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Maja Sacher (7 August 1896 – 8 August 1989) was a Swiss art collector and philanthropist.
Early life and education
She was born in 1896 to the architect Fritz Stehlin and Helene von Bavier. She studiedsculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and was taught by Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...
in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. In 1921 she married Emanuel Hoffmann
Emanuel Hoffmann (4 May 1896 – 3 October 1932) was a Swiss jurist and art collector and the son of Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, a founder of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche (also known as Roche)
Biography
He attended the humanist gy ...
, with whom she first lived in Paris and from 1925 in Brussels. In Paris, but also in Brussels, the two became part of the artistic community and bought paintings from Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...
, Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
and Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
amongst others. In 1930 the family moved to Basel where Emanuel Hoffmann became the vice director of the family owned Hoffmann-La Roche
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...
. In Basel, the two became influential figures of the local cultural life. Her husband Emanuel died in 1932 in a serious car accident following which Maja Hoffmann founded the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation in 1933. The Foundation was established to support the contemporary arts and their artists.
Philanthropy
She married the conductorPaul Sacher
Paul Sacher (28 April 190626 May 1999) was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessperson. At the time of his death Sacher was majority shareholder of pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche and was considered the third richest person i ...
in 1934 with whom she kept on expanding the art collection. In 1936 they moved to a house she designed herself in the countryside of Pratteln
Pratteln (Swiss German: ''Brattele'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, located in the district of Liestal.
History
Pratteln is first mentioned around 1102-03 as ''Bratello''.
Geography
Pratteln has an area, ...
. She acted as president of the foundation and was the first woman member of the art commission of the Kunstmuseum in Basel between 1940 and 1964. In 1941 she donated the collection of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation to 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 ...
as a permanent deposit. Together with Paul Sacher, she expanded the collection with works of Joseph Beuys
Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...
, Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...
, Alberto Ciacometti and Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...
. In 1980 she donated the at the time first Museum for contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
, which is today a part of the Kunstmuseum in Basel.
References