A man with the trained eye of a textile merchant and a woman who had graduated from the Ulm School of Design founded by the artist Max Bill – two personalities with different backgrounds, united by a passion for art. Could there be better predisposition for building a collection? Rolf Weinberg began collecting early on – initially with sculptures by Marino Marini, Henri Laurens and Henry Moore, and prints by Pablo Picasso – and for a short time in the 1960s, he ran a gallery with friends in Zurich. As Rolf once admitted, collecting was not simply a complement to his demanding profession; often times, visiting exhibitions and reading about art consumed him entirely – even, on occasion, at the expense of his work. Margit Staber Weinberg gained insight into Modern art as an assistant of the artist and architect Max Bill, experiencing art up close in his studio, and co-curating his exhibition Concrete Art – 50 Years of Development in 1960. Margit subsequently made a name for herself as a conservator at the Zürcher Kunstgewerbemuseum and as a publicist.
Right: Max Bill, 4 freie in 4 gebundenen Gruppen, 1958
A traveling exhibition across European museums in 1980 provided the first overview of the Weinbergs' collecting activities; masterpieces of Modern art from the first decades of the twentieth century, including examples of Swiss and American art, formed an original ensemble. This collection impressed not only through its connoisseurial composition, but through the bold choices which defined it. Many collectors would have been satisfied with this success, but for the Weinbergs, this was only a first step. Collecting became so closely intertwined with their personal lives that their journey in the arts had to continue. Part of the new chapter in their endeavors included seeking permanent home for key works from their initial collection, including paintings by Magritte, Matisse, and Vallotton. Close ties to cultural institutions were a fundamental part of the Weinbergs' collecting journey, and such works were placed over the years in the museums of Basel, Winterthur and Zurich. Naturally, they continued the philanthropy that had characterized Swiss museums since their founding. Rolf Weinberg served on the board of the Kunsthaus Zürich for four decades and, for many years, chaired its acquisition committee. His professional activities required frequent travels, and he developed excellent contacts with art dealers and galleries across Europe and the United States, much to the benefit of the Kunsthaus. Margit Weinberg co-founded the Stiftung für konstruktive und konkrete Kunst in 1986 and became its first curator. Together, Rolf and Margit donated many of their artworks to the Kunsthaus, including paintings by Degas and Ingres.
At their hilltop home in Zurich which overlooked the city’s picturesque lake, the Weinbergs were generous hosts; thus, the development of their collection did not go unnoticed. In 1996, a wider public was able to witness how the collection had evolved, as another exhibition toured European museums. Spanning works from the eighteenth century to the modern era, the exhibition highlighted works by masters such as Cézanne and Degas.
Right: Henri Matisse, Le Bras, 1938.
A look at the provenance of the works provides insight into the extensive network cultivated by Rolf and Margit. The Weinbergs discovered works at international auctions, but did not confine themselves to what was offered in the main marketplaces. They pursued works by the artists that interested them; discovering their Munch at Bellman in Stockholm, their Ensor at Christian Fayt in Knokke. The Cézanne portrait was acquired from the legendary New York art dealer and collector Eugene Thaw, a stamp of quality in itself. For the paintings by Kandinsky and Moholy-Nagy, the Weinbergs sought out contacts close to the artists' widows to secure major works. While Kandinsky's Anfang (Beginning) synthesizes pictorial, formal elements with the musical rhythm of his earlier output, Am 3 by the Hungarian Constructivist represents one of his last great painterly compositions before the artist’s transition to experiments with photographic and cinematic techniques.
Right: Edgar Degas, Madame de Rutté, circa 1875.
When it came to works by the great, established artists, the Weinbergs did not acquire the obvious, but the rare: Cézanne's portrait of his wife is at once the most intimate and the most rigorously constructed version of this motif, which the artist revisited for over two decades. The frontality and reduction of form in this composition already suggest the inspirations Picasso and Braque would later draw from this painter's work. Degas lends his portrait of Madame de Rutté a photographic immediacy by casually placing it in the context of a still life. In Matisse's bold painting Le Bras, the arm extends from the model's body in the most astonishing way, a sense of free movement that anticipates the forms of the gouaches découpées through the balance of chromaticity, texture and space. The Weinbergs chose a rare landscape from Egon Schiele, and they placed a special emphasis on the still underappreciated late work of Lovis Corinth, whose painterly bravura remains unparalleled.
Center: Jean Crotti, Femme parée, 1915
Right: Félix Del Marle, L'Addition, 1933
It is already difficult to find and acquire masterpieces by painters who have shaped art history. It is perhaps even more difficult to discover outstanding works by painters who are less well known. This requires true connoisseurship, as the collector must rely on their own judgment. Just as boldly as they had initially embraced American Modernism, the Weinbergs acquired subsequent paintings with conviction and a keen eye for each work’s individual quality. These include an intimate interior by the Danish painter Peter Ilsted, which invites comparison with Vilhelm Hammershøi, both in terms of composition and quality; one of the rare abstractions by the Swiss artist Jean Crotti created in the New York Dada circle of Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia; as well as one of the magical still lives by Félix Del Marle. Conversely, they chose an atypically powerful work by Mark Tobey, revealing a previously overlooked side of this painter’s oeuvre. It is this tireless quest for discovery which characterizes not only the collecting spirit of Rolf and Margit Weinberg but the couple’s influence on Zurich and the broader art world; each work in the collection is a testament of this commitment.
Dieter Schwarz (b. 1953) is a Swiss, independent curator and author based in Zurich. Schwarz was the director of Kunstmuseum Winterthur from 1990 to 2017 and in this capacity has known Rolf and Margit Weinberg for many decades. He has been the curator and author of numerous exhibitions and publications. In addition to his curatorial practice, Schwarz is a member of the Menil Drawing Institute Advisory Committee as well as of the Board of Thomas Schütte Foundation. He is currently writing the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Gerhard Richter’s drawings and curating the retrospective exhibition 'Gerhard Richter: 60 Years' at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, in collaboration with Sir Nicholas Serota, which will open in October 2025.
