HALF A CENTURY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR R. Ventura-Melià It might have been a friend of his son who introduced me to Miguel Agraït when he opened Galería Punto in Avenida del Oeste. Throughout my life I have met more than a few businessmen who were into art and had their own collections, some quite considerable for Valencia. Like José María Jiménez de la Iglesia, Saludes, Guillermo Caballero and Fandos, the last of which was also involved in a gallery. Yet each one was completely different and had his own tastes. Agraït never seemed to give much importance to things and if he had a Tàpies or a Miró he never bragged about it. Just as he never thought it was anything special that his gallery held the first exhibition by Josep Renau, while the artist was still living in East Berlin. Not even when he introduced me to John Irwin or to one of the New York pop artists who was a close friend of Andy Warhol's. Just as his children claim that he had a great sense of humour we could also say that he had no vanity (not as a property developer either...). And his generosity was also surprising in both of these spheres, business and art, in which he had such strong bonds. He never struck me as a man who envied others or who held grudges or found fault with others from his profession, about whom he knew a lot of stories and escapades.
All these qualities meant that, for me, dealing with him was always a pleasure and highly rewarding, and we never had an argument that I can remember. He seemed to be a sincere and frank man. With him things seemed to run smoothly. But, at the same time, he was serious, professional and knew how to adapt to the many changing circumstances, some of which never failed to surprise me. I interviewed his artists, all of whom he defended fiercely, even at art fairs here in Spain and abroad (other gallerists were much more dogmatic in their tastes when it came to the artists they represented or defended). Artists from Valencia always had an open door and his whole-hearted support. And all art critics and journalists found in him an open person who helped them in any way possible with their work. I published these interviews in Valencia Semanal, or in Avui, Información or in Levante-EMV. In one way it was like interviewing him indirectly through a kind of mirror or jigsaw puzzle. The person who made the most of these opportunities was myself. And I am still grateful to him for the various chances to speak with some outstanding artists. As could not be otherwise. And also for being able to contemplate so many works of art, whether in exhibitions or in his office, where he kept them for himself, or had them on sale. Sometimes only to reappear years later, like those by Equipo Realidad. A half a century of a gentleman from Valencia.
Allen Jones, exposición 2000
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TIAF. Toronto, 2000