Wilfried Seipel

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Wilfried Seipel (2009)

Wilfried Seipel (born June 5, 1944 in Vienna ) is an Austrian Egyptologist and historian. Until the end of 2008 he was museum director and exhibition organizer .

biography

education

The son of a pharmacist studied classical philology , Assyriology and Egyptology in Vienna, Heidelberg and Hamburg after attending the Schottengymnasium in Vienna . In Heidelberg he obtained his master's degree, in Hamburg he received his doctorate. phil.

Professional background

From 1971 to 1977 Seipel worked as a university assistant for Egyptology at the Free University of Berlin , from 1977 to 1978 as a consultant at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Cairo. From 1978 to 1983 he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Konstanz , and in 1983 he was a substitute professor at the University of Hamburg . In 1983 Seipel became director of the Constance City Museum . He held this position until 1985 when he was appointed director of the Upper Austrian State Museum in Linz .

On October 1, 1990, he moved to Vienna and took over the position of General Director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and became President of the Austrian Museum Association. Here he organized major exhibitions such as “Gold of the Pharaohs” (318,000 visitors), “El Greco” (373,000 visitors), “Bruegel” (367,000) or “Emperor Charles V” (280,000).

In 1995 Seipel became president of the Association of Friends for the Preservation and Care of Fritz Wotruba's artistic estate .

At the beginning of 1999 the museum was given full legal capacity as a scientific institution, from this point on Seipel was also economically responsible for the institution and since 2003 the Museum für Völkerkunde Wien and the Austrian Theater Museum have also been part of the economic complex of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. From 2001 Seipel was a member of the ORF Public Council.

The theft of the Saliera in 2003 attracted international attention . Seipel had offered to resign Elisabeth Gehrer, then Minister of Education, who was responsible for museums . In April 2007, in response to criticism from the Court of Auditors, he was appointed a new commercial director, Paul Frey.

On December 31, 2008, after 17 years, the term of office of the not undisputed director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum with the Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theater Museum ended. On January 1, 2009, he was replaced by Sabine Haag as General Director. Until his retirement, Seipel was still available to the museum and the new management as a partner; In addition, on behalf of the Minister of Culture Claudia Schmied (SPÖ), he wrote the study “Strategic approaches to the further development of Austrian federal museums with special consideration of research as the foundation of their collecting and mediation tasks”.

In 2009 Seipel curated the special exhibition The Gold of the Steppe. Prince treasures beyond the Alexander empire in the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums of the city of Mannheim .

Subject of public criticism

As General Director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), Seipel was repeatedly the focus of public criticism; However , he always received support from the minister responsible, Elisabeth Gehrer , with whom he had a good relationship.

In connection with the theft of the Saliera in 2003, the inadequate security measures were criticized; Securing the scaffolding through which the perpetrator entered the building was refused for reasons of cost. In 2004, a convicted person for fraud claimed to know the perpetrator and to be able to arrange the retrieval of the Saliera. He managed to convince Seipel, who paid the impostor 7,000 euros in taxpayers' money and had him guide him to Venice for the supposed return. After the Saliera was actually found in 2006, several experts criticized the fact that Seipel had touched the precious piece with his bare hands at a press conference.

He also came into the field of fire of the media through a birthday party organized by the museum for the then State Secretary for Art, Franz Morak , for which 6,000 euros from public funds were used.

In 2002, the Greens made the Court of Auditors aware of possible irregularities in the KHM accounts; An audit report drawn up by the Court of Auditors in the following years contained the following points of criticism:

  • The purchase of a Sphinx for four million dollars in 1998 came at a time when Seipel should not have signed the purchase agreement, as the KHM was not yet independent at that time. The Court of Auditors pointed out that the Sphinx - which was purchased from a Mallorca dealer who otherwise never made such high sales - was brought to Vienna in an unsecured van, contrary to customary practice.
  • Although the KHM is forbidden to sell collection items, Seipel sold two shabtis : to himself. Seipel replied to this criticism of the Court of Auditors that the two pieces were duplicates, which the KHM inventoried only through an error have been. The Court of Auditors pointed out that this could only be confirmed two years later by an expert report drawn up by a Seipels employee; In addition, the departure of the two shabtis was concealed by not deleting their earlier inventory numbers, but assigning them to "found canvases".
  • Conversely, Seipel, as a private citizen, also sold something to the KHM, namely his car. According to the Court of Auditors, the operational necessity of the vehicle could not be proven, and there was no valid reason why the car was purchased. Seipel defended himself by stating that directors of comparable institutions even had a chauffeur.
  • Some valuable pictures were loaned abroad by Seipel, although a decree had banned the loan and the restoration workshop had also spoken out against it for conservation reasons. Seipel replied to this criticism that he had considered the decree - which, according to the Court of Auditors, was still legally valid - to be obsolete and that in return valuable items would have been sent to Vienna.
  • The Court of Auditors criticized the inadequate documentation of Seipel's business trips. While Seipel pointed out that he had "waived day and night rates and thus saved the museum a lot of money", the Court of Auditors countered that the restaurant bills charged by Seipel were exorbitantly high.
  • The Court of Auditors stated critically that Seipel's executive surcharge had risen by 2½ times within 4 years. Seipel replied that he found the payment "appropriate."
  • Until 2001, neither wage tax nor social security contributions were paid for the supplements paid to Seipel.
  • The Court of Auditors had little understanding that Seipel, as director of the KHM, received the Christmas cash assistance of 80 euros, which was actually only intended for officials who were “in need through no fault of their own”. Seipel justified himself by saying that he did not know about it and would do without it in the future.

After his early retirement at the end of 2008, Seipel was commissioned by Claudia Schmied for a total fee of 100,000 euros to prepare two studies that he should have submitted at the end of 2009. The first of these two studies was only published at the end of 2010: Strategic approaches to the further development of the federal museums with special consideration of research as the foundation of the collection and communication work in an international context . Only 83 pages of the 555-page study consist of the actual text (including the foreword and thanks), and that only because of the generous line spacing, wide margins and several verbatim repetitions. The usefulness of the study has been questioned; The Ministry of Art has since completely dispensed with the second study. Thomas Trenkler rates the awarding of studies as a “pension treat”.

Awards

Seipel is honorary president of the Austrian Museum Association and of ICOM Austria (International Council of Museums), the international museum council.

Publications (selection)

  • with Eva Eggebrecht , Saskia Hoffmann, Joachim Selim Karig: The land on the Nil. Tapestries from Harrania. Ramses Wissa Wassef Tapestry Exhibition Catalog. von Zabern, Main 1979, ISBN 3-8053-0423-4 (Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim from May 29 - September 16, 1979, State Collection of Egyptian Art, Munich).
  • Studies on the Egyptian queens of the early period and the Old Kingdom, sources and historical classification 1980 , DNB 810020157 (Dissertation University of Hamburg, Department of Oriental Studies, 1980, XVII, 345 pages).
  • Egypt. Gods, graves and the arts. 4000 Years of Belief in the Beyond , catalog for the exhibition from April 9 to September 28, 1989 in the Castle Museum, Upper Austrian State Museum, Linz 1989, ISBN 3-900746-14-1 .
  • Man and cosmos. Linz 1990, ISBN 3-900746-25-7 .
  • God, man, Pharaoh. Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-900325-22-7 .
  • with Horst Wenzel, Gotthart Wunberg (Ed.): Audiovisuality before and after Gutenberg. On the cultural history of the media upheaval. (= Writings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum , Volume 6). Skira, Milano 2001, ISBN 3-85497-023-4 .
  • Editor of the writings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (1995 ff.) And editor of “Neues Museum” (1987 ff.).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Standard "Friendship Support"
  2. ↑ Standard: Criticism of inadequate security measures
  3. ↑ Stenographic Protocol National Council
  4. ↑ Standard article "Restorers: Never, never, never touch without gloves"
  5. ↑ Press article on criticism of Morak's birthday party
  6. ^ Report of the Court of Auditors of the Republic of Austria on Seipel's administration. (PDF file; 397 kB)
  7. ↑ Seipel's statement
  8. ^ Standard critical review of the study

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Seipel, Wilfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Egyptologist and historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna