Sidney Brown (art collector)

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Sidney William Brown (March 7, 1865, Winterthur — August 1, 1941, Baden) was a Swiss machine designer and art collector.

Life and work[edit]

Sidney Brown was born as one of six children of the British inventor Charles Brown and his wife Eugénie Pfau, who came from Winterthur. His older brother was the machine designer Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown.[1] Like his brother, Sidney Brown studied mechanical engineering at the Winterthur Technical College and was one of the founding members of the Winterthur Velocipede Club during this time, of which he was the first president. After his studies, he then joined his father in 1884 at what was to become Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon.[2] After his brother founded the company Brown, Boveri & Cie.[3] together with Walter Boveri in 1891,[4] Sidney Brown became technical director there and later a member of the board of directors.

In 1896 Brown married the industrialist's daughter Jenny Sulzer.[5][6] Their honeymoon took the couple to Paris, where they acquired Eugène Boudin's painting Laundresses.[7]

Art collection[edit]

Their collection initially focused on painters of the Munich School such as Ludwig Herterich, Leo Putz and Franz von Stuck. Their villa Langmatt, built in Baden in 1901, received its own gallery extension for the painting collection in 1906. Until WWII, the Brown couple, advised by the painter Carl Montag, acquired paintings by the French Impressionists in Paris.[8] The collection included paintings by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They also acquired valuable furniture, porcelain, clocks, silver, and books. After the death of their son John A. Brown in 1987, the villa and its collections were placed in a foundation and have been open as a museum since 1990.

Family grave Brown-Sulzer

Brown was buried in the family grave at Liebenfels cemetery in Baden AG.

2023 sale of Cézannes[edit]

In 2023 the Foundation sold three artworks by Cézanne at Christies.[9][10][11] One of the Cézannes, entitled Fruits et pot de gingembre,[12] was found to have been owned by a Jewish art collector who was persecuted by the Nazis. A confidential settlement was reached with the family of Jacob Goldschmidt shortly before the sale.[13] However questions about the exact itinerary of the artwork remained[14]

Honors[edit]

  • 1916 Ehrenbürger von Baden
  • 1930 Ehrendoktor der ETH Zürich

See also[edit]

Bernheim-Jeune

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Charles Eugen Lancelot Brown - Winterthur Glossar". www.winterthur-glossar.ch. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  2. ^ "ABB Uber Uns". ABB.
  3. ^ "MFO, BBC und ABB". OERLIKON Industriegeschichten (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  4. ^ Lang, Norbert (1992). Charles E. L. Brown, 1863 - 1924, Walter Boveri, 1865 - 1924: Gründer eines Weltunternehmens. Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik. Verein für Wirtschaftshistorische Studien. Meilen: Verein für Wirtschaftshistorische Studien. ISBN 978-3-909059-01-0.
  5. ^ Fahrländer, Andreas (2018-12-15). "Jenny Brown-Sulzer - Wie die Witwe des BBC-Gründers Baden und die Schweiz veränderte". Badener Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  6. ^ Langmatt, Museum. "The Patron's Familiy - Museum Langmatt". www.langmatt.ch. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  7. ^ Langmatt, Museum. "Eugène Boudin, Washerwomen on the Bank of the Touqes, 1895 - Museum Langmatt". www.langmatt.ch. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  8. ^ "MONTAG Charles/Carl (FR)". agorha.inha.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-31. Jusqu'à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en tant que conseiller et marchand à la fois, Montag joua un rôle déterminant dans la constitution de presque toutes les grandes collections privées de Suisse : Arthur et Hedy Hahnloser, Richard Bühler, Oskar Reinhart, Emil Bührle, Sidney et Jenny Brown
  9. ^ "Acculé, un musée suisse vend ses chefs-d'œuvre". Le Journal Des Arts (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  10. ^ "Un musée fait scandale en vendant trois Cézanne pour se renflouer". Beaux Arts (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  11. ^ "'Very short-sighted': Swiss museum's decision to sell Cézanne paintings sparks outrage". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  12. ^ "Property Sold to Benefit Museum Langmatt PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906) Fruits et pot de gingembre". christies.com.
  13. ^ Hickley, Catherine (2023-11-08). "Amid Criticism, a Museum Says It Must Sell Its Cézannes to Survive". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  14. ^ Kazakina, Katya (2023-09-29). "Questions About World War II Ties Again Haunt Christie's as a Swiss Museum Plans to Sell Three Prized Cézanne Paintings". Artnet News. Retrieved 2023-11-09.

Literature[edit]

  • Brown, Sidney William in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  • Norbert Lang: Charles E. L. Brown und Walter Boveri. Gründer eines Weltunternehmens. Verein für wirtschaftshistorische Studien, 1992, ISBN 3909059015.
  • Florens Deuchler: Die französischen Impressionisten und ihre Vorläufer. Katalog Langmatt, 1990, ISBN 3855450447.
  • Eva-Maria Preiswerk-Lösel: Ein Haus für die Impressionisten – Das Museum Langmatt. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3775710175.
  • Meet the Browns. Badener Neujahrsblätter 2012. Herausgegeben von der Literarischen Gesellschaft Baden und der Vereinigung für Heimatkunde des Bezirks Baden. Hier + Jetzt, Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, Baden 2011.

External links[edit]

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