The collector endorsed the Museum of Art by drawings

NEWS | April 19, 2017

For thirty years Heinz Röthinger has been collecting drawings by Adolf Hölzel, one of the fathers of art abstraction, coming from Olomouc. Now he paid his collection to the Art Museum and returned it to Hölzels hometown. He also earned a nomination for the Ď Award, intended for patrons and benefactors in culture, charity, science and education.

The opening of the exhibition, which presents the collection of Hölzels works, was also attended by donors in the April, Röthingers husband. "My wife has a great credit for this gift. She had no objections when I told her to take the collection to Olomouc, "said Heinz Röthinger with a smile.

Spouses Röthinger and interpreter.

Hölzels first work was seen by Röthinger at age four, in 1941. "It was in the Hochschwarzwald, where two remarkable ladies had sheltered, for there was still war. They showed me a smaller picture and said, thats Hölzel. I remember the name. When I was fifty years old, and I had already collected some excellent works of art, I was given this painting by his heiress Ingeborg Clauss-Ahles. Since then, my eyes have been fixed on Hölzela, "the collector said. As he said, Adolf Hölzel himself became a lover of art with all passion. "I hope that even visitors to the Art Museum wake up to his drawings with similar feelings," Röthinger added.

Art Director of the Museum of Arts Michal Soukup said he does not like to talk about money in connection with art, but he said he was really generous because he is in the order of millions of crowns. "The husbands Röthinger could have auctioned the drawings but they preferred to donate them to a public institution so that our visitors could enjoy it," Soukup added.

Röitimer eventually collected fifteen Hölzel drawings in the years 1910-1912. From pencil drawings to gouache and colorful drawings, from religious motifs to abstract landscapes.

"Here and there I could get some of his next work. Of course, big sacrifices. It meant a more modest way of living because I only had my teachers salary. When selecting new images, I was interested in developing a fan of this multifaceted work, which would at least imply the broad Hölzel horizon, "said Heinz Röthymer, 80, The collector admired his motto: "It is important that the work that created them does not have such a meaning.

As a collector, Röthinger also worked at large exhibitions, the largest in 2007 in Vienna. In addition, he tried to get the circle of Hölzels pupils and followers, of whom Willi Baumeister is the most important. He also dealt with the art of primitive nations, seating furniture and design lamps.

The new acquisition of the Art Museum became part of the Czech-German Spring of 2017. The Ď Award will be held on May 17th in Prague.