Eduard von der Heydt
Eduard von der Heydt | |
---|---|
![]() Eduard von der Heydt in the vault of Von der Heydt‘s Bank AG, Berlin, black and white photograph, 1928 | |
Born | |
Died | April 3, 1964 | (aged 81)
Nationality | German, Swiss |
Occupation(s) | Banker, art collector, patron |
Known for | Museum Rietberg, "ars una" |
Title | Freiherr |
Spouse | Vera von Schwabach (1919–1927, divorced) |
Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (September 26, 1882 – April 3, 1964) was a German and Swiss banker, art collector and patron.
Biography
[edit]He was born in Elberfeld, Germany and died in Ascona Switzerland. Heydt served in the Imperial German Army during World War I. He was badly wounded from a gunshot wound to the stomach, and injury that he suffered complications from for the rest of his life. In 1919 he married Vera von Schwabach (1899–1996), daughter of the Berlin banker, Paul von Schwabach . The marriage ended in divorce in 1927; there were no children. Vera was later a prominent Jungian analyst in London.[1]
Heydt's collections were the basis for the creation of the Museum Rietberg in Zürich, Switzerland.[2] He was also the former owner of the Monte Verità, a well known site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities, which upon his death became the property of the Swiss Canton of Ticino. He was also a member of the NSDAP until he became a Swiss citizen in 1937 and left the party in 1939. After the Second World War, he was arrested for treason for his handling payment transactions of the German intelligence service under Wilhelm Canaris. Heydt was acquitted in 1948. Unconvinced of his innocence, the U.S. government confiscated all of Heydt's American bank deposits as well as his works of art to the Buffalo Museum of Science as "enemy assets" under the Trading with the Enemy Act.[3]
Heydt described art using the term "ars una", an all encompassing art that appreciates diversity as it is found throughout the world.[4]
Ancestry
[edit]Ancestry of Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt[5] | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Great-Great Grandparents |
Daniel Heinrich von der Heydt |
Johann Wilhelm Blank |
Johann Peter Boeddinghaus |
Johann Abraham Siebel |
Johann Kaspar Haarhaus |
Johann Peter Bargmann |
Johann Jakob Aders |
Johann Peter Boeddinghaus |
Great Grandparents |
August Freiherr von der Heydt |
Karl Heinrich Boeddinghaus (1797–1872) |
Jacob Wilhelm Haarhaus (1798–1881) |
Alfred Aders (1809–1880) | ||||
Grandparents |
August von der Heydt (1825–1867) |
Gustav Haarhaus (1831–1911) | ||||||
Parents |
August von der Heydt (1851–1929) | |||||||
Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (1882–1964) |
Works
[edit]- Eduard von der Heydt/Werner von Rheinbaben: Auf dem Monte Verità. Erinnerungen und Gedanken über Menschen, Kunst und Politik, Atlantis, Zürich 1958.
Further reading
[edit]- Karl With: Bildwerke Ost-und Südasiens aus der Sammlung Yi Yuan [d.i. Eduard von der Heydt]. Mit begleitendem Text von K. With. Einband u. Vorsatzpapier nach Entwurf von Georg Baus. Schwabe, Basel 1924
- Robert Landmann (d.i. Werner Ackermann): Monte Verità. Die Geschichte eines Berges, Berlin: Adalbert Schultz Verlag 1930.
- Stefan Balazs: Die Inschriften der Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt, Sonderdruck aus der Ostasiatischen Zeitschrift. 20. Jahrgang. De Gruyter & Co Verlag, Berlin 1934.
- Curt Riess: Ascona. Geschichte des seltsamsten Dorfes der Welt. Zürich: Europa Verlag 1964 (1. Aufl.), 1977 (3. Aufl.) - In this book Eduard von der Heydt is referred to as "Mr. X" beginning on page 194
- Sabine Fehlemann und Stamm, Rainer (Hrsg.): Die Von der Heydts. Bankiers, Christen und Mäzene. Müller + Busmann, Wuppertal 2001, 184 S., ISBN 3-928766-49-X
- Francesco Welti: „Der Baron, die Kunst und das Nazigold“, Verlag Huber Frauenfeld, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7193-1475-0
- Eberhard Mros: Phänomen Monte Verità. Neun Bände, im Selbstverlag des Verfassers, Ascona 2008/2011
- Karl Schem: Wuppertal untersuchte Nazi-Verquickungen seines Ehrenbürgers / NSDAP-Baron ein moderner Till Eulenspiegel? auf der Seite Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Online-Flyer Nr. 94 vom 9. Mai 2007
- Eberhard Illner (Hrsg.): Eduard von der Heydt. Kunstsammler – Bankier – Mäzen. Prestel, München/London/New York 2013, ISBN 978-3-7913-4204-7. (Accompanies the exhibit Von Buddha bis Picasso. Der Sammler Eduard von der Heydt at the Museum Rietberg Zürich, April 20 – August 18, 2013 and also accompanies another exhibit at the Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, from October 13, 2015 - February 28, 2016.)
References
[edit]- ^ Skinner, John (1996-11-22). "Obituary. Vera von der Heydt". The Independent. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
- ^ "A short history of the museum", Museum Rietberg. Accessed 5 January 2016.
- ^ "Fragment of standing Bodhisattva - National Museum of Asian Art". asia.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
- ^ Peter-Ferdinand Koch, Richard Chaim Schneider, Geheim-Depot Schweiz: wie Banken am Holocaust verdienen, List, 1997, p. 75
- ^ „Die von der Heydts aus Elberfeld“, Born-Verlag 1964, S.69
External links
[edit]- Searchable online database of the Museum Rietberg, including von der Heydt's collection Archived 2013-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Section in German about provenance research happening at the Museum Rietberg regarding von der Heydt's collection
- Link to von der Heydt exhibition at the Museum Rietberg
- 1882 births
- 1964 deaths
- Bankers in the Nazi Party
- German barons
- German Army personnel of World War I
- German shooting survivors
- Swiss bankers
- Swiss collaborators with Nazi Germany
- Swiss prisoners and detainees
- People from Elberfeld
- German art collectors
- 20th-century art collectors
- Businesspeople from Wuppertal
- Prisoners and detainees of Switzerland
- People acquitted of treason
- Stahlhelm members