the spring, Christian will present a major exhibition by Armin Mueller-Stahl, the successful Prussian actor and painter.
Here is a full translation of the article:
A New Gallery in the United States
Christian Hohmann: Building Bridges through Art
By Michael Fischer
WALSRODE. His accent betrays just slightly the fact that
Christian Hohmann has called the United States home for some time now. Hohmann, a native of Walsrode, had made his way across the Atlantic in 2002 to manage a gallery belonging to an aunt, in Palm Desert, California – at that time a fairly daring decision. Meanwhile, the 37-year-old now successfully directs his own gallery in the same location and can imagine staying on in the United States long term. Currently, however, Christian Hohmann is back in his
hometown, to prepare an exhibition of paintings by Armin Mueller-Stahl in his
parents’ gallery.
Palm Desert numbers approximately 46,000 inhabitants and is about a half hour’s flight from Los Angeles. It was in 2009, right next to Highway 111, that Christian Hohmann first opened the doors to his own gallery, and he has never regretted the decision. After all, he represents numerous European artists, has clients throughout the entire United States and has excellent personal contacts, among others, with actor, painter, musician and writer Armin Mueller-Stahl, also a longtime resident of California.
This success has been hard won, even though Christian Hohmann was basically groomed for the profession from birth. After all, he was barely a year old when his parents, Ursula and Werner Hohmann, opened their art gallery in Walsrode. “You could say that I grew up with art,” says Hohmann.
After secondary school he began his university studies of art history and business administration, with the objective of becoming an art publisher. And it seems that the young man could hardly wait to get started, for while still a student Christian Hohmann went into business for himself, in association with Professor Rudolf Hausner.Not that this sideline was an easy undertaking. “I paid
a high tuition,” Hohmann remembers. “In addition, I soon found publishing to be too monotonous and decided I would rather move toward gallery work.”
No sooner said than done: With a partner, Hohmann rented the Jil Sander villa in Hamburg’s Milchstrasse and opened a four-storey gallery building. “It really became a top address. We had a number of TV appearances, and in professional circles they still talk about our amazing Francis Bacon exhibition,” says Hohmann.
But after only two years the new gallerist had had enough: He broke off his university studies. “In any case, art history wouldn’t have got me anywhere. That field is all about established things, but everything I wanted was new, new, new.
Accordingly, in 2001 he opened his gallery for young art in Berlin Mitte.
Everything was going superbly, yet nonetheless, shortly after this, Christian Hohmann closed up shop in Germany. The reason: His mother’s sister, who was already running two galleries in the United States, or more precisely, in Chicago and in Carmel, near San Francisco, wanted to open a third in Palm Desert – the Hart Gallery, named after its owner Eva Hart.
She asked her nephew whether he would be interested in coming and taking on the direction of the new establishment, maybe for a year or so. “I had often been to visit my relatives there,” says Christian Hohman, “and I had always been fascinated by America. So I said yes.” A risky business? “Not really, because if things hadn’t worked out there, I could have simply returned to Germany and opened another gallery.”
And so the “American adventure” began and lasted much, much longer than originally planned. When Eva Hart retired in 2009 and gave up her business, her German nephew opened his own gallery – Christian Hohmann Fine Art.
Ever since, the art expert from Walsrode has been running his gallery there with great success. His particular talent lies in discovering new artists and conveying their works to viewers interested in art. “I can make pictures understandable. This is one reason why people come to me,” Christian Hohmann is convinced.
Hohmann continues to work closely with his parents. And so it is not uncommon for Ursula and Werner Hohmann, who support their offspring
in every way possible, to promote German artists by “sending” them to
the United States, where their son then represents them. Up until now,
unfortunately, this exchange has for the most part been only in the one
direction, as Christian Hohmann notes: “One of my goals is to build a
bridge between the USA and Europe and to increasingly bring American art to
Europe.”
He is absolutely certain of having found the right profession, his vocation – even though it can be quite a tightrope act to find the balance between art and profit. “It used to be that I was 90 percent gallerist and 10 percent businessman,” he smiles. “Now those percentages are reversed.”
Incidentally, Christian Hohnmann is quite definite about having no desire to try his own hand at painting. While he has indeed looked over the shoulder of many a renowned master – including, for instance, Mohamed Abla, an artist who has received much acclaim in Walsrode – and has even picked up a paintbrush himself on occasion, “that was only to see what it was like,” he emphasizes. “Nothing came of it.”
