Gallerist Isabelle Bscher

Innovation & Legacy

By Jeremy Murphy

Isabelle Bscher, a third-generation gallerist, grew up immersed in the art world. Her grandmother, Antonina Gmurzynska, founded Galerie Gmurzynska in 1965 in Cologne, Germany, where she put down roots after fleeing the devastation of World War II in Poland. The business was later expanded and relocated to Switzerland by Bscher’s mother, Krystyna Gmurzynska, who continues to run the Zurich operation today.

“When I was a kid, the gallery in Cologne was next door to our house. I used to go there after school,” she said. “I think I took my first steps at an art fair, either Basel or FIAC. My school class even came to see a Yves Klein show. They all thought it was scandalous.”

But Bscher was captivated. She went on to study contemporary art in London and New York, and received a Master’s degree from Sotheby’s.

As she expands their gallery empire to New York, she has remained closely connected with her family. “We speak about 10 times a day,” Bscher told me, laughing.

Unconventional Exhibitions

Despite her desire to continue the Gmurzynska legacy, Bscher’s approach to curation is anything but traditional. She avoids showcasing an artist’s canonical works and instead focuses on their previously unknown relationships, personalities, and inspirations.

Following successful exhibitions on Joan Miró and Roberto Matta, who had never been explored in direct relation, and Dan Basen, an outsider artist from the 1960s who achieved early career recognition before passing at a young age, Bscher set her sights on an innovative show examining Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam’s professional and personal relationship. The last time the duo was exhibited exclusively together was in 1939 at the Perls Galleries in New York. Almost a century later, Bscher is bringing their works back into conversation with one another.

The exhibition comprises 50 pieces, paintings, frescos, works on paper, collage, and ceramics, spanning seventy years (1918-1978). It tells the full story of their intersections, displaying art from before Lam and Picasso met, throughout their profound friendship, and after Picasso’s passing. The duo first came across one another in Paris in May 1938, an encounter that forever changed the surrealist movement as they quickly developed a deep, lifelong companionship. Picasso, twenty-one years Wifredo’s senior, introduced the Cuban artist to the Paris avant-garde, fostering his style, a blend of Cubism, Surrealism, and Santería symbolism.

The Fuller Building
Between 1940 and 1946, Picasso and Lam regularly exhibited together at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in the Fuller Building, the very same space where Galerie Gmurzynska revives their works’ powerful dialogue.

In 2025, when Isabelle Bscher was searching for a new space for her international and multigenerational enterprise, her instinct led her to the Fuller Building on 595 Madison Avenue.

Purpose-built for galleries and once home to legendary art dealers, Pierre Matisse, André Emmerich, and Charles Egan, Willem de Kooning’s exclusive dealer, the space offered what Bscher describes as an ideal combination of architecture and atmosphere. Soaring ceilings, expansive walls, and large windows overlooking Madison Avenue flood the gallery with natural light. Just as important, it retained a slightly raw, industrial edge that invites passersby to fully explore each unique collection on display.

The space’s newest exhibition follows the finissage of the Museum of Modern Art’s highly lauded solo retrospective, “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream,” placing some of Lam’s works previously exhibited at the MoMA on display alongside Picasso’s. Among the collection are a rare Étude pour La Jungle (1943) and other masterpieces from Lam’s estate, including part of his indigenous art collection, as well as two of Picasso’s rare frescos from his 1918 honeymoon in Biarritz and works engaging in his lifelong interest in African Art, such as Animaux naturels (Art Primitifs) from 1943. The show is an ingenious exploration of the two savants of the avant-garde.

As her history shows, Bscher does not follow a rigid formula. She points to a generation of downtown New York artists, figures like Nate Lowman and Dash Snow, as examples of how artistic movements can reemerge with renewed relevance. Staying current, she said, is less about formal research than immersion within global artist communities.

Baz Luhrmann, Robert Indiana, Christo, and Karl Lagerfeld

Over the years, Bscher has worked with film, fashion, and design figures, including Baz Luhrmann, James Franco, Robert Indiana, and Christo.

Few left a greater impression than Karl Lagerfeld, whom the gallery represented for decades. Bscher describes him as “the most cultivated person I’ve ever met,” recalling his encyclopedic knowledge, constant reading, and tightly knit inner circle. Encounters with Lagerfeld often veered into the surreal, from last-minute security concerns to unexpected guests appearing in private spaces.

Yet for all the glamour surrounding the art world, Bscher is acutely aware of its shift toward commercialization, with newcomers viewing it as a path to financial success. That mindset, she warns, can limit artistic growth.

Her advice is straightforward and based on her own path. “Resist that pressure, let the work develop organically.”

Constantly exploring new avenues and defying expectations, Bscher is not simply preserving a legacy, but expanding it.

gmurzynska.com