Josef Müller (born 15 February 1887 in Solothurn; died 24 March 1977) was a Swiss art collector and curator.

Biography

Josef Müller was the son of Josef Müller senior, co-founder of the Solothurn company Müller & Schweizer, which specializes in the manufacture of diversified watch parts, and Anna Müller, née Haiber. After the premature death of his parents, he was raised by a governess, completed a mechanical engineering degree at the Polytechnic in Zurich, completed an internship in the US from 1912 to 1914 and joined his father's company. Eventually, Müller withdrew from the family business and turned to art. He became a student of

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and set up his own studio, initially in Geneva, and from 1922 in Paris. Müller - he began to collect modern, African, Asian, and ancient art - returned to Solothurn in 1942, where he worked as a curator at the Solothurn Art Museum from 1943 to 1967. He was a member and president of the Solothurn Art Commission and from 1954 to 1960 a member of the Federal Art Commission. He married Louise Adèle Hortense née Ecuvillon in 1929. In 1970 he was awarded the Culture Prize of the Canton of Solothurn. Like his sister Gertrud Dübi-Müller, Müller maintained contacts with the most important Swiss artists of his time at a young age, such as

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, and

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. He acquired their works as well as those by

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Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

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, and others. In 1969, he founded the Josef Müller Foundation and left part of his valuable art collection to the Solothurn Art Museum. His extensive collection of non-European works has been included in the

Barbier-Mueller Museum The Barbier-Mueller Museum, founded in 1977, is located at 10 rue Jean-Calvin, in Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. ...

in Geneva, founded by his daughter Monique and his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. The pre-Columbian art part has been shown in Barcelona since 1997 and was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2013, as neither the municipality nor the Spanish state could raise the funds for a purchase.

References

Literature

*Matthias Oberli: Müller, Josef. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . *Swiss art in the Josef Müller Collection: Exhibition, City Museum of Solothurn, 15 June - 7 September 1975 . Vogt shield, 1975. *Dübi Müller Foundation, Josef Müller Foundation . Solothurn Art Museum, 1981. *Jean Paul and Monique Barbier-Mueller: From the life of a collector - Josef Müller 1887–1977 . Musée Barbier-Müller, 1989 . *The art of collecting . Swiss Institute for Art Research, 1998, pp. 91–93, .

External links

''Müller, Josef.''
In: ''www.kunstmuseum-so.ch''

In: ''www.muellerscience.com''

In: ''www.focus.de''
''Müller, Josef.''
In: ''www.barbier-mueller.ch'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Müller, Josef 1887 births 1977 deaths Swiss art collectors 20th-century art collectors Swiss art curators People from Solothurn ETH Zurich alumni