Adolf Fischer (art collector)

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Adolf Fischer (born May 4, 1856 in Vienna ; † April 13, 1914 in Meran ) was an Austrian art collector , actor , theater director and founder of the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne .

Life

Adolf Fischer was born on May 4, 1856 in Vienna, the second of three sons and three daughters of a large industrial family. After completing his school education at a boarding school in Zurich , he began a commercial training in one of his parents' companies. Against the wishes of his parents, he later trained as an actor with the Viennese court actor Joseph Lewinsky . After his first engagements at the Berlin National Theater , among others , he took over the management of the City Theater in Königsberg in 1883 , but resigned in 1886. This was followed by a theater tour to the USA in 1887 before he retired from the stage. During the time of his acting career, he called himself Adolf Werther .

Adolf Fischer withdrew to Italy as a privateer for several years , devoted himself to studying Italian art and extensive travels. He later lived in Munich and Berlin. On July 22nd, 1892 he went on board the Augusta Victoria and began a world tour which took him to Japan for the first time .

In 1896 Adolf Fischer settled in Berlin as a private scholar and exhibited the art objects acquired in Asia in his apartment on Nollendorfplatz , the so-called “ Nollendorfeum ” . During this time he met the manufacturer's daughter Frieda Bartdorff (born March 24, 1874, † December 27, 1945), who was 18 years younger than him. Both married on March 1, 1897. On their honeymoon they traveled from September 1897 to Vienna, Ahmedabad , Hong Kong , Formosa and Japan. In May 1899 the Fischers returned to Berlin. The newly acquired art objects were at the beginning of 1900 on the VI. Vienna Secession exhibited. In 1901 the Fischers closed their apartment on Nollendorfplatz and transferred their collection to the Völkerkundemuseum in Berlin . In the same year they traveled to Asia again . Favored by the German colonial policy , Adolf Fischer took on the position of a scientific expert at the legation in Beijing from 1904 to 1907 with the order to acquire art for German museums and secured the right to acquire art for his own collection.

Museum of East Asian Art

Museum of East Asian Art (1914) - Adolf-Fischer-Strasse (right) and Gereonswall.

As early as 1902, Adolf and Frieda Fischer had the idea of ​​founding their own museum for East Asian art.

"That does not serve ethnology, but should only be dedicated to the art of East Asia"

- Frieda Fischer, diary entry 1902

After initial negotiations with the city of Kiel , from April 1908 the Fischers had a gymnasium as a temporary home for their collection. When it became clear that the city of Kiel would not be able to adequately finance the construction of a museum, Adolf Fischer terminated the contract with the city of Kiel in April 1909.

After failed negotiations in Berlin and Kiel, successful negotiations with the city ​​of Cologne followed in 1909 . On June 21, 1909, a founding agreement was signed according to which Adolf and Frieda Fischer donated their entire collection (around 900 exhibits) and their extensive library. In return, the city of Cologne finances the building of the museum and grants Adolf and Frieda Fischer an annuity . In addition, Adolf Fischer was to be appointed founding director and, in the event of his death, his wife was to succeed him.

The Fischer Collection was initially housed in the old building of the Kunstgewerbemuseum at Hansaring 32 opposite Hansaplatz . After the laying of the foundation stone on January 24, 1911, the museum building for East Asian art , designed by Franz Brantzky in neo-classical style , was opened on October 25, 1913 at the corner of Adolf-Fischer-Strasse and Gereonswall. The interior was designed by the Austrian architect Josef Frank , it was also one of his first public commissions that he took on.

After the death of Adolf Fischer

Honorary grave in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne .
The museum building at the Aachener Weiher since 1977 .

Adolf Fischer dies just a few months after the museum opened and his wife Frieda takes over management of the museum in accordance with the contract and is Germany's second museum director ever. Frieda Fischer became a sought-after expert and reviewer for East Asian art. Her second marriage was in 1921, when she married the Jewish Senate President at the Higher Regional Court and professor at the University of Cologne, Alfred Ludwig Wieruszowski .

In 1937 Frieda Fischer-Wieruszowski was forced out of office as museum director by the National Socialists because of her husband's Jewish origins and was no longer allowed to enter the museum. Completely disenfranchised and impoverished, she fled with her husband in October 1944, first to Dresden and later to Berlin. She died there on December 27, 1945, a few months after her husband. Her remains were not transferred to Cologne until 1952 .

The grave of Adolf Fischer and Frieda Fischer-Wieruszowski is in Cologne's Melaten cemetery (hallway 76A). The tomb designed by the sculptor Georg Grasegger was inaugurated on November 3rd, 1920 and repaired in 1984. The grave is maintained by the city of Cologne as an honor grave . On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the museum's opening, the grave complex was again extensively renovated with funds from the support group of the Museum for East Asian Art in Cologne .

The museum building on Hansaring was completely destroyed in one of the last air raids on Cologne in April 1944. The outsourced art objects could all be saved. It was not until 1977 that a new building was erected at the Aachener Weiher according to plans by the Japanese Kunio Maekawa , which is one of the most important monuments of the post-war period in Cologne.

In Cologne, at the former location of the museum (corner of Gereonswall), Adolf-Fischer-Strasse commemorates the founder Adolf Fischer .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h museenkoeln.de: Departure into a new era: The founding of the Museum for East Asian Art in Cologne ( memento from July 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 23, 2016
  2. ↑ East Asian Journal , Volume 3, Oesterheld & Company, 1915, page 104
  3. ^ Werther (aka Fischer), Adolf in: Wilhelm Kosch: Deutsches Theater-Lexikon . 6: Weisbrod - Wolansky. De Gruyter, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-908255-46-8 , p. 3270 . ( Digitized version )
  4. ↑ ancestry.de: Adolf Werther-Fischer in Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 , accessed on July 23, 2016
  5. ^ Eduard Prüssen (linocuts), Werner Schäfke and Günter Henne (texts): Cologne heads . 1st edition. University and City Library, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-931596-53-8 , pp. 92 .
  6. ↑ a b c museenkoeln.de: Ceremony for Adolf Fischer , accessed on July 22, 2016
  7. ↑ Ulrich S. Soénius (Ed.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon . Greven-Verl, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 , p. 156-157 .
  8. ↑ Josef Abt, Joh. Ralf Beines, Celia Körber – Leupold: Melaten. Cologne graves and history . Greven, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7743-0305-3 , p. 226 .
  9. ↑ Musenblätter - The independent culture magazine. In: www.musenblaetter.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  10. ↑ bilderbuch-koeln.de: Adolf-Fischer-Str. accessed on July 23, 2016

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fischer, Adolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Werther, Adolf (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian art collector, actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1914
Place of death Meran