Stefan P. Munsing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stefan P. Munsing (born February 15, 1915 in Desloge , St. Francois County , Missouri ; † December 3, 1994 in Washington, DC ) was an American diplomat and art patron.

Life

His parents immigrated to the United States from Russia . He grew up in Detroit . Munsing worked as an interior designer in New York , developed designs for the record label RCA Records , for the internationally recognized designer Hans Knoll and Norman Bel Geddes , whose tasks ranged from stage design to aerodynamics for aircraft.

During the Second World War Munsing served in the 42nd Infantry Division, the "Rainbow Division" of the US Army in Europe. For his services in the fighting in the Ardennes and in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp , he was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts .

Munsing joined the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section , an army unit used to locate stolen works of art. In 1947 he was appointed to succeed Herbert Stewart Leonard as director of the Munich Central Collecting Point. Later in the same year he took over the management of the newly founded " Amerikahaus " on Königsplatz and organized many successful exhibitions and cultural events in Munich and Berlin .

In 1955 Munsing was appointed cultural representative in the service of the US State Department in London and showed exhibitions by contemporary American artists such as Philip Pavia, Paul Jenkins and Ben Shahn . Munsing ran an arts promotion program in American embassies that continues to this day. In the 1960s and 1970s, he supported the National Museum of Fine Arts in Washington in expanding its collection of contemporary works. Munsing acted as attaché for cultural affairs in Denmark . After retiring from the State Department in 1976, he worked as a consultant for the American Association of Museums.

Works

  • Der Blaue Reiter, draft catalog, 1949
  • The painters at the Bauhaus. Exhibition Haus der Kunst Munich, May to June 1950, poster, linoleum print, 80 × 69 cm

Literature, edited by Stefan P. Munsing

  • Art creation in Germany, painting, sculpture, exhibition in June - July 1949, Museums, Fine Arts and Cultural Materials Exchange Section, Cultural Affairs Branch, E + CR Division - HQ OMGB. Central Art Collecting Point, Arcis-Strasse 10, Munich, June 9 to July 19, 1949, Munich 1949
  • Arts and Crafts of the Orient, exhibition in September - October 1949, Central Art Collecting Point, Munich 1949
  • Germany is building: Architecture since 1945, Catalog of an exhibition held at Central Art Collecting Point, Munich July 21 - August 25, 1949
  • Der Blaue Reiter, Haus der Kunst, Munich and the art of the 20th century, 1908–1914; Exhibition at the Haus der Kunst, September - October 1949
  • The woodcut, since 1400, from the holdings of the State Graphic Collection Munich and private property, exhibition of the Amerikahaus, Munich and the State Graphic Collection of the Gallery of the Central Collecting Point Munich on Königsplatz, Munich 1951
  • Fritz Wotruba, Catalog of an exhibition at the Central Collecting Point Gallery, Munich, January 10 - February 8, 1951.
  • Art of the South Seas, exhibition of the State Museum of Ethnology in Munich in the America House in Munich, 1952
  • Early American Art, State Museum of Ethnology, from the collections of the State Museum of Ethnology, Munich and private property, exhibition in the America House in Munich, around 1955
  • An exhibit of American painting, 1815-1865: from the M. and M. Karolik Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston / presented by the trustees of the Holburne of Menstrie Museum of Art and the Bath Festival in co-operation with USIS , American Embassy, ​​London 1960.

swell

personal data
SURNAME Munsing, Stefan P.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat and arts sponsor
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Desloge , St. Francois County , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH 3rd December 1994
Place of death Washington, DC