Sir Jack Mervyn Frank Baer (29 August 1924 – 4 May 2016) was a British

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

, specialising in Old Masters, and the chairman of the London art dealers Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox.

Biography

Early life

Jack Mervyn Frank Baer was born on 29 August 1924. His father Frank Baer was a business executive for the British Metal Corporation; he was a

German Jew The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

who whilst still a young adult had moved to England. Baer was educated at Bryanston School, as was the slightly older artist Lucian Freud, and they would meet again in later life. he then attended the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. During the Second World War, he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, in Normandy (including D-Day) and the South Pacific.

Career

After the War, his father arranged an apprenticeship, in return for an investment, with the art dealer Max de Beer. This ended when de Beer was jailed for fraud, and his father's money was lost. However, he did establish friendships with the lawyer

Arnold Goodman Arnold Abraham Goodman, Baron Goodman, CH, (21 August 191312 May 1995) was a British lawyer and political advisor. Life Arnold Goodman was born at Hackney, London, son of Jewish parents Joseph Goodman (1879/80-1940), a master draper, and Be ...

, Delves Molesworth, who worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Hungarian art dealer, Max Hevesi.

Hazlitt

Hevesi unexpectedly died in 1947, and his son sought the assistance of Baer in winding down the Hazlitt Gallery, which Hevesi had recently started. Instead, it was agreed that Baer should take control of the business. Baer chose to be in New York City on 1 January 1955, the very day that

foreign exchange controls Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national bor ...

were removed, and quickly acquired 35 works by out-of-favour 19th-century French artists including Corot,

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

and Rousseau, for a mere £10,000. By including these works in shows at Hazlitt, he was able to judiciously influence their popularity. Baer built Hazlitt into "a world-class concern". In 1973, a merger created Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, followed by the opening of a New York affiliate gallery. Baer was managing director of Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox from 1973, until 1992, when he took on the role of chairman. Baer left Hazlitt in 2001 to start a consulting business.

Other roles

From 1977 to 1980, Baer was chairman of the Society of London Art Dealers. Baer was a member of the Museums and Galleries Commission, where he worked as chairman of the acceptance in lieu panel; during his tenure, Baer is estimated to have saved £150 million of art for the nation. In 1992, he joined the Reviewing Committee on Export of Works of Art. In 2003, Baer was part of an advisory committee overseeing the updating of information on 1933–45 collections in UK museums. Baer was knighted in 1997.

Personal life

From 1952 to 1969, Baer was married to the English actress

Jean St. Clair Jean St Clair (23 September 1920 – 29 June 1973) was an English actress. She was born in Dublin, Ireland as Jean Margaret Alice St Clair. Her father was a Lieutenant in the 21st Lancers, stationed in Kildare, County Kildare. She made several f ...

, and they had one daughter together. In 1970, he married Diana Downes Baillieu. He died on 4 May 2016, and she survived him, as did his daughter, and two stepdaughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Jack 1924 births 2016 deaths British art dealers British Jews British people of German-Jewish descent Knights Bachelor People educated at Bryanston School Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art