Heinz Kisters Explained

Heinz Kisters (born 1912; died 1977 in Kreuzlingen) was a German entrepreneur, art dealer and art collector.

Life

Trained as a high-frequency engineer, Kisters was successful as an art dealer, selling notably to Konrad Adenauer. He assembled an extensive art collection of old masters, as well as uncertain attributions.

The "Heinz Kisters Foundation" continues in Kreuzlingen.[1] [2] [3]

The collection includes works by Sandro Botticelli, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Gerard David, Anton van Dyck, Jean Honoré Fragonard, Esteban Murillo, Peter Paul Rubens, Hans Schäufelein, Jan van Scorel, Bernardo Strozzi, Jacopo Tintoretto, Tiziano Vecellio, Diego Velázquez,[4] Merten van Heemskerk and other masters.[5] It is thus an important private collection of Old German, Old Dutch as well as early Italian painting, Venetian Cinquecento and Spanish painting of the 17th century.[6]

The auction of a Titian painting in 2011 caused a sensation on the art market.[7] [8]

Criticism

Heinz Kisters was the lifelong art dealer and advisor to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Adenauer met Kisters in 1950 through the Cologne banker Robert Pferdmenges. Heinz Kisters supplied Adenauer with artworks he attributed to Aert van der Neer, Anthonis van Dijck, Palma Vecchio, Nicolaes Maes and Bartholomaeus Bruyn. However, the artists were thought to be student or workshops. Some attributions were based on appraisals paid after Kisters' purchase. The fact that other experts came to substantially different judgments was mentioned at most in the footnotes.[9]

When Adenauer died in April 1967, his sons commissioned the then director of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung to review the collection and give an expert opinion. According to the journalist Koldehoff, this appraisal amounted to 469,000 D-marks, which was far below what was expected for a collection of works by El Greco and Cranach. The appraisal, which was supported by material analyses from the Doerner Institute, forced Kisters to buy back 19 paintings for 950,000 D-marks. These works, together with other works from Kisters' possession, were put up for auction at Christie's in London. The 36 paintings for sale were expected to fetch 6 million D-marks, but only 5 of them were sold for a sum of 156,000 D-marks.[10] Individual works, however, were later auctioned off at higher prices.

In an interview, Konrad Adenauer's grandson, whose own name is Konrad Adenauer, said of Kisters:

"My father never trusted Kisters. He was regarded by the Adenauers as a gray but obscure eminence. Kisters was like a secret name in the family: "Kisters was back," they would say. No one really knew what was behind it, but everyone knew that it had great significance for my grandfather. He was a kind of myth. Kisters haunted the conversations, but what the two of them were up to, no one knew. Skepticism was always present on the part of the children. After the death, that skepticism was confirmed."[11]

Literature

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: La Fondation Heinz Кистерса, Kreuzlingen - Museums. 2022-02-16. Arthive.
  2. Web site: Stiftung Heinz Kisters Activities of other membership organisations n.e.c., Kreuzlingen. 2022-02-16. Swiss Business Directory - Business information for Switzerland. en.
  3. Web site: Stiftung Heinz Kisters in Kreuzlingen. 2022-02-16. Moneyhouse. en.
  4. Book: Schoop, Albert. Museen und Sammlungen im Thurgau. 1982. Thurgauisches Museum. Frauenfeld. German. 715164114.
  5. Web site: Onken [Hg.): Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Heinz Kisters. 1971. {{!}} Proveana|url=https://www.proveana.de/en/literature/onken-hg-meisterwerke-aus-der-sammlung-heinz-kisters-1971|access-date=2022-02-15|website=www.proveana.de].
  6. Web site: Artist, attributed to: Bernard van Orley, Flemish, ca. 1488–1542 The Adoration of the Magi Yale University Art Gallery. 2022-02-15. artgallery.yale.edu. Wittgenstein Collection, Vienna. Kofer Collection, Vienna. With the Galerie St. Lucas, Vienna, 1937. Dr. Zdenko Bruck (1930–1979), Berne, Switzerland and Buenos Aires, by 1939; sale, Kende Galleries at Gimbel Brothers, New York City, June 5, 1940 lot 23. Sale, Sotheby’s, London, March 11, 1964, lot 128. Heinz Kisters (1912–1977), Kreuzlingen, Switzerland; [sale, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, December 29–30, 1967 through January 2–3, 1968, lot 34 (unsold)]; sale, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, November 18–27, 1968, lot 34. [Sale, Sotheby’s, London, December 9, 1992, lot 63 (unsold)] [Sale, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, November 17, 1993, lot 79 (unsold)]. Sale, Sotheby's, London, May 4, 1995, lot 187; Dr. Herbert Schaefer (1910–2011) and Monika Schaefer (née Winter, died 2019), Malaga, Spain, by 1995 (on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1995–2019); bequeathed to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2019. This work appears on our "Artworks with Nazi-Era Provenance Documentation Gaps" page..
  7. News: 2011-01-28. Titian Madonna and Child sells for record $16.9m. en-GB. BBC News. 2022-02-16.
  8. News: Vogel. Carol. 2010-10-28. Potential Titian Buyers Get an Advance Look. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-02-16. 0362-4331. “A Sacra Conversazione” (around 1560) is coming from the collection of Gerlinda Kisters, the widow of Heinz Kisters, a German businessman who lived in Switzerland and died in 1977. He amassed hundreds of old master paintings and had at least two other Titians. He bought this one in 1956 from New York dealers who had purchased it at a Christie’s auction in London two years earlier..
  9. News: Koldehoff. Stefan. 2011-01-23. Der Mann, der Adenauer betrog. de. DIE WELT. 2022-02-15.
  10. Web site: Heinz Kisters: Der Mann, bei dem Konrad Adenauer Kunst kaufte. 2022-02-15. DER STANDARD. de-AT.
  11. Web site: 2019-05-13. Der Kanzler und die Kunst – Konrad Adenauers Privatsammlung Rheinische Geschichte. 2022-02-15. de-DE.

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