Alfred Baur (1865–1951) was born in

Andelfingen, Switzerland Andelfingen is a village and a municipality in the district of Andelfingen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. On 1 January 2023 the former municipalities of Adlikon and Humlikon merged to form the municipality of Andelfingen. History Ande ...

, ( Zurich). He attended school in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

and joined a large international trading company which posted him in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. When Baur came back to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1906, he settled in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. During his travels Alfred Baur developed a passion for Oriental art. Interest in Oriental art had grown increasingly since the end of the previous century, stimulated as it was by scientific research, archeological excavation and the writings of a number of European experts.

Fondation Baur

Alfred Baur brought together a collection of Chinese porcelain, jade and

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...

objects which stands out as one of the most beautiful private collections in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

today. A private collection reflects the preferences of an amateur and, as such, reveals the spirit of his time. Baur chose to buy "small quantities of rare works of art rather than large numbers of articles of inferior quality". Through his collections, he appears as a man of taste. During his lifetime, he donated his collections to a foundation which bears his name and that of his wife, a Genevese by birth: the "Fondation Alfred et Eugénie Baur-Duret". The director of the museum is

Monique Crick Monique is a female given name. It is the French form of the name Monica. The name has enjoyed some popularity in the United States since about 1955, and is less common in other English-speaking countries except for Canada although mostly used ...

. The curator is

Helen Loveday Helen Loveday (born 1962) is a lecturer in Chinese and Japanese art at the University of Geneva and curator of the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art, Geneva. She has written extensively on Asian art and translated a number of books. Early ...

References

External links

Fondation Baur
- a museum of Far Eastern art collected by Baur in Geneva, Switzerland
The Baur Collection Geneva
- a rare and complete set of the BAUR COLLECTIONS in Chinese Arts Geneva, Switzerland {{DEFAULTSORT:Baur, Alfred 1865 births 1951 deaths Swiss art collectors Collectors of Asian art

Fondation Baur

See also

References

External links