Langen Foundation
{{Short description|German museum of modern and oriental art near Neuss}}
File:Neuss (DE), Raketenstation Hombroich, Langen Foundation -- 2014 -- 7404.jpg
Langen Foundation near Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is a museum designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The foundation showcases a collection of Oriental Art and Modern Art. It is located on the grounds of the Museum Insel Hombroich.
History
Marianne Langen's collection of Japanese art, once mainly housed in Switzerland, consists of about 500 works dating from the 12th to the 19th century. Her husband, Viktor, who held several patents for technical innovations in automobile production, had traveled regularly to visit customers in Japan, where the couple's collection was formed. The Langen residencies in Meerbusch, Germany, (built by Georg Lünenborg, 1954/55) and Ascona, Switzerland, were full of paintings and sculptures that were periodically interchanged. At its height, the collection comprised around 1,180 pieces, including 300 20th-century works.Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times.
In 1979 the collectors erected a private museum in Ascona to house their collection of Japanese picture scrolls. The museum was closed in 2004.Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times. Since then the Langen Collection has been situated in the art and exhibition facility of the Langen Foundation. Marianne Langen, who paid weekly visits to the construction site, died in February 2004 without seeing the finished building.David Galloway (September 25, 2004), [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/25/style/25iht-gallo_ed3_.html Hombroich's 'Treasure Island'] New York Times.
Architecture
The Langen Foundation's building was created on grounds which used to be a NATO rocket base.[http://www.aedes-arc.de/sixcms/detail.php?template=det_aedes_ausstellung_artikel_2000&id=365710 Tadao Ando: Langen Foundation, Hombroich - Neuss Missile Station, 2 November - 7 December 2003] Aedes West, Berlin. The building has double-skin volume and two half-buried temporary exhibition wings with a total area of {{convert|900|m2|sqft|abbr=on}}; the structure mainly consists of reinforced concrete, glass and steel. The museum offers three exhibition spaces totalling an area of {{convert|1300|m2|sqft|abbr=on}}. Situated within the ground-level concrete slab is the so-called Japan Room – an unusually long and narrow gallery conceptualised by Ando as a space of “tranquillity” especially for the Japanese segment of the Langen Collection.Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times. The two subterranean exhibition rooms, with a ceiling height of a surprising eight metres, were in turn designed to accommodate the modern part of the collection.[http://www.langenfoundation.com/index.php?id=2 History] Langen Foundation. The museum opened to the public in 2004.
Collection
Marianne and Viktor Langen acquired works of Japanese art, Asian art (from India, Cambodia, Thailand, China and Korea) and western modernism since the late 1940s.Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times.
The Langen's collection of modern art includes works from major artists such as Paul Cézanne, Max Beckmann, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Jean Dubuffet, Francis Bacon, and Sigmar Polke. In addition, Viktor and Marianne Langen closely followed the Zero movement. Artists like Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Günther Uecker from the Langens’ Düsseldorf environment became part of the collection, as did Lucio Fontana and Yves Klein.
=Deaccessioning=
While the Japanese and non-European collections remain intact,Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times. in 2014 the Langen consigned ten works of art to be auctioned at Christie’s in New York, including Fernand Léger's Grande Nature Morte (1939), Georges Braque's Le Modèle (1939), Picasso's Portrait de femme (Dora Maar) (1942) and Wassily Kandinsky's Strandszene (1909).Katya Kazakina (April 3, 2014), [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-03/monet-lilies-picasso-lover-star-in-360-million-auction.html Monet Water Lilies, Picasso Lovers Star in $360 Million Auction] Bloomberg.
Exhibitions
Since 2010, the Langen Foundation has been collaborating with private collections across Germany, including ALTANA Art (founded by German heiress Susanne Klatten) and the Viehof Collection (established by Eugen Viehof).Izabella Scott (June 8, 2018), [https://www.ft.com/content/41be4974-5e72-11e8-ab47-8fd33f423c09 Langen Foundation: Tadao Ando’s building is an artwork in its own right] Financial Times.
Gallery
File:Stoel 0.3 Vitra.jpg|View on entrance
File:Langen Foundation Neuss 03.jpg|Interior view
References
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External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.langenfoundation.com/index.php?id=79 Official website]
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Category:Modernist architecture in Germany
Category:Buildings and structures in Rhein-Kreis Neuss