The Numaga Gallery

The Numaga Gallery was created in 1956 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It owes its name to the streets on the corner of which it was located: Numa-Droz and Agassiz. In 1962, the gallery moved to Auvernier. Since 1968 it has presented an exhibition outside of its walls, Art in Factories, as well as ethnographic exhibitions, and since 1979 several thematic exhibitions.
The Numaga Gallery has accepted to take part in the exhibition called l’art c’est l’art because it has the freedom to work autonomously whilst being linked to a group. It is a chance to be perceived from another angle, in a different setting down at the Museum of Ethnography… It has chosen to present works that it considers to be essential for stimulating reflection because the subject involved is a permanent question mark.
Its participation revolves around a suite of seven interventions in which it presents the works of artists from the gallery. A counterpoint is set by the «view» of primitive art which has always been part of the gallery’s history. Suppression and reallocation in a personal discourse are not possible here: each work preserves its autonomy, its particularity, its mysterious opacity. Each visitor is invited to enter a space which cannot be assessed from outside. Only confrontation with the works is offered, the presence of the gallery owner being only sporadic. The viewer can let himself be surprised, can look and see himself from different viewpoints.

Nicole Gonet and Gilbert Huguenin, Auvernier.
  

Artistes ayant exposé à la galerie: Alberola, Maya Andersson, Silvia Bachli, Carlo Baratelli, Baumeister, Vincenzo Baviera, Franz Beer, Pol Bury, Mariapia Borgnini, Miriam Cahn, Antony Caro, Albert Chaminade, Pierre Chevalley, Chillida, Dario Cortese, Richard Deacon, Olivier Debre, Gianni Dessi, Maurice Esteve, Olivier Estoppey, André Evrard, Barbara Ellmerer, Alan Green, Barbara Hee, Peter Hutchinson, Jean-Michel Jaquet, Paul Klee, Kijno, Per Kirkeby, Kolos-Vary, Erik Koch, Konok, Alex Kosta, Lapoujade, Jean Leppien, B. Louttre, Lucebert, Raymond L’epée, Jean Mauboules, Simonetta Martini, André Masson, Magnelli, Jean-René Moeschler, Musialowic, Meret Oppenheim, Flavio Paolucci, Teresa Pagowska, Carmen Perrin, Hernandez Pijuan, Mathieu Pilloud, Pincemin, Prampolini, Prassinos, Philippe Proutheau, Radice, Reggiani, Erik Reiling, Ingo Ronkholz, Peter Royen, Santomaso, Staritsky, Gérard Schneider, Jean Seiler, Francine Simonin, Soldati, Jean Stern, Tajiri, Sofu Teshigahara, Telemaque, Thomkins, Marco Tirelli, No Lee Ung, Wainer Vaccari, Marie-Thérèse Vacossin, Thornton Willis, Léon Zack, Jean Zuber.
  

The art galleries

For many enlightened art lovers, modern galleries are the very embodiment of a place for art: They cultivate good taste with sufficiently approved classicism to reassure people who are not really attracted by extreme experiments. As true witnesses of this century’s currents, they are generally faithful to some chosen artists and inform their public about the way these artists work. At the same time, they usually reject artists supported by local authorities, be they political or cultural. As they are open to horizons beyond regional or national frontiers, they carry out a prospecting job most museums no longer undertake, which often leads to under-the-surface friction between curators and gallery owners.
The typical visitors of modern art galleries are well off, either unmarried individuals or childless couples. Previews are essential for the business to work: they provide the occasion for the most useful links to be formed and the most interesting sales to be made.
A large number of modern art galleries have recently taken up ethnographic objects which constitute safe and stable investments, classical and yet different, reassuring and disturbing: to a certain extent they imitate the role of the galleries themselves.

Cadrée par les murs et les mots de l’institution, autant que par les catégories cognitives qu’on est censé y trouver, l’attente — déçue ou déroutée — du visiteur est essentielle à l’œuvre, et à la compréhension de l’effet qu’elle produit.

Nathalie Heinich. 1998. Le triple jeu de l’art contemporain. Paris: Minuit, p. 12.

> Vernissage.
Assiette en porcelaine blanche, à marli festonné, comportant une tartine de caviar, une tartine d’œufs de saumon et deux tranches de citron en plâtre coloré. MEN 99.21.1.
Bouteille de vin blanc d’Auvernier.