Collector with the eyes and the principles

[Тютчев]

collector with eyes and principles

died Rudolf Leopold

Kommersant »№ 116 (4416) on 01.07.2010

Obituary

in Vienna at the age of 85 years died famous collector Rudolf Leopold, founder of the museum its name. An ophthalmologist by training, he first opened to the public legacy of Egon Schiele, and then collected about 5 thousand works of the Austrian Expressionists. When he was accused of possession of things with "Nazi" past, he refused to part with the paintings - only to agree to pay money for them.

Rudolf Leopold was a pioneer collector of generation, collecting with a passion that bordered on obsession. In 1990 his collection was estimated to be worth over € 0,5 billion, at current prices on the art of modernism, its market value five times higher. However, the sale of the collection is not threatened: from mid-1990 it is transformed into the fund Leopold, and in 2001, operates as a museum - currently the most visited in the Museum Quarter of Vienna.

Rudolf Leopold was born in 1925 in Vienna, where after the Second World graduated ophthalmologist. His wife Elizabeth, also a doctor, ophthalmologist, shared a passion for collecting Rudolph. In 1947, he began to collect art, beginning, as any European bourgeoisie, with the old masters, Rudolf Leopold quickly left them and started buying the work of Egon Schiele, an unpopular and cheap at that time. In fact, he first introduced the general public with the work of Austrian Expressionist, staging exhibitions of his works in Munich, London, New York. Then the interests of the collector is naturally extended to the work of Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.

In mid-1990's, at the time of making collections in the fund, it was more than 5 thousand pieces. The lion's share - Secession and Expressionism, that is the art that the Nazis were defined as "degenerate." When Austria adopted a law on restitution, the collection of Rudolf Leopold immediately sought out works that could be confiscated by the Nazis from their rightful owners. Already in 1998 at an exhibition in New York were arrested two paintings from the collection of Rudolf Leopold. However, one of them, the court fully "justified", the second returned to the owner, not taking off, however, with suspicion. Then the story was repeated several times, but, whatever the conclusions of the experts (at the moment of doubt the purity of origin cause 11 paintings from the collection), Rudolf Leopold remained categorically opposed to restitution. As the head of a private foundation and director of the private museum, he was not obliged to do so, and leave the pictures voluntarily refused. He has consistently offered the heirs of Holocaust victims cash compensation, while maintaining its collection intact. Now, when Rudolf Leopold died, the situation may change.

Tatiana Markina

http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1404430&print=true