Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (September 26, 1882 – April 3, 1964) was a German and Swiss banker, art collector and patron.
Biography
He was born in Elberfeld, Germany, and died in Ascona, Switzerland. Heydt served in the Imperial German Army during World War I. He was badly wounded from a gunshot wound to the stomach, an injury that caused complications for the rest of his life. In 1919, he married Vera von Schwabach (1899–1996), daughter of the Berlin banker Paul von Schwabach [de]. The marriage ended in divorce in 1927; there were no children. Vera later became a prominent Jungian analyst in London.[1]
Heydt's collections were the basis for the creation of the Museum Rietberg in Zürich, Switzerland.[2] He was also the former owner of Monte Verità, a well-known site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities, which upon his death became the property of the Swiss Canton of Ticino. He was a member of the NSDAP until he became a Swiss citizen in 1937 and left the party in 1939. After the Second World War, he was arrested for treason for his handling of payment transactions for the German intelligence service under Wilhelm Canaris. Heydt was acquitted in 1948. Unconvinced of his innocence, the U.S. government confiscated all of Heydt's American bank deposits as well as his works of art, transferring them to the Buffalo Museum of Science as "enemy assets" under the Trading with the Enemy Act.[3]
Heydt described art using the term "ars una", an all-encompassing art that appreciates diversity as it is found throughout the world.[4]
Karl Heinrich Boeddinghaus (1797–1872) ∞ 1823
Sophie Siebel (1802–1885)
Jacob Wilhelm Haarhaus (1798–1881) ∞ 1830
Johanna Sophie Bargmann (1803–1872)
Alfred Aders (1809–1880) ∞ 1835
Bertha Boeddinghaus (1814–1891)
Grandparents
August von der Heydt (1825–1867) ∞ 1849
Maria Helene Boeddinghaus (1828–1899)
Gustav Haarhaus (1831–1911) ∞ 1860
Ida Auguste Aders (1838–1876)
Parents
August von der Heydt (1851–1929) ∞ 1880
Selma Haarhaus (1862–1944)
Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (1882–1964)
Works
Eduard von der Heydt/Werner von Rheinbaben: Auf dem Monte Verità. Erinnerungen und Gedanken über Menschen, Kunst und Politik, Atlantis, Zürich 1958.
Further reading
Karl With: Bildwerke Ost-und Südasiens aus der Sammlung Yi Yuan [d.i. Eduard von der Heydt]. Mit begleitendem Text von K. With. Einband u. Vorsatzpapier nach Entwurf von Georg Baus. Schwabe, Basel 1924
Robert Landmann (d.i. Werner Ackermann): Monte Verità. Die Geschichte eines Berges, Berlin: Adalbert Schultz Verlag 1930.
Stefan Balazs: Die Inschriften der Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt, Sonderdruck aus der Ostasiatischen Zeitschrift. 20. Jahrgang. De Gruyter & Co Verlag, Berlin 1934.
Curt Riess: Ascona. Geschichte des seltsamsten Dorfes der Welt. Zürich: Europa Verlag 1964 (1. Aufl.), 1977 (3. Aufl.) - In this book Eduard von der Heydt is referred to as "Mr. X" beginning on page 194
Sabine Fehlemann und Stamm, Rainer (Hrsg.): Die Von der Heydts. Bankiers, Christen und Mäzene. Müller + Busmann, Wuppertal 2001, 184 S., ISBN3-928766-49-X
Francesco Welti: „Der Baron, die Kunst und das Nazigold“, Verlag Huber Frauenfeld, 2008, ISBN978-3-7193-1475-0
Eberhard Mros: Phänomen Monte Verità. Neun Bände, im Selbstverlag des Verfassers, Ascona 2008/2011
Eberhard Illner (Hrsg.): Eduard von der Heydt. Kunstsammler – Bankier – Mäzen. Prestel, München/London/New York 2013, ISBN978-3-7913-4204-7. (Accompanies the exhibit Von Buddha bis Picasso. Der Sammler Eduard von der Heydt at the Museum Rietberg Zürich, April 20 – August 18, 2013 and also accompanies another exhibit at the Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, from October 13, 2015 - February 28, 2016.)
