Since joining Galerie Gmurzynska in Cologne 10 years ago, Mathias Rastorfer has helped propel the gallery into the elite circle of international players capable of competing with the major auction houses for top material. Now, as gallery director and co-owner-with Krystyna Gmurzynska, Rastorfer is responsible for mounting well-documented, museum-quality exhibitions devoted to specialized fields (such as the Russian avant-garde), or to a single artist in collaboration with the artist's estate (such as Sonia and Robert Delaunay and Yves Klein). Galerie Gmurzynska is a prominent fixture at the leading international art fairs. including ARCO in Madrid, FIAC in Paris.TEFAF Maastrichtand Art Basel. where this past June Rastorfer was offering a large-format Klein Anthropometrie for around $6.5 million. TIle gallery is probably best known as the world's foremost dealer of works of the Russian avant-gardle, thanks in large part to its purchase (over several years, starting in 1993) of the collection of Nikolai Khardjiev, an art critic and friend of Kasimir Malevich. Rich in Suprematist paintings, drawings and texts. the collection has attracted major buyers such as Ronald Lauder and the late Peter Ludwig. Always eager for discoveries, Rastorfer organized a symposium last year on a forgotten Russian art movement of the 1920s, Organica, which some see as prefiguring Abstract Expressionism. While not generating immediate financial returns. events devoted to advancing scholarship are a crucial part of Rastorfer's strategy. "The only way for galleries to make it vis-a-vis the auction houses is to work on the long term... he says. "Less marketing, more content."