Max G. Bollag (6 December 1913 - 13 September 2005) was a Swiss gallery owner. Primarily active in Zurich, he was best known for his Pablo Picasso exhibitions.[1]

Life

Max G. Bollag was born into a long-established Jewish family and grew up in Zurich with his sisters Suzanne, Amélie and his twin, Mary.[2] His father, Léon Bollag [1876-1958] and uncle Gustave [1873-1953] opened a gallery in Zurich in 1913 while his mother, Betty Moos, together with her brother, Max Moos, worked in their Geneva gallery.[3][4] Max Bollag opened a Gallery Modern Art Center on Zurich's Rämistrasse and shortly afterwards in the Zunfthaus zur Meisen.

In 1940 he moved his art gallery to Lausanne.[5][6] Bollag showed paintings by Cuno Amiet, Johann Heinrich Füssli, Alberto Giacometti, and also early works by Pablo Picasso, among others. In addition to the exhibitions, he organized two-day auctions.

In 1946, Bollag opened his gallery at Storchengasse 9 in Zurich. Works by Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky and Picasso were shown here. Auctions at that time could only be held twice a year with a peddler's patent. At first the auctions were held in the Zunfthaus, then in the Kongresshaus.[7]

In 1949 Bollag married Susi Aeppli, the daughter of Ernst Aeppli and Gertrud Zschokke.[8] Four children were born of this union.

In 1950 he founded the Swiss Society of Friends of Art Auctions, which made it possible to hold auctions in the gallery in closed company.[9] The membership fee was 5 francs per year. Works of art were auctioned every two months.

In 1963, after several stops, the gallery premises were located on Werdmühlestrasse. In 1998, Bollag retired from his work at the age of 85. He died on September 13, 2005.

Picasso's Still Life with Portrait, which was stolen during the Nazi period from Dr Meyer-Udewald, reappeared after World War II at the Bollag gallery which sold it to the Galerie Benador in Geneva from which the Phillips Collection acquired it. A settlement was reached with the heirs.[10]

Seven Picassos were stolen from the Bollag gallery in 1974.[11] They were found and returned six years later.[12]

Museums throughout the world have artworks that Bollag sold, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.[13] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art[14]

A sale of artworks from Bollag's was organized by Christies in 2018.[15]

Literature

References

  1. ↑ AG, VADIAN NET. "Galerist Max G. Bollag ist gestorben". www.news.ch (in German). Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  2. ↑ "BOLLAG GALLERIES". www.bollaggalleries.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  3. ↑ "Bollag, Gallery Max G." www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  4. ↑ "Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)". www.christies.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06. by 1899 the Moos family had opened the first art gallery ever founded in Karlsruhe, with Betty and her brothers Ivan and Max assisting their father in the business. In 1906 the Moos siblings Max and Betty opened the influential Maison Moos in Geneva, a key promoter of Swiss artists, such as Hodler, Menn and Amiet, which soon expanded to include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, with an emphasis on French artists.
  5. ↑ "Auktionshäuser in Lausanne". www.arthistoricum.net. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  6. ↑ "Der Beitrag jüdischer Kunsthändler zur Entwicklung der schweizerischen Kulturszeneim 20. Jahrhundert" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)". www.christies.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  8. ↑ "BOLLAG GALLERIES". www.bollaggalleries.ch. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  9. ↑ "Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)". www.christies.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  10. ↑ Artdaily. "Christie's New York To Auction Picasso's Still Life". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  11. ↑ Ap (1991-06-14). "2 Picassos Are Stolen at Zurich Gallery". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  12. ↑ "Stolen Picasso works found after six years". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  13. ↑ "Provenance". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  14. ↑ "Metropolitan Museum of Art - Bollag". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  15. ↑ "Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)". www.christies.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
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