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Frieder Burda

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Frieder Burda (29 April 1936 – 14 July 2019, in Baden-Baden) was a German publisher, art collector and Honorary Citizen of Baden-Baden.

Life

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Born on 29 April 1936 in Gengenbach, Burda was the second son of publisher Franz Burda and his wife Aenne Burda (née Lemminger). Together with his older brother Franz [de] and his younger brother Hubert, Burda grew up in Offenburg. After finishing school in Offenburg, Triberg and Switzerland, he completed a print and a publishing qualification. Burda was trained in his father's business group. Later he lived in France[1] and became a magazine publisher. He spent several years in England and the United States before becoming a printer in Darmstadt. He developed his company into one of the leading commercial print foundries in Europe.

Burda died on 14 July 2019 in Baden-Baden at the age of 83.[2]

Art collection

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Museum Frieder Burda

A major art collector, Burda bought his first work, a slashed red painting by Lucio Fontana, at Kassel's Documenta 4 in 1968.[3] In building his collection, he took advice from art-historian friends, including Werner Spies, Götz Adriani and Jean-Louis Prat.

Burda initially planned to build a museum near Mougins, France, where he had a house.[4] In 2004, he opened Museum Frieder Burda [de] in Baden-Baden, in a €20 million building designed by architect Richard Meier.[5] The collection includes more than 700 works, including several late masterpieces by Picasso and major holdings of Germany's important postwar artists, such as Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, plus a few pieces from his father's collection.[6] The focus is on German painting, from artists ranging from Max Beckmann, Eugen Schönebeck [de], Georg Baselitz to Corinne Wasmuht.[7] Following its opening in October 2004, the museum drew 40,000 visitors in its first two months.[8] Only a sampling of the permanent collection can be displayed at one time (many works continue to be lent to special exhibitions and other museums).[9]

The two-story glass and aluminum building[10] itself is set on the edge of the main park in the town connected by a glass-sheathed bridge to the existing small Baden-Baden art museum, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.[11] A stand of enormous trees, including historic oaks and a blood beech, tower over the buildings.[12] Meier's building won the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture in 2006.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Jackie Wullschlager (May 27, 2011), A place of his own Financial Times.
  2. ^ "Frieder Burda". Museum Frieder Burda (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  3. ^ Jackie Wullschlager (May 27, 2011), A place of his own Financial Times.
  4. ^ Richard Bernstein (January 20, 2005), A Personal Vision, With a Fortune to Match, Creates a New German Museum New York Times.
  5. ^ Bernstein, Richard (20 January 2005). "A Personal Vision, With a Fortune to Match, Creates a New German Museum". The New York Times.
  6. ^ J.S. Marcus (June 9, 2006), Private Collection Shines in Its Own Museum Wall Street Journal.
  7. ^ Richard Bernstein (January 20, 2005), A Personal Vision, With a Fortune to Match, Creates a New German Museum New York Times.
  8. ^ Richard Bernstein (January 20, 2005), A Personal Vision, With a Fortune to Match, Creates a New German Museum New York Times.
  9. ^ J.S. Marcus (June 9, 2006), Private Collection Shines in Its Own Museum Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ J.S. Marcus (June 9, 2006), Private Collection Shines in Its Own Museum Wall Street Journal.
  11. ^ Richard Bernstein (January 20, 2005), A Personal Vision, With a Fortune to Match, Creates a New German Museum New York Times.
  12. ^ J.S. Marcus (June 9, 2006), Private Collection Shines in Its Own Museum Wall Street Journal.
  13. ^ J.S. Marcus (June 9, 2006), Private Collection Shines in Its Own Museum Wall Street Journal.
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