Eberhard W. Kornfeld (23 September 1923 – 13 April 2023) was a Swiss

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

, author, art dealer, and collector based in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Early life

Eberhard W. Kornfeld was born in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

on 23 September 1923. After a commercial apprenticeship with a local architect he started to work in January 1945 for August Klipstein in Bern who headed the auction house Gutekunst & Klipstein dating back to 1864.

Art career

The sudden death of

August Klipstein August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

in 1951 was a chance for the young Kornfeld to take over the lead of the house. The name changed from Klipstein & Kornfeld, to Kornfeld & Klipstein and finally to Galerie Kornfeld.

Controversies

Kornfeld was involved in numerous controversies. In 1993 a lawsuit opposed him and David P. Tunick, a Manhattan dealer concerning the authenticity of a signature. In 2017, it was discovered that the son of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt had been selling artworks from his secret stash in Munich through Kornfeld in Switzerland. Kornfeld denied selling Nazi looted art. In 2019 a judge ordered that two

Schiele Schiele may refer to: * Armand Schiele (born 1967), French Alpen skier * Bernt Schiele (born 1968), German computer scientist * Egon Schiele (1890, Tulln an der Donau – 1918, Vienna), Austrian painter ** ''Egon Schiele – Exzess und Bestrafung' ...

s that Kornfeld had sold be restituted to the heirs of a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

victim

Fritz Grünbaum Franz Friedrich 'Fritz' Grünbaum (7 April 1880 in Brünn (Brno), Moravia – 14 January 1941 at the Dachau concentration camp, Germany) was an Austrian Jewish cabaret artist, operetta and popular song writer, actor, and master of ceremonies ...

because they had been looted by

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

Philanthropy

Kornfeld donated artworks to several museums, including the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, the Norton Simon Museum, the Calder Foundation, the MoMa, and the

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends back to t ...

Death

Kornfeld died in

Ostermundigen Ostermundigen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The city is the birthplace of an actress, Ursula Andress. Most of the buildings in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old Ci ...

on 13 April 2023, at the age of 99.

Distinctions

* 1982:

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

* 1984:

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 1991: Knight of the French

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

* 2004: Honorary citizen of

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

* 2011:

Honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Eberhard W. Kornfeld ist Berner Ehrenbürger
8. September 2011, Basler Zeitung

Literature

* Christine Ekelhart, Klaus Albrecht Schröder: ''Wege der Moderne: Aus der Sammlung Eberhard W. Kornfeld''. Brandstätter, Vienna/Munich 2008, . * Eberhard W. Kornfeld: ''Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Nachzeichnung seines Lebens. Katalog der Sammlung Kirchner-Haus Davos''. Kornfeld Verlag, Bern 1979, . * Eberhard W. Kornfeld: ''Paul Klee: Verzeichnis des graphischen Werkes''. Kornfeld Verlag, Bern 2005, .

Exhibitions

* 2009: ''Wege der Moderne: Aus der Sammlung Eberhard W. Kornfeld'', Albertina,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

References

1923 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Swiss businesspeople 21st-century Swiss businesspeople Swiss art dealers Swiss auctioneers Businesspeople from Basel-Stadt Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Swiss curators {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub