Heinrich Angst (collector)

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Heinrich Angst (born October 18, 1847 in Regensberg ; † May 14, 1922 there ) was a Swiss textile merchant, collector and one of the best antiques connoisseurs in Switzerland and the first director of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich .

Heinrich Angst (1847–1922) businessman, antiques collector, first director of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich. Photography by Ph. & E. Linke, Zurich.
Heinrich fear

life and work

Heinrich Angst's ancestors immigrated from the Wil district to Eglisau and later to Regensberg in the 16th century . His father was Johannes Angst (* 1796), who, in addition to countless other small offices, held the position of debt clerk (mortgage officer). His mother was Rosina Stapfer, the daughter of the district teacher and founder of the Stapfer Boys' Institute in Horgen .

Heinrich Angst attended secondary school in Schöfflisdorf and then grammar school in Zurich for three years. There he spent his free time a. a. in the collection rooms of the Antiquarian Society in Zurich and met its founder Ferdinand Keller . Heinrich Angst studied architecture at the ETH Zurich in 1864 . In the winter of 1869/1870 he had to stop because of an eye problem. After the recruiting school in Frauenfeld he embarked on a commercial career.

In 1870 Heinrich Angst traveled to London for the first time , where he worked for the local Swiss silk company "Fahrtisen, Bischof & Cie." got. Its owner was the longstanding Consul General of Switzerland in London. When the company went bankrupt in 1876, Heinrich Angst switched to the import company "Dufour Bros. & Cie.".

In England he met his wife Margaret Jennings, whom he married in 1873 and whose brand collection he expanded. He collected Chinese and Japanese silk patterns, exotic curiosities.

When Gottfried Keller Heinrich Angst broadcast the Zurich novellas and read about the Kilchberg-Schooren porcelain manufacture in the volume Der Landvogt von Greifensee , he began to be interested in the manufacture, which he had not known until then. A short time later he was in the north of England and accidentally discovered a Gant ad in which porcelain from Zurich was also offered.

In 1878 Heinrich Angst returned to Zurich at the insistence of his parents, where he was responsible for the sale of Asian silk until 1888 as the representative of his former superiors. In addition to his business activities, he continued his busy collecting activity for Swiss antiquities, in particular for the faience tiled stoves made in majolica technology from Winterthur and the porcelain from Kilchberg.

Heinrich Angst joined the “radical democratic movement” founded by Friedrich Salomon Vögelin and Theodor Curti for a short time in Zurich . He remained friends with Vogelin throughout his life. When he created a section for ancient art for the Swiss National Exhibition in 1883, Heinrich Angst contributed his old Swiss glass painting collection. It is thanks to your initiative that in 1886 the federal government set a budget of 50,000 Swiss francs for the acquisition of Swiss antiquities.

Together with Johann Rudolf Rahn and Zeller-Werdmüller, Angst continued to pursue the project of building a state museum in Zurich. He received competition from the Basel-based architect Ludwig Merian, who had bequeathed his collection and his considerable fortune to the Swiss Confederation to found a Swiss National Museum.

In the spring of 1886 Heinrich Angst was appointed Vice Consul of England under the Consul in Geneva . After his death he became honorary consul for the whole of German and Italian Switzerland and in 1896 consul general .

The draft law for a Swiss National Museum in Zurich was adopted by the Council of States on December 12, 1889 and by the National Council on June 27, 1890 . When Ferdinand Hodler won the competition for the painting of the armory in the State Museum in 1896/1897 , it led to the longest and most bitter art controversy in Switzerland, in which Angst positioned himself as Hodler's opponent.

In addition to his post as Consul General, Heinrich Angst became the first director of the Swiss National Museum from 1892 to 1903 and brought in a considerable part of his private collection, particularly in the field of Swiss ceramics. His dual mandate met with increasing opposition over time and when he was given the choice of either director or consul general in 1903, he decided on the latter and resigned as director of the state museum at the end of the year. As an influential member of the State Museum Commission, he worked until 1916. His loans, a. a. He left the large collection of stoves and stove tiles to the State Museum, in return he received a lifelong pension from the institution. In 1919 another donation was made to the Confederation, this time to the Federal Archives .

Heinrich Angst's successor was his deputy director Hans Lehmann . He was director at the Swiss National Museum from 1904 to 1936. His deputy director was Josef Zemp

In 1909 Richard Kissling created portrait caricatures of Heinrich Angst, Johann Rudolf Rahn, Zeller-Werdmüller and Hans Konrad Pestalozzi for the weapons hall of the Swiss National Museum .

Heinrich Angst was one of the best antiques experts in Switzerland. In his will he specified a large sum for research in Lake Murten for Burgundian armor and weapons on the condition that the finds must remain in Murten . He bequeathed his rich collection of images and historical relics to the Regensberg community. A list of Heinrich Angst's estate is kept in the Zurich Central Library.

The city of Zurich granted Heinrich Angst citizenship for his services . The University of Zurich and Harvard University awarded him honorary doctorates .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Family and youth
  2. ↑ Porcelain from Kilchberg
  3. ^ Collection activity in England
  4. ↑ Faience tiled stoves
  5. ^ Swiss National Museum in Zurich
  6. ^ Wall painting in the weapons hall by Ferdinand Hodler
  7. ↑ Ceramic collection
  8. ↑ Porcelain Collection
  9. ↑ The new management of the Swiss National Museum
  10. ^ Portrait caricatures by Richard Kissling
  11. ↑ estate
  12. ↑ estate, Zenralbibliothek Zurich
personal data
SURNAME Fear, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss textile merchant, collector, antique connoisseur and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Regensberg
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1922
Place of death Regensberg