Ralph F. Colin

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Alexej von Jawlensky: Murnau , painting from the Ralph F. Colin collection as a foundation in the National Gallery of Art

Ralph Frederick Colin (born November 18, 1900 in New York City ; died March 19, 1985 in London ) was an American lawyer , art collector and patron .

Life

Ralph F. Colin was born in 1900 in New York to William Colin and his wife Elizabeth, née Benjamin. He grew up in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan and attended elementary school on 138th Street. His classmates there included the future librettist Ira Gershwin . Colin moved to the City College of New York at the age of 13 . He then studied law at Columbia University Law School . After graduating in 1921, he became a partner in the law firm Rosenman, Colin, Freund, Lewis & Cohen , for which he worked until the end of his life. His areas of expertise were corporate law , property law and trust law . After the broadcasting corporation Columbia Broadcasting System was founded in 1928 , he advised it and sat on its board of directors until 1969 . He also worked as a lawyer for the artist agency Columbia Artists Management for more than 50 years .

Colin was particularly active in the New York cultural scene. At the side of Eugene O'Neill he was in the early 1920s on the board of directors of the Provincetown Playhouse and Greenwich Village Theater in New York City. He later served on the board of directors of the Actor's Theater and the Broadway Theater Alliance artist agency . In 1924, Colin followed a call from Chairman Marshall Field to the board of directors of the Philharmonic Society of New York and later became its vice-president. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. book publisher from 1938 to 1966 .

In addition, Colin was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art from 1954 and was vice-president of the museum for several years. He was a driving force behind the creation of the museum's international advisory board. This body was disbanded in 1969 after Colin and the president of the museum, William S. Paley , had a massive dispute over the direction of the house. To this day, Colin's commitment to the Art Dealers Association of America , which he co-founded in 1962 and of which he was deputy chairman for a long time, continues to have an impact . In negotiations with the tax authorities, he campaigned for gifts and foundations to museums to have a tax-reducing effect.

Colin had been married to Georgia Talmey since 1931. From this marriage the son Ralph F. Colin junior and the daughter Pamela were born. Pamela Colin married Lord Harlech , the former ambassador to the United States , in 1969 . Ralph F. Colin died in London in 1985.

Art collection

Colin and his wife Georgia began building an extensive art collection shortly after their wedding, the exact composition of which is not documented. The catalog, which was published in 1960 on the occasion of the exhibition of part of the collection in the New York gallery M Knoedler & Co , provides an indication of the size of the collection . This resulted in focal points in the field of 20th century art, which included especially works by Édouard Vuillard , Chaim Soutine , Juan Gris and Jean Dubuffet . The collection did not grow continuously, however; in addition to acquisitions, there were repeated sales by the collector couple and foundations to museums. In the meantime, the collectors were in possession of Édouard Manet's painting Le petit Lange , of Fernand Leger's Les trois personnages devant le jardin , of Chaim Soutines Le garçon d'étage and of Édouard Vuillard's autoportrait à la canne et au canotier . After the death of the two collectors in 1995, a large part of the collection was auctioned at Christie's auction house, including important works such as Nu assis au collier by Amedeo Modigliani , La Poetesse by Joan Miró , La table (Nature morte à l'éventail) by Georges Braque and Les Glaïeuls from Cham Soutine. Other works such as Violon et guitare by Juan Gris were inherited by the couple's children and some of them later came onto the art market.

  • Edouard Manet: Le petit Lange

  • Chaim Soutine: Le garçon d'étage

  • Édouard Vuillard: Autoportrait à la canne et au canotier

  • Juan Gris: Violon et guitare

  • Amedeo Modigliani: Nu assis au collier

As patrons, Colin and his wife donated prints by Jean Dubuffet to the National Gallery of Art , the Fogg Art Museum , the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago . They also donated the paintings Peinture 130 x 89 cm, 6 mars 1955 by Pierre Soulages and Murnau by Alexej von Jawlensky to the National Gallery of Art. They also donated the paintings Cafetière by Jean Dubuffet and Children's Games by Rufino Tamayo to the Metropolitan Museum of Art . The same museum also received the marble sculpture Configuration aux mouvements sinueux by Hans Arp . Another sculpture by the artist, entitled Torso , was donated to the Smith College Museum of Art .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Russel: Ralph F. Colin, 84, a leader of Art Dealers Organization , New York Times article, March 21, 1985
  2. ↑ James Thrall Soby (Ed.): The Colin Collection, paintings, watercolors, drawings and sculpture collected by Mr. & Mrs. Ralph F. Colin .
  3. ↑ Denis Rouart, Daniel Wildenstein: Edouard Manet: Catalog raisonné Volume I No. 61.
  4. ↑ Information on the painting Les trois personnages devant le jardin by Fernand Leger on the website of the Christie's auction house
  5. ↑ Information on the painting Le garçon d'étage by Chaim Soutine on the website of the Christie's auction house
  6. ↑ Information on the painting Autoportrait à la canne et au canotier by Édouard Vuillard on the Christie's auction house website
  7. ^ The Import Modern Works auction ; Art from Coll of Mr & Mrs Ralph Colin took place on May 10 and 11, 1995 in the New York branch of Christie's auction house, see Carol Vogel: A springtime windfall of art at auction , February 27 article in the New York Times 1995
  8. ↑ Information on the painting Nu assis au collier by Amedeo Modigliani on the Christie's auction house website
  9. ↑ Information on the painting La Poetesse by Joan Miró on the Christie's auction house website
  10. ↑ Information on the painting La table (Nature morte à l'éventail) by Georges Braque on the website of the Christie's auction house
  11. ↑ Information on the painting Les Glaïeuls by Cham Soutine on the Christie's auction house website
  12. ↑ Information on the painting Violon et guitare by Juan Gris on the website of the Christie's auction house
  13. ^ Print by Dubuffet from the Colin Collection in the National Gallery of Art's online catalog
  14. ^ Print by Dubuffet from the Colin Collection in the Fogg Art Museum's online catalog
  15. ^ Printmaking by Dubuffet from the Colin Collection in the online catalog of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
  16. ^ Print by Dubuffet from the Colin Collection in the Art Institute of Chicago's online catalog
  17. ↑ Painting Peinture 130 x 89 cm, 6 mars 1955 by Pierre Soulages in the online catalog of the National Gallery of Art
  18. ↑ Painting Murnau by Alexej von Jawlensky in the online catalog of the National Gallery of Art
  19. ^ The painting Cafetière / Woman Grinding Coffee in the online catalog of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  20. ↑ sculpture Configuration aux mouvements sinueux by Hans Arp in the online catalog of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  21. ^ Sculpture Torso by Hans Arp in the online catalog of the Smith College Museum of Art
personal data
SURNAME Colin, Ralph F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Colin, Ralph Frederick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer, art collector and patron
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1985
Place of death London