Collector Peter Ludwig

[Евгений]

Peter Ludwig harbored a genuine passion for collecting art of all kinds, but he gave preference to American Pop Art and the Russian avant-garde.
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A unique collection of Russian avant-garde has about 800 works: paintings, reliefs, collages, drawings, books, posters ...

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This is a significant part of the collection of the museum. Even before the Second World War, Cologne collector Haubrih Josef (Josef Haubrich) bought several works by Russian avant-garde Kandinsky, Yavlensky and Chagall, whose contemporary he was. And in the seventies of last century, Peter and Irene Ludwig (Peter & Irene Ludwig) part of his collection was given to the museum, and some have given long-term storage.
Together with his wife, Peter Ludwig studied history at the University of the Arts. Masters work, he wrote about Picasso. After his marriage began to work in the company for the production of chocolate, owned by his wife's family, and in the late 60-ies already become the head of the firm, which produced chocolate brands Trumpf, Lindt, Mauxion. In the 70's and 80's, the company, renamed the Ludwig Schokolade, was one of the leading companies in Germany.

The collector's number one

Peter Ludwig harbored a genuine passion for collecting art of all kinds, he collected and medieval manuscripts, the art of Polynesia and Oceania, china. But the preference to American Pop Art and the Russian avant-garde.

In the 70's and 80's Peter Ludwig was a frequent visitor to East Germany and the USSR with business visits. He supplied the chocolate for the army of the GDR and sought to obtain a concession for the manufacture of chocolate in the USSR. Louis maintained his contacts at the highest level and had the opportunity to buy works of Russian avant-garde, around which in the seventies there was no boom. He managed to be in this area collector number one in the world. His collection was the largest collection in private hands. But Peter Ludwig has worked closely with various museums, gave them the masterpieces from the collection. Today, working from his collection are in the 19 museums in five countries.

He died July 22, 1996. Author: Andrey Gorokhov
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,, 4321840,00. Html
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Peter Ludwig (July 9, 1925, Koblenz, Germany - July 22, 1996, Aachen, Germany) - German industrialist, philanthropist, the largest collector of antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages, the art of pre-Columbian America, Africa, India, China, Baroque and Rococo art XX century, the largest private collector of Picasso. Biography
Peter Ludwig was one of the symbols of the postwar revival of Germany. In 1951 he headed the family confectionery business, and soon made a fortune and fame. Peter Ludwig earned money all my life spent on the acquisition of works of art.
In 1957, Ludwig began his collaboration with the Museum of Cologne and Aachen Shnyutgena Museum Zyurmondta, became chairman of Union of Museums in Aachen. In 1969, Ludwig was elected to the board of trustees Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, and in 1976 he became a board member of the museum.
In the same year, Peter and Irene Ludwig in Cologne gave about 300 works of contemporary art (including the Russian avant-garde), and this collection formed the basis of the first Museum Ludwig.
In 1977 the museum was opened Zyurmondta-Ludwig in Aachen.
In Cologne, the project was built O. Ungersa Museum Ludwig.
In subsequent years, in Germany appeared Institute of Art Ludwig in Oberhausen (1983), Art Ludwig in Saarlouis (1989), the Ludwig Forum in Aachen (1991) and the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz (1992).
Part of his collection P. Ludwig donated to the Russian Museum.

1-2 Museum

[Евгений]

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touches to the portrait of chocolate king, who was one of the largest collectors of the world

   Sad news from Germany - Peter Ludwig died ... He gained fame chocolate king of Europe, transformed the family business into an international group with a turnover of hundreds of millions of marks, but this was the meaning of his life. Ludwig earned money on chocolate, to spend on art. In his enormous collection of works of antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages, the art of pre-Columbian America, Africa, India, China, Baroque and Rococo, but most fully represented by works of contemporary authors. As a true educator Ludwig opened the museum, which passed its treasures, and - his name. In his own country, Austria, Hungary and Russia ...

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Meeting with Peter Ludwig for the staff of the Russian Museum, which he decided to transfer part of his collection was unparalleled success. With the permission of the owner, they took away things on your own. The initial list had 33 work, and then were added about another hundred. Now these pictures are a permanent exhibition of the Marble Palace.
 Our museum workers claim that he was the ideal partner, had impeccable taste and knowledge of professional art critic, coupled with honesty, punctuality, and sensitivity to others' opinion. And each sought to reflect the theme as possible completeness. So, heeding the request of colleagues from Russia, experiencing difficulty with the acquisition of Russian underground, introduced in the coveted list of the names Chuikov, Kabakov, Makarevich. Stately, power, radiating optimism of Peter and Irene Ludwig was probably the most welcome visitors to the museum. I met with them six months ago, when the couple was taken to the Marble Palace, a double portrait of the German Gottfried Helnwein giperrealista. Lifestyle portrait posed tone of conversation, which we agreed to continue in Germany. Alas ...

- You are so busy studying his face, reproduced with photographic accuracy ...
- Portrait is not made to order, but at the request of the artist. He managed to achieve equal brightness and sharpness at any point. This differs from the photograph, with his characteristic half-tones. Every nuance: a spot on the skin, wrinkles, hair spelled with a fine brush. I am appalled by the quality of this work and should look into it better.

- Perhaps because the picture reveals the sacred, that you do not want to flaunt? Can I say about this portrait that he finds your strengths and weaknesses?
- Probably. I am very hardworking person, over and over since childhood to work every day in anticipation of something new. But this drawback, sometimes I do not know the steps, always want more than I have - in the sense of gathering - and then, immodest. I am very focused on himself, which probably is not too great. But justifying their selfishness that still seeking a new and open it for others.

- The artist did not miss any wrinkles, and they - witness the difficult life ...
- Yes. I am 70 years old, and when the end of the Second World War, was 19. For two years I served as a soldier, but not at the front, and the medical team, which is quartered, including my own in the city of Aachen. The bombardment of the city killed my mother, father, I managed to pull out from the wreckage, and after the war, he was still alive. Education was a way to forget the horrors of war, to hide from them in the art. I was not going to do business - had been drawn into it at the request of the test: his only son, a brother of my wife, who inherited the chocolate business, was killed near Moscow. Gradually we got to his feet, but I never mixed art with business.

- Just as meticulously written out a portrait of your wife. There is no doubt that you and Frau Irene were meant for each other.
- We met in 1947 at the University of Mainz, where he studied the same subjects: archeology, art history, philosophy and different thrust to the gathering.

- But you might get carried away and another classmate? ..
- Do not know. Let me just say that I had no motives of interest. At that time, Germany destitute - and the winners did not give her up; businesses were destroyed, and family status are locked. On the financial affairs of the future father-in I did not know they are not interested in me. Fortunately, he too was indifferent to art.

- Getting started in your collection?
- For a pittance, which could save, giving up the superfluous sandwich we bought with Irene, for example, an elegant glass bowl or a stone tile - just to surround himself with beautiful things. Our first purchase was a coffee cup from Meissen porcelain, the beginning of XVIII century. Full circle, since recently in Bamberg, we opened our 10th in a row museum - porcelain and earthenware.

- Who in your family is the main art expert?
- Irena more reasonable. I accept the decision in 30 seconds, and then ask her consent. Speaking seriously, I present an active part, directed outward, and his wife is engaged in scientific processing of the material, following the special literature: magazines, catalogs of exhibitions. Coming back from trips, I get from her synopsis of all new acquisitions. Each piece of our collection wound up card, which my wife enters all the necessary details.

 - Do you have dossiers on Picasso. While working on his thesis about his work, you met or corresponded with the master?
- We have not had direct contact. But the fact that since 1955 I have regularly bought his work, he knew from his agent, art dealer, also a German, as I do. Picasso stayed in 1991, but approximately 80 are no longer traded as an artist in the eyes of friends, who believed he created a manifestation of discouragement and senile. We were the only collector in the world who bought the lifetime of the late Picasso. It made a big impression on him. In 1949, when I was preparing his thesis, neither in a French museum had no works by Picasso. He was known in Russia due to Morozov and Shchukin, who bought the best Picasso's early work in Scandinavia, Germany, Britain and the USA. The French, Italians, Spaniards almost did not buy - a strange phenomenon, which, however, has an explanation. The art of Picasso's heavy, difficult to understand, it displays marginal aspects of life. His paintings are hard, we can say brutal-sentimental. This is not to everyone's taste, but close to the German sense of the world. It is no coincidence his first agent to sell was a German, customers - other Germans and Swiss collectors. His friends in Paris Stein were American citizens, but also German in origin.

- Each collection reflects the tastes and predilections of the owner. You can not afford to buy cheap things ...
- On the contrary, we have too little money to buy expensive things. Instead, we're finding at the periphery of the art market, trying to show the public what she had not yet seen. When the West was celebrating the victory of abstraction, we bought the work of young artists who are loyal to a realistic manner. For example, Soviet. We began to collect art of the GDR, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, precisely because we have nobody knew and did not want to know. Neither museum Germany had anything like this. We must proceed from the fact that the world is one that, along with capitalism, there are other forms of social organization. Similarly, there are different ways of artistic interpretation of reality. For example, I very interested in the art of China, I have already made three visits to this country by invitation of the Minister of Culture. In Cuba, we have created a fund to help young artists. This does not mean that I - for the Castro, but if the Cubans want to live with Castro, not my business to prompt them. I was angry at the Americans for the blockade of Cuba. I think communism is great and not devoid of appeal utopia, to which must be taken seriously. In any case, in Communist countries were born very significant art, and I always wanted to make it public domain.

- What determines your relationship with the young artists: the desire to help them by buying their work, or adequately replenish your collection?
- I can not pay for things more than they deserve, I do not resold. Therefore, always offer a fair price. I act directly, but do not avoid house galleries, which the artist works.

- With the purchase of works of dissident artists you probably have problems ...
- Not without it. The prize was, if after our troubles began exhibiting artist at home. You know, many made their name on dissidents and the state. Almost all the foreign embassies in Moscow on business cards were supplied with these artists. When I first got into your capital, I was handed a card with a gold-embossed, where it was said: so and so, the artist-dissident, and on the back - a scheme how to get to his shop.

- Many of our artists, thanks for your kind gesture and return home. You intend to carry on with?
- In fact, it was the idea of Ms. Petrova from Russian museum, I have not thought of to give to this great museum of Russian artists, bought from you and the West. I thought that they have everything, but I was wrong. Well, we will continue together to fill those gaps ...
Interviewed by Arkady PINE
http://pressa.rus.net/sosnov/rus/arx/6_32.htm

 1. Mr. Ludwig in front of his portrait;

[dedulya37]

[Игорь Гурьев]

But in the end turned the Museum Ludwig in the usual zamylenny mid-European mid-museum of modernism.

[dedulya37]

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[fross]

The exhibition in the Marble Palace (signature tablets):
1.Borovsky Jonathan, USA, man in space at 2589394, 1978, acrylic on canvas
2.Vilyams Frank, USA Next stop, 1989, fiberglass, metal
3.Esayan Sergei, France, marathon, 2001, plaster, wood
4 D. Blume, Germany, modern dance 4, 1994, color photo on vinyl
5.Bruskin G., Russia, monument project Brodsky, gypsum; Juice AP, Russia, Stalin, 1990, plaster
6.Gomes Luis, Cuba, the natural opening, 1992, carved wood painted, turtle shell, metal, wax
7.Triptih № 11 Moments of eternity, is devoted to Alexander Rabinovitch, 1974, hardboard, oil (the name of the author somehow forgot to write, and the rangers did not know it, but it may already have changed sign )
8.Bugaev SA (Africa), Russia, Industrial unconscious I, 1999, draft registration of the Russian Pavilion 1948 Venice Biennale, steel, metal photo on
9.Bugaev SA (Africa), Russia, Industrial unconscious II, 1999, draft registration of the Russian Pavilion 1948 Venice Biennale, enamel, photo on metal
10.Bruskin GD, Russia, Throughout life, 1998-1999, a series of 25 sculptures, porcelain, molding, glaze, overglaze painting

[kr555]

QUOTE]
This Yankilevsky course.
And here the inscription and photos mixed up.

8.Bugaev SA (Africa), Russia, Industrial unconscious I, 1999, draft registration of the Russian Pavilion 1948 Venice Biennale, steel, photo on metal

In reality, these portraits - the work of Gerhard Richter.

[fross]

Сообщение от kr555

This Yankilevsky course.
And here the inscription and photos mixed up.

In reality, these portraits - the work of Gerhard Richter.

Of course, with the album Yankylevsky sold at the entrance to the hall, but that his work, forgot to write. About the portraits did not know, thanks.