2023-04-19 14:20:09
With Kirchner and Chagall through a long life
Eberhard “Ebi” Kornfeld (1923-2023)
Source: KORNFELD GALLERY
In Switzerland he is considered a legend. Eberhard Kornfeld was not only a star at the auctioneer’s desk, he also worked as a publisher of art catalogues. Now the entrepreneur, who preferred to see works of art in private hands rather than in a museum, has died.
WA few months before his hundredth birthday, Eberhard W. Kornfeld, the legendary Swiss auctioneer during his lifetime, died on April 13th. The parents announced the happy birth of a “Sunday boy” on September 23, 1923. And indeed, thanks to lifelong curiosity that constantly provides energy, unshakable courage, a finely balanced artistic and business sense, generosity, style, and of course the support of Kairos – God of the right moment – he has achieved an incomparable life’s work.
Many works of art have passed through his hands since Kornfeld joined the Bern art dealership “Gutekunst und Klipstein” as a trainee in 1945 and gradually took over after the sudden death of the owner in 1951. He had already acquired in-depth knowledge of hand drawings and Old Master graphics as an intern in the copper engraving cabinets in Paris, London and Amsterdam – this field remained an affair of the heart throughout his life.
Gradually, the program of the stately auction house on Laupenstraße in Bern expanded and Eberhard “Ebi” Kornfeld auctioned off works by French and Swiss Impressionists, masterpieces by the Brücke artists, by Lyonel Feininger and Paul Klee, and many outstanding works by Marc in his annual summer auctions Chagall and well-known protagonists of the post-war years as well as works by contemporary artists such as Franz Gertsch and Georg Baselitz. And Kornfeld achieved top prices.
His auctions were always a meeting place for the market leaders, museum people, dealers and collectors. Until 2017, when Bernhard Bischoff took over the place of the then 94-year-old Kornfeld, people enjoyed his work on the podium: calm, well organized, sometimes accompanied by gentle, yet accurate mockery.
Kornfeld’s love was also for art science. He devoted himself primarily to her as a publisher of authoritative catalogs raisonnés of Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, among others. With perseverance and a lot of commitment, he worked to ensure that Kirchner’s life and work were adequately appreciated, bought and restored his homes and studios in Davos, and ensured that a museum was set up.
Eberhard Kornfeld, a patriarch in the best sense of the word, enjoyed the respect of the primarily Swiss art world. He advised and mediated, made groundbreaking exhibitions possible – and was a good friend and companion for a number of artists and their families: the Giacometti brothers, for example, the Chagalls, Sam Francis, Jean Tinguely and his partner Niki de Saint Phalle.
With an unerring eye and well-founded knowledge, Eberhard Kornfeld has amassed a personal art treasure of immense quality and scope, which, apart from a few exceptions, will probably not come into public possession. Throughout his life he noted with some indignation how important works of art, both donated and purchased, disappeared permanently in museum depots – he once aptly described them as “morgues”.
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