Good friends advised us to remain, as we might not have such an opportunity again soon. So they left everything behind and settled in Cologne. The new start on the Rhine was anything but easy, despite the international contacts that Antonina Gmurzynska had already built up from inside Poland. "My mother did not speak good German. Traditionally, cultural links in Poland tended to be with France," says the daughter. Opening a gallery also posed risks, because Antonina Gmurzynska did not have any business experience. At that time, private business was forbidden in Poland. She joined forces with another exile from her native country, Kenda Bargera. They ran the gallery together for seven years and then went their separate ways. Their launch show sparkled with works by the Impressionists that French collector friends had made available to Antonina Gmurzynska. Beginning in 1967, the gallery finally found its niche with its specialization in the eastern European avantgarde. The exhibition Russian Artists of the Twentieth Century in 1968 aroused wide interest. In 1971, the show Eastern European Avant-Garde followed; then in 1973, Progressive Russian Art before 1930; and one year later, From Surface to Space, with works ranging from Suprematism to Constructivism. To appreciate the achievements of Antonina Gmurzynska, one must remember how much was known about the eastern European avant-garde in the art world here: that is, virtually nothing. In the Soviet Union. works by Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Rodchenko, and their revolutionary comrades had, after celebrated new beginnings in the early twentieth century, long since become undesirable and had been relegated to the repository. Export and trade were virtually impossible. It was now time for the West to rediscover the pioneers of abstraction. When something came onto the market, it had originated from estates that had been transported abroad early enough or from Jiving artists who had emigrated. In this way, it gradually became possible for the Galerie Gmurzynska to collaborate with Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Sonia Delaunay-Terk (1885-1979), Paul Mansourouff (1896-1983), and Serge Charchoune (1888-1975), who was a friend of Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Antonina Gmurzynska also maintained friendly relationships with the widows and descendants of Ivan Puni, Alexandra Ekster, Alexander Archipenko, and Naum Gabo, most of whom were living in exile in France. So the material was there, but there was little knowledge and, for this reason, initially little interest in the groundbreaking abstract sheets and canvases that had opened up a completely new dimension to art at the beginning of the twentieth century. Antonina Gmurzynska made it her vocation in life to rescue these treasures and make them available to a wider public. This graceful little lady displayed astounding energy, and pursued her mission with collectors and in museums. "My mother," Krystyna Gmurzynska says proudly, "was a visionary who was successful primarily because she was acting from a deep conviction and could thus convincingly represent the art that she exhibited." This act of conviction was complemented by publications well-grounded in art history issued to accompany the shows. These increasingly opulent catalogues were so important to Antonina Gmurzynska because, until then, almost nothing had existed on this topic in print. Only Camilla Gray had published The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863-1922, which is still considered a standard reference today. As did former partner Kenda Bargera, the London gallerist Annely Juda also promoted the rehabilitation of the eastern European avant-garde and the increase of its hitherto almost non-existent market value. In 1979, the gallerist's daughter Krystyna. who had studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and, quite in line with the family's taste, had written her doctorate on the sculpture of the Russian avant-garde, made her debut in the gallery with the show Woman Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1930. At this point in time, only a very few art lovers were familiar with names such as Liubov Popova, Alexandra Ekster, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Natalia Goncharova, Olga Rozanova, or Varvara Stepanova, not to mention knowing what an important role they had played in the fields of painting, design, and literature. In contrast to the women artists of their time in the West, they had been actively supported by their male colleagues and encouraged in their independence. During the period of around twenty years during which she ran the gallery, Antonina Gmurzynska had, with enormous diligence, built up an extremely efficient network between East and West. The collectors Peter Ludwig, Georgi Costakis, Hans-Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza, and Friedrich Wilhelm Christians, during his time as head of the Deutsche Bank, enjoyed their conversations with her and consulted her regarding purchases. She promoted the loan of works from the private Thyssen-Bornemisza collection near Lugano for a large exhibition in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; in return, the Pushkin Museum exhibited its treasures in the Villa Favorita at Lake Lugano. At the time this was a sensation, as was the fact that in 1981 Antonina Gmurzynska had been loaned 200 works from public and private Russian collections for the exhibition From Painting to Design. Never before had a gallery been shown such favor. With all her persistent kindness to people who shared her passion, the gallerist could also act resolutely. "One night," her daughter Krystyna remembers, "the police came to her door during the night. There had been a fight. She must come with them. At the police station, she discovered the Polish-French artist Jan Lebenstein, who had been locked up. She demanded his release and left with her head held high." Over time, Antonina Gmurzynska had become a shrewd businesswoman. She could conduct hard negotiations, and her prices climbed, along with the growing admiration for the eastern European avant-garde, to previously unknown amounts in the millions. The openings more and more became glittering social events at which Walter Scheel, who was then President of Germany, and Johannes Rau, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia at the time, liked to be seen. The art lover and Russian ambassador Vladimir Semionov was enchanted with this elegant and always discreet lady and acted diplomatically on her behalf in easing East~West matters. In 1986, Antonina Gmurzynska died after a long illness, knowing that her gallery was safe in the hands of her daughter Krystyna. Change of scene. Antonina Gmurzynska's beginnings in Cologne are now a legend. Krystyna Gmurzynska relocated her activities to St. Moritz, Zug, and to the best address at Paradeplatz in Zurich. "My mother had not only done a great deal for the rediscovery of the eastern European avant-garde, but also for the city of Cologne," she says, "which makes it hard to understand that the significant collection of eastern European avant-garde art procured by Peter Ludwig is not shown in the Museum Ludwig. When things are not visible, people forget who once defended them." Remaining true to its tradition, the gallery still shows masterpieces of the art of this awakening and of classical Modernism. In more recent times, sculptures by Louise Nevelson, the great American sculptor of Russian descent; Rain Machine, with sunflowers behind a coat of water by Andy Warhol; as well as photograpbs by Karl Lagerfeld have been shown. Now it is the ambition of Antonina Gmurzynska's granddaughter, Isabelle, to enter the gallery business. The daughter of Krystyna Gmurzynska would have most liked to join the gallery immediately after leaving school. Rather reluctantly, she attended the Regent's Business School London and is now studying art history. The intention is that she should be even better prepared for managing the gallery than her mother and grandmother.