Interview: Kenneth Schlenker, Founder of Gertrude, The Startup That's Changing The Shape Of The Art World

It's Paris in the 1920s. You're in a smoke-filled room with Picasso to your right and Hemingway to your left, sipping Pernod while F. Scott Fitzgerald speaks to Henri Matisse about his latest painting. Such was the scene of the famed ex-pat Gertrude Stein's legendary Salon, held in her apartment every Saturday. This tasteful congregation of artists and intellectuals, writers and thinkers, movers and shakers, is exactly what Kenneth Schlenker hopes to achieve with his rapidly growing startup Gertrude. A former Google employee, the Frenchman has fused art and technology in order to change the shape of the art world and turn the viewing and buying experience into a fully stimulating social event. We sat down with Schlenker near his office in Williamsburg to talk artist relationships, the importance of being on time, and the second coming of Gertrude.