Rudolf Busch

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Rudolf Busch (born October 5, 1876 in Mainz , † September 2, 1956 there ) was a German art collector, art historian and museum director.

Life

Rudolf Busch was born in 1876 as the son of a Mainz manufacturer. After finishing school and training as a businessman, he initially worked as a manufacturer. At the same time he was a passionate collector of old art. Concentrated on the production of weapons during World War I, he lost his fortune and factory in late 1918.

After studying art history from 1919 onwards, he became an employee of the municipal picture gallery in Mainz in 1923. In 1933 he was dismissed from service as a so-called “half-Jew”. He stayed in Mainz and got by as a consultant for various companies.

After the end of the Second World War, he was reinstated as head of the municipal picture gallery from June 1, 1945 by the mayor Rudolph Walther (1891–1973) appointed by the Americans and at the suggestion of Michel Oppenheim (1885–1963). This also included the antiquity museum and the graphic collection. In the first few years, Busch's work was mainly characterized by clean-up work and improvisation, as the buildings were largely destroyed and the collections, if any, were stored scattered. As early as 1947, Busch managed to organize a large exhibition on current art. 215 works by 86 artists were shown in the Kunsthalle am Dom (now Haus am Dom).

Busch was injured when his home was bombarded during World War II. He had had Parkinson's disease since 1946 and was retired in 1949. Rudolf Busch died in September 1956 in Mainz, the city of his birth.

Publications (selection)

  • Gothic house madonnas in Mainz . Koblenz 1924.
  • German choir stalls in six centuries . Hildesheim; Leipzig 1928.
  • 1947: New German Art, catalog of the exhibition of the Städtische Gemäldegalerie, in the Kunsthalle am Dom, Mainz.

literature

  • Gernot Frankhäuser: In the fight for modernity. Rudolf Busch and the exhibition “New German Art” in Mainz 1947 , in: It'll be all right again soon ...? Mainz 1945–1962 , Mainz 2015, pp. 126–132.
personal data
SURNAME Busch, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art collector and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 1956
Place of death Mainz