Franz Mayer (art collector)

Franz Mayer , also Franz Mayer-Traumann , (born September 22, 1882 , according to other information September 3 or 16, 1882 in Mannheim , † 1975 in Mexico ), was a Mexican businessman and art collector of German descent. The Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City goes back to him .

Life

Mayer grew up as the son of Jewish parents in the Mannheimer squares and attended the Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim from 1891–1897 . He then completed a year of voluntary military service. Presumably he became a non-commissioned officer in the Baden Grenadier Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm No. 110.

In 1901 Mayer left his parents' home and moved to London because he felt neglected towards his far more attractive, agile brother. In England he worked in financial business. In 1903 he moved to New York , where he is said to have worked for the investment banking house Merrill Lynch , before he settled in Mexico City in 1905 as an independent businessman. During the Mexican Revolution in 1910 he interrupted his work for two years and spent this time again in the USA. After returning to Mexico, he married Antonieta de la Macorra at the age of 38, but she died two years later. In 1933 he took on the Mexican nationality. His professionally acquired wealth formed the basis for his art collection, which today forms the core of the museum named after him.

In his free time, Mayer worked as a mountaineer and breeder of exotic plants. From numerous trips through Latin America as well as an extended trip to the Middle East and Egypt , he also brought numerous photographs of his own, which he developed in his darkroom. His everyday and nature impressions of Mexico from the early 20th century have been published as an illustrated book.

In the course of his life he collected over 9,000 objets d'art, which filled 30 rooms of his house in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec residential area in Mexico City. The collection is open to the public in the Museo Franz Mayer . It shows one of the largest collections of decorative arts in Mexico, with a focus on Mexican art from the 16th to 18th centuries. Century, especially furniture, textiles, silver and ceramics.

literature

• Héctor Rivero Borrell M., Gustavo Curiel, Antonio Rubial García, Juana Gutiérrez Haces, David B. Warren: The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico: Treasures from the Museo Franz Mayer . University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 2002. ISBN 0-89090-107-4 .

Web links

• Website of the Museo Franz Mayer