Jacques Koerfer

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Jacques Koerfer (born November 2, 1902 , † August 28, 1990 ) was a German entrepreneur and art collector. The major shareholder in BMW brought together an important collection with works of French impressionism , classical modernism and works by contemporary artists.

Life

Jacques Koerfer was born as the son of the architect and building contractor Jacob Koerfer and his wife Hubertine (Berta), née Kochs. One of his brothers is the architect Hanns Koerfer . The Hansahochhaus in Cologne designed by his father and other properties are still part of the family's assets. Jacques Koerfer first completed a law degree with a doctorate before he started working in real estate management in his father's company. He later founded a film production company and in 1938 took over parts of the Berlin Garbaty cigarette company and its properties in the course of the so-called "Aryanization" .

Jacques Koerfer's first marriage was to Irène Koerfer-Fehr. This marriage resulted in three children, including the film director Thomas Koerfer . Koerfer moved to Switzerland in the 1930s. After the death of his first wife, he married Christina Koerfer-Feine (1921–2013) for the second time. There were five other children from this marriage, including the historian Daniel Koerfer and the publisher Adrian Koerfer . The family lived in the Rothaus Campagne in Bolligen near Bern and had a villa built by the famous architect Marcel Breuer in 1967 in Moscia, Ticino . As an entrepreneur, he became involved in the BMW car group from the 1950s and at times held ten percent of the shares. In addition, he was Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board for some time. Koerfer is also known as one of the most important art collectors of the post-war period.

Grave site of the Koerfer family (February 2019)

Koerfer died in 1990 at the age of 87 and was buried in the family grave in Cologne's Melaten cemetery (grave site: MA, between HWG and lit. P)

After the collector's death, the heirs had his art collection auctioned off at several auctions. Particular attention was paid to the self- portrait Portrait of the Artist Without Beard by Vincent van Gogh , which found a new owner in 1998 for $ 71.5 million - the second highest price ever paid for a work by this artist. According to Jacques Koerfer, Dr. Jacques Koerfer Foundation , which is dedicated to promoting young international scholars in the fields of architecture, art history and modern history / contemporary history.

The Jacques Koerfers art collection

Jacques Koerfer's collection consisted mainly of works from French impressionism, classical modernism and works by contemporary artists. An exception in this collection was the panel painting The miraculous spring in Sankt Florian by Albrecht Altdorfer from 1518-20 . In terms of style, the cityscape of Le Pont des Arts, Paris by Stanislas Lépine from 1875 is still before Impressionism , whereas the landscape painting Pommiers à Pontoise: La maison du père Gallien by Camille Pissarro from 1868 shows clear features of Impressionism. Other highlights of this style in the collection were the paintings L'Inondation: La Seine à Vétheuil (1879–80) by Claude Monet , L'Amazone de face (1882) by Édouard Manet and Le Barrage du Loing à St-Mammès (1886) by Alfred Sisley . Added to this were the watercolor Homme et Enfant à l'Ombrelle by Berthe Morisot , the oil sketch Achille de Gas, debout en chapeau haut de forme (1872–73) and the pastel Danseuses en scène , (1896–98) by Edgar Degas . Two other pastels with the titles Nu de Dos and Les Baigneuses (1894) came from Pierre-Auguste Renoir .

  • Stanislas Lépine:
    Le Pont des Arts, Paris , 1875
    private collection

  • Camille Pissarro:
    Pommiers Pontoise , 1868
    private collection

  • Édouard Manet:
    Amazone en face , 1882
    Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

  • Paul Cézanne:
    Château Noir , 1902–05
    private collection

Paul Cézanne was represented in the collection with the paintings Coussin sur une chaise (1887), Le Château Noir (1902–05) and Portrait de l'Artiste (1883–85). The works of late Impressionism included Paysage à Pont-Aven (1888) and Portrait de l'Artiste devant le chevalet. Copenhagen (1884–85) by Paul Gauguin and Portrait of the Beardless Artist (1889) by Vincent van Gogh . Then there were the gouaches Dans la Loge au Concert (1896) and Danseuse ajustant son maillot ou le Premier Maillot (1890) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the pencil drawing Homme couché sur un parapet (1883/1884) by Georges Seurat . One of the 20th century artists in the collection was Georges Rouault , by whom Koerfer owned the 1908 Femme aux cheveux roux, executed in gouache and watercolor . He owned the two paintings Homme et Femme dans un Intérieur from 1898 and Boulevard des Batignolles ou La Pluie from 1926 by Pierre Bonnard. In addition, Amedeo Modigliani 's Portrait du Sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff from 1916 was in the collection. In addition, there was an early work by Henri Matisse with L'Idole - Portrait de Madame Matisse from 1906 .

  • Paul Gauguin:
    Portrait de l'Artiste devant le chevalet. Copenhagen , 1884–85
    Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

  • Vincent van Gogh:
    Portrait of the artist without a beard , 1889
    private collection

  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec:
    Danseuse Ajustant son Maillot , 1890
    private collection

  • Amedeo Modigliani:
    Portrait du Sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff , 1916
    Private collection

Koerfer's holdings of Cubist paintings were extensive . The pictures Nature Morte - Le Café (1912), La Bouteille de Rhum (1911) and Nature Morte au Compotier (1919) by Georges Braque were found in the collection. From Juan Gris he owned the painting Le Violon Vert (1916) and the gouache with charcoal drawing Nature Morte à la Lampe (1914). There were also Fernand Léger's paintings Remorqueur (1917) Composition jaune et noire (1929) and Composition à la fleur (1937) and exported in the Gouache with watercolor work Deux Profile (1926). The collection also included orange, ultramarine, blue, undamped, green, violet, small by Paul Klee . orange stars (watercolor, 1915) and captive animals (paste colors on paper, 1940), from Henri Lauren's collage (1917), from Alberto Giacometti Nature Morte - d'après Cézanne (pencil drawing, 1923/24) and from Piet Mondrian 's composition 1921 (1921). Koerfer had also brought together works by Pablo Picasso from various phases: Demi-nu à la cruche (painting, 1906), violon, bouteille, verre (painting, 1913), Tête de jeune fille au poème (painting, 1938), La couseuse ( Gouache, 1906) and L'Aubade (drawing, 1970).

Contemporary work dating from the 1960s included Femme et Oiseau (1968) by Joan Miró , Hope of Angelique (1969) by Jules Olitzki , March of Winter (1958) and Underneath the Moments (1970) by Mark Tobey , Untitled (1967) by Mark Rothko , Untitled (1965) by Ben Nicholson , Untitled (1963) by Hans Hofmann and Pale Way (1969) by Kenneth Noland . One of the most recent works in the Koerfer Collection was a 1973 version of Jasper Johns' Two Flags .

In addition, Koerfer had collected a small collection of sculptures. These ranged from Edgar Degas' Danseuse au repos, les mains sur les reins, la jambe droite en avant from 1882/95 and Le Tub from 1886, to Aristide Maillol's Femme s'essuyant le pied and Jeune Fille nue debout from 1900 and Henri Laurens ' Femme couchée au miroir from 1922 to Isaac Witkins Vermont from 1966 and Henry Moore's Pointed Torso from 1969.

literature

  • Véra Lindsey, Christina Koerfer: Eye and Vision - The Jacques Koerfer Collection . Werner & Bischoff, Basel 1972.
  • Stanley Abercrombie: Marcel Breuer: Koerfer House, Stillman House, Gagarin House . ADA Edita, Tokyo 1977.
  • Dorothy Kosinski, Joachim Pissarro , Mary Anne Stevens: From Manet to Gauguin - Masterpieces of Swiss Private Collections . Royal Academy of Arts, London 1995, ISBN 90-5544-064-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Philip Plickert: Daniel Koerfer, historian with high-rise . Article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on May 23, 2011, accessed on November 26, 2011
  2. ↑ Peter Bölke: Certificate of inheritance from the concentration camp , article in Spiegel from May 19, 1997 , accessed on November 26, 2011
  3. ^ A b Gerhard Mack: I'm looking for rejection . Article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of March 10, 2002, accessed on November 26, 2011
  4. ↑ Article securities / BMW, course 1000? in Der Spiegel of June 9, 1969. Retrieved on November 26, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Koerfer, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1902
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1990