Julius Schmits
Julius Schmits (* 1855 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal ), † April 1916 in Elberfeld) was an art collector and patron as well as a fabric manufacturer and city councilor in Elberfeld.
Life
Julius Schmits' father Julius Adolf Schmits married Luise de Landas and they had two children, Luise (1853-1918) and Julius. From 1883 to 1895 Julius Adolf Schmits ran the upholstery fabric factory Julius Schmits & Co. in Sophienstrasse. 3 together with his son. After his departure, the son took over management together with Ernst E. Frowein. In 1901 the company was liquidated, respectively, to the Barmer carpet factory & Co. Vorwerk sold.
Julius Schmits married Ida (née Haarhaus) (1861–1954) in 1881, a sister of Selma von der Heydt , the wife of the art collector and patron August von der Heydt . Schmits was one of the founders of the Elberfeld Museumsverein in 1892 and has since been its chairman. A few years after his father's death, Julius Schmits moved into the Schmits Villa in Luisenstrasse , where he had extensive structural changes made both inside and out. Schmits was an open-minded and knowledgeable art collector who maintained personal contacts with numerous French artists whom he himself visited in France. On the occasion of the opening of the Wuppertal Museum, he was awarded the Red Eagle Order IV class for his services as a patron and patron of the arts . The Impressionist works donated by Julius Schmits, August von der Heydt and others formed the basis of the modern collection of the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal .
After the death of his son Günther, who fell in the French Argonne on January 11, 1915 , Julius Schmit had him erect a memorial stone on Günther-Schmits-Weg of the same name . The memorial stone is the oldest war memorial in Wuppertal. After Julius Schmits' death, his wife Ida continued to live in the Villa Schmits with brief interruptions until her death. According to an obituary, the villa on Luisenstrasse was an intellectual and social center in Elberfeld .
Schmits' second son Walther Schmits (1884–1957) was captured by the Russians in Siberia during the First World War . From there he fled to China, where he lived for decades. In 1952 he left China and met Asoka Weeraratna in Sri Lanka , the founder of the Buddhist German Dharmaduta Society , whose goal was to revive Buddhism in Germany after the Nazi and war times. The Buddhist House in Berlin was acquired with Walther Schmits' help .
Foundations and patronage
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| date | Foundation, endowment | purpose | value |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1894 | Acquisition of forests | 10,000 marks | |
| March 1900 | Painting by Ernst Roeber | for the Lord Mayor's room | 3,000 marks |
| July 1900 | Construction of a new building | for the Municipal Museum | 30,000 marks |
| November 1900 | Enlargement of the Adolf Schmits Foundation | 1,500 marks | |
| December 1901 | The painting The Wave by Auguste Boulard the Elder | 4,000 marks | |
| June 1902 | Sculpture collection | for the Municipal Museum | 3,721 marks |
| February 1904 | Winding machine and loom | for craft and trade schools | 1,200 marks |
| January 1906 | Installation of a shower bath at the highest | 25,000 marks | |
| January 1906 | Landscape by John Constable | for the Municipal Museum | 3,000 marks |
| January 1906 | Purchase of paintings | for the Municipal Museum | 5,000 marks |
| June 1909 | Painting Vétheuil by Claude Monet | for the Municipal Museum | 10,800 marks |
| September 1911 | Enlargement of the Haarhaus Foundation | 5,000 marks | |
| May 1912 | Foundation to the Beautification Association | 5,000 marks | |
| January 1913 | Various paintings and art objects | for the Municipal Museum | 16,750 marks |
| February 1915 | Günther Schmits Foundation | for needy Elberfeld invalids | 100,000 marks |
| February 1915 | to decorate the cemetery of honor | 1,000 marks | |
| June 1916 | Foundation to the museum association | in memory of the late Julius Schmits for a picture still to be acquired | 15,000 marks |
| June 1916 | Reformed community of Elberfeld | for war invalids and war widows | 20,000 marks |
| June 1916 | Patriotic women's association | 10,000 marks |
| Year of the foundation | Artist | Name of the work | Year of creation | Benefactor | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | Hermann Rüdisühli | Temple ruins by the sea | without a date | Gift from Julius Schmits and J. Friedrich Wolff | Sold in 1917 |
| 1901 | Auguste Boulard the Elder | The wave | without a date | Gift from J. Friedrich Wolff and Julius Schmits | |
| 1902 | Hans Thoma | Olive trees at Tivoli | without a date | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1903 | Gustav Schönleber | Flood in Besigheim | 1890 | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1906 | John Constable | English countryside | without a date | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1906 | Carl Schuch | Lobster, tin can and asparagus bunch | 1884 | Gift from Julius and Ida Schmits | |
| 1907 | Alfred Sisley | channel | 1884 | Gift from Julius and Ida Schmits | |
| 1907 | Wilhelm Leibl | Bavarian girl | 1865 | Gift from Julius and Ida Schmits | |
| 1907 | Anselm Feuerbach | Nanna | around 1861 | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1908 | Gustave Courbet | La Falaise d'Etretat | around 1869 | Gift from Julius and Ida Schmits as well as Mr. and Mrs. J. Friedrich Wolff | |
| 1910 | Claude Monet | Vétheuil | around 1901 | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1912 | Paul Cezanne | L'Hermitage à Pontoise | around 1881 | Gift from Julius Schmits | |
| 1916 | Hans Thoma | Eve | 1898 | Legacy Ida Schmit | |
| 1917 | Hans of Marées | Bathing boys (sketch) | around 1874 | Gift from Ida Schmits | |
| 1917 | Klaes Molenaer | View of Heemstede | without a date | Gift from Ida Schmits |
Web links
- Claudia Posca: Collectors start on the Wupper. In: Neue Ruhr Zeitung . March 14, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Antje Hansen: The Villa Schmits in the Elberfelder Luisenstraße .
- ↑ a b Günther-Schmits-Gedenkstein on Denkmal-Wuppertal.de, February 5, 2011.
- ^ Albert Gieseler: Julius Schmits & Co., furniture fabric factory
- ^ The Expressionist Impulse - Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal , March 28, 2008.
- ↑ Ulrike Becks-Malorny: The Expressionist Impulse: Masterpieces from Wuppertal's large private collections. Von der Heydt-Museum, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89202-070-7 , p. 85.
- ↑ Senaka Weeraratna: The legacy of Walther Schmits , May 3, 2015.
Remarks
- ↑ After its foundation, the painting The Wave was initially included in the museum's collection as a work by the painter Gustave Courbet, but was later attributed to Auguste Boulard the Elder. → Antje Hansen
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmits, Julius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German art collector and patron, city councilor and fabric manufacturer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1855 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Elberfeld |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 1916 |
| Place of death | Elberfeld |