Josef Müller (art collector)

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Josef Müller ( Ferdinand Hodler )

Josef Müller (born February 15, 1887 in Solothurn ; † March 24, 1977 there , Catholic , legal resident in Solothurn) was a Swiss art collector and conservator .

Life

Josef Müller was the son of Josef Müller senior, co-founder of the Solothurn company Müller & Schweizer, which specializes in the manufacture of diversified watch parts, and Anna Müller, née Haiber. After the premature death of his parents, he was raised by a governess , completed a mechanical engineering degree at the Polytechnic in Zurich , completed an internship in the USA from 1912 to 1914 and joined his father's company.

As a result, Müller withdrew from the family business and turned to art. He became a student of Cuno Amiet and set up his own studio, initially in Geneva , and from 1922 in Paris . Müller - he began to collect modern , African, Asian and ancient art - returned to Solothurn in 1942, where he worked as a curator at the Solothurn Art Museum from 1943 to 1967 . He was a member and president of the Solothurn Art Commission and from 1954 to 1960 a member of the Federal Art Commission .

In 1970 he was awarded the Culture Prize of the Canton of Solothurn. Josef Müller - he married Louise Adèle Hortense nee Ecuvillon in 1929 - died in 1977 at the age of 90 in Solothurn.

Like his sister Gertrud Dübi-Müller, Müller maintained contact with the most important Swiss artists of his time, such as Ferdinand Hodler , Cuno Amiet, Giovanni Giacometti and Félix Vallotton, from a young age . He acquired their works as well as those by Pablo Picasso , Paul Cézanne , Fernand Léger , Henri Matisse and others. In 1969 he founded the Josef Müller Foundation and left part of his valuable art collection to the Solothurn Art Museum.

His extensive collection of non-European works has been included in the Museum Barbier-Mueller in Geneva, founded by his daughter Monique and his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller . The pre-Columbian art part has been shown in Barcelona since 1997 and was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in 2013, as neither the municipality nor the Spanish state could raise the funds for a purchase .

literature

  • Matthias Oberli: Müller, Josef. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Swiss art in the Josef Müller Collection: Exhibition, City Museum of Solothurn, June 15 - September 7, 1975 . Vogt shield, 1975.
  • Dübi Müller Foundation, Josef Müller Foundation . Solothurn Art Museum, 1981.
  • Jean Paul and Monique Barbier-Mueller: From the life of a collector - Josef Müller 1887–1977 . Musée Barbier-Müller, 1989 ISBN 2881040209 .
  • The art of collecting . Swiss Institute for Art Research, 1998, pp. 91–93, ISBN 3908184878 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The woodcutter, painting by Ferdinand Hodler from the Josef Müller art collection In: www.christies.com
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss art collector and curator
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Solothurn
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1977
Place of death Solothurn