Association of German Galleries and Fine Art Dealers

The Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthaendler e.V. (BVDG) is a German professional art association. Its origins trace to the founding of the Verein progressiver deutscher Kunsthändler by gallerists Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner in 1966. The association's activities have included cultural policy engagement and art market initiatives.

The BVDG traces its origins to the founding of the Verein progressiver deutscher Kunsthändler by gallerists Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner in 1966. In 1967, this association and its 18 founding members organized the Kunstmarkt Köln '67 in the Gürzenich in Cologne, described as the first fair for contemporary art worldwide. In 1973, the Verein progressiver deutscher Kunsthändler was absorbed into the Europäische Kunsthändlervereinigung. One of the BVDG's first cultural policy activities was in 1975, supporting the appeal 'Kunst ist kein Luxus' addressed to all political parties to support a major inquiry in the German Bundestag on cultural policy. In the same year, the BVDG participated for the first time in a meeting of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kunsthandelsverbände, a joint forum for art trade policy activities. At this meeting, the issue of the droit de suite (Folgerecht) was already a central topic, with which the BVDG remains concerned to this day. In 1976, initial considerations arose within the BVDG on how the planned new Künstlersozialabgabe could be politically addressed. Within the Arbeitskreis deutscher Kunsthandelsverbände, negotiations were conducted with the VG Bild-Kunst in the following years to reach a lump-sum arrangement for the settlement of the droit de suite and the Künstlersozialabgabe. With the involvement of the BVDG, the Ausgleichsvereinigung Kunst was founded in 1980, which, through the payment of an annual turnover lump sum, enables participating galleries to benefit from bureaucratic and economic relief. Also in 1980, the later chairman of the BVDG, Gerhard F. Reinz, together with the gallerist...

1. 1Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthaendler e.V. | KUNST SCHAFFT NEUES DENKENbvdg.de
2. 2Geschichte und Wirkung | Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthaendler e.V.bvdg.de