Ernst Beyeler, 1921-2010 The art world remembers a great art dealer, collector and museum founder

04 March '10 by the editors

Ernst Beyeler died peacefully at his home in Riehen, Switzerland, on 25 February at the age of 88. His death marks the end of an era. As an art dealer, collector, mediator and museum founder, he was an inspiration to the international art world for over 60 years, during which which he transformed his home city of Basel into an important art centre.

In 1945 he took over an antiquarian bookshop in Basel. Under the new name of Galerie Beyeler, it became one of the world’s leading addresses for modern art. Some 300 exhibitions, all of them accompanied by carefully prepared catalogues, have been mounted there to date. Most of the major artists of the 20th century were exhibited there, and many of them were his friends. He selected works directly from Picasso’s studio, served as Dubuffet’s private representative for a time, had an agreement with Kandinsky’s widow about the artist’s estate, and included Newman, Bacon, Lichtenstein and Basquiat in his exhibitions early on. With a view to establishing an Alberto Giacometti Foundation, he acquired 100 of the artist’s works from the collection of G. David Thompson in Pittsburgh and as many works by Klee, which were to form the core of the state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf. He helped to develop noted private collections and mediated numerous museum acquisitions, among them Van Gogh’s painting Portrait of Joseph Roulin, 1889, and Picasso’s sculpture Guitar, 1914, for MoMA. He became perhaps the most important art dealer of our time, with an unparalleled number of masterpieces going through his hands. In 1970, Beyeler co-founded Art Basel with other Basel gallerists and made it the world’s leading art fair. He organised major international outdoor sculpture exhibitions in Basel in 1980 and 1984.

Together with his wife Hildy, who died in 2008, he put together a dazzling collection of post-impressionist, classical modern and contemporary art, which was shown at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (1989), at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1993) and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney (1996/1997). The Beyelers had already created a foundation for their private collection in 1982, to make the works accessible to the public and to awaken young people’s interest in art. To house it, they funded a museum designed by Renzo Piano. Since its opening in 1997, the Fondation Beyeler, located in Riehen near Basel, has attracted over 3m visitors.

The Wrapped Trees project by Christo and Jeanne Claude, 1997-98, and numerous world-class exhibitions were staged under his supervision, among them “Cézanne and Modernism”, “The Surrealist Picasso”, “Henri Matisse”, “Mark Rothko”, “Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art”, “Andy Warhol”, “Ellsworth Kelly” and “Anselm Kiefer”. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Basel in 1987, named a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985 and the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1998.

Ernst Beyeler was an elegant, charismatic, dynamic man with an intense passion for art. His eye for outstanding quality is legendary. He was a citizen of the world who despite his enormous international success retained his modesty, amiability and close ties to his home city. With his passing, the art world has lost one of its most influential figures.

Art world tributes

Ernst was one of the last of the great art dealers of the 20th century. He was instrumental in several important acquisitions at MoMA including Portrait of Joseph Roulin, 1889, by Van Gogh and Picasso’s Guitar, 1914. He had a sharp eye and an even sharper mind.

Glenn Lowry, director of Museum of Modern Art, New York

Ernst Beyeler was a brilliant dealer whose success was founded on his sharp eye, his legendary charm and his pioneering commitment to making serious catalogues for his shows. The Fondation Beyeler set new standards, winning an international reputation for the quality of its collection and the excellence of its shows.

Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, London

He was unquestionably in the European tradition of the dealer-collector, much like Heinz Berggruen. With his extraordinary eye, Ernst knew when trends were changing long before others. I remember going to his gallery and there were 50 Albers on the floor. He immersed himself in art. And he was a very good businessman yet with a great abiding love for what he did.

Donald Marron, collector, and MoMA president emeritus

Just over 45 years ago, I was just starting my business. I went to Basel to visit Ernst Beyeler. He had just acquired the G. David Thompson collection, and said, without hesitation, “Go over to my warehouse and pick what you want.” He would send me things that were valued at hundreds of thousands, and I didn’t have to pay him until I sold them. I’m still daunted by it. I had an incredible relationship with him.

James Goodman, Manhattan dealer, former ADAA president

Ernst’s great legacy is his museum with its Picassos, Kandinskys, Mirós. Really from Manet onwards, he had the best. Today, it’s one of the most beautiful museums in the world. But his contributions surpass that museum alone. He made Basel into the great centre of culture it is today.

Sir Norman Rosenthal, independent curator

We were partners in a number of works until the day he died. He was a hero to me, a giant of the 20th and 21st centuries. I so admired his connoisseurship. When the Art Institute was considering a new building, they looked at the Beyeler. Renzo is all about light and that building outside Basel reflected it.

Comment

More news

	Woman Convicted in Case of Stolen Antoinette Watch The widow of a notorious Israeli thief has been convicted of receiving stolen property from a 27-year-old heist that included more than 100 expensive timepieces and museum artifacts, including what's been called "the Mona Lisa of the clock world." 04 March '10
	Holy Russia: Russian Art from the Beginnings to Peter the Great Opens at the Louvre As part of France's "Year of Russia" celebrations, the Louvre, Paris is hosting a major exhibition dedicated to the history of Christian Russia, from the 9th to the 18th century. 04 March '10
	Saddam Hussein's Personal Physician to Show Works at University of Leicester After being 20 years in the service of one of history’s most notorious dictators, the artwork of Dr Ala Bashir provides a deep insight into the horror of Iraq’s recent history. 03 March '10
	Richard Hamilton: Modern Moral Matters at the Serpentine Gallery To start its 40th anniversary year, the Serpentine Gallery London presents Richard Hamilton: Modern Moral Matters, a solo exhibition by one of the world’s most respected living artists. This will be the first major presentation of Hamilton’s work in London since 1992 and will include several new works created especially for the Serpentine Gallery exhibition. 03 March '10
	Important Antiquities Sale to be Held at Christie's in April As part of the specialised sales on offer in South Kensington, Christie’s announced the upcoming Antiquities sale, to be held on 29 April 2010. The first Christie’s sale organised by Georgiana Aitken since her appointment as head of the Antiquities department in November 2009 is set to excite international collectors and connoisseurs as well as institutions with many important, rare and museum quality pieces. The sale will comprise approximately 350 lots, including sculpture, vases and bronzes as well as a selection of ancient jewellery. Estimates range from £500 to £400,000 and the sale is expected to realize in the region of £2.5-3.5 million. 03 March '10
	Medieval Mourning Sculptures from Court of Burgundy Featured at Metropolitan The famous 15th-century sculptors Jean de la Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier worked together for more than 25 years on a grand and complex commission: the tomb of John the Fearless (Jean sans Peur, 1371–1419), the second Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Margaret of Bavaria, which featured 41 alabaster mourning figures, among other elements. Following the precedent of the mourners carved for the tomb of Philip the Bold, the first Duke of Burgundy, de la Huerta and Le Moiturier created astonishingly realistic and highly individualized pleurants (mourners) that serve as a permanent record of the lavish funeral of one of the richest men in medieval France. The figures convey a broad range of great emotions from melancholy to desolation through facial expression, gesture, and the eloquent draping of garments. The renovation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, France where 37 of the statuettes from the tomb of John the Fearless are housed provides an opportunity for the unprecedented loan of these figures for the exhibition The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, opening March 2 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first venue in an eight-city tour. 03 March '10
	Maria Lassnig Exhibition at Lenbechaus Presents Over Forty Paintings For over six decades, Maria Lassnig has explored perceptions and representations of the inner sensations of the body through her paintings and drawings. Lassnig, who was born in 1919 in Carinthia, Austria, already gave her early 1940s work the programmatic title of “bodyconsciousness drawings”. Soon thereafter she travelled to Paris and discovered surrealism and art informel. Through her non-figurative geometrical work she quickly became the most important protagonist in abstract art in post-war Austria. However, throughout her abstract works she still focused on subjective sensations and emotions. 03 March '10
	Graduates of Design Academy to Show Work in Selling Exhibition at Sotheby's Sotheby’s made known its collaboration with Design Academy Eindhoven and their first ever exhibition in the UK. From Thursday, 13 May to Tuesday, 18 May, 2010, Sotheby’s will host, in its New Bond Street galleries in London, a selling exhibition of work by some of the star graduates of the class of 2009 of the renowned academy in The Netherlands. Design Academy Eindhoven has an international reputation in the field of Design and the approaching selling exhibition at Sotheby’s is a chance to spot the next group of design stars of the future. Among the talents that will be represented in the exhibition are Anna van der Lei, Yoeri Treffers, Digna Kosse and Amélie Onzon. This exhibition will be a selection from the Milan Salone del Mobile, 14-18 April, 2010. 25 February '10
	Online Gallery Promises a Kultural Revolution! KounterKulture, the brains behind Newcastle-based gallery Opus Art, promises to revolutionise the art market by giving art lovers an unparalleled level of access to contemporary artists, their work, and a location for collectors to trade their pieces commission free. 25 February '10
	Van Gogh Experts Authenticate Unusual Painting Now on View at Museum de Fundatie 25 February '10
	The World's Wealthiest Artists? It is not easy to make a living as an artist. Even as the market for contemporary art has expanded in the past 50 years then lately contracted, only to begin expanding again, a mere handful of artists have made considerably amounts of money during their lifetimes. But those who have succeeded have done quite well indeed. 24 February '10
	Two Intriguing Artworks, One Believed to be a Rare Honore Daumier, Up for Auction The area around Washington, D.C., has always been a sweet spot for European art discoveries because so many high-ranking diplomats and government officials live there. Traditionally, these are sophisticated people who’ve traveled extensively and returned home to the nation's capital with art and antiques acquired during their overseas stints. 24 February '10
	Wangechi Mutu Wins Deutsche Bank “Artist of the Year” Award Wangechi Mutu, a multimedia artist best known for her fantastical, politically and socially engaged collages addressing the African diaspora, has been named winner of Deutsche Bank's first "Artist of the Year" award. As part of the honor, the 37-year-old artist will receive a survey of her work opening this April at the Deutsche Guggenheim, which is run in partnership with the bank. A collection of her works on paper will be acquired for the Deutsche Bank Collection and dispersed among its various offices. 24 February '10
	After London and Before Madrid, the Grand Palais in Paris Welcomes Turner and the Masters The British landscapist J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) was highly unusual in that he used elements from old Masters and his contemporaries throughout his lengthy career. This often anxious, pernickety, deliberately competitive but always fertile exchange was an integral part of his work as a painter. Turner emerged in the mid-1790s as a particularly gifted and ambitious watercolourist, rivalling his greatest contemporaries (including his friend Thomas Girton (1775-1802)) but also eager to better his painting technique by studying the Welsh landscapist Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and visiting private collections. In the absence of museums, the early British collections gave him access to the old masters he sought to equal. 24 February '10
	New Work by Dutch Artist Jacco Olivier at Marianne Boesky Gallery Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, will hold an exhibition of new work by Dutch artist Jacco Olivier. This is the artist's third solo show at the gallery. 24 February '10
	Exhibition Re-Asserts Henry Moore's Position at the Forefront of Sculpture Radical, imaginative and avant garde, Henry Moore (1898-1986) was one of Britain’s top artists. A major exhibition at Tate Britain will be put together by ‘Henry Moore’, an organization between Tate Britain and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Henry Moore hopes the exhibition will re-assert his position at the forefront of progressive twentieth-century sculpture, bringing together the most comprehensive selection of his works for a generation. Henry Moore will present over 150 works which include stone sculptures, wood carvings, bronzes and drawings. 24 February '10
	Giant artwork stolen from Witte de With in Rotterdam Staff at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, are baffled by the mystery that unfolded yesterday, when an artwork measuring 30 x 11m disappeared from its façade. 20 February '10
	Frantisek Kupka: Art Works from the Pompidou Collection at Picasso Museum František Kupka took painting to its vital elements: the plane, line and dot. During his career he developed a highly distinctive and exceptional style that still defies any attempt to classify it due to its focus on science, philosophy and mysticism. In addition, Kupka’s work suggests new approaches to interpreting the birth and evolution of modern art. 17 February '10