Thank You James Simon!

May 13, 2011
I know you must be wondering who is (or was) James Simon? He was a Jewish cotton magnate from Berlin who lived from 1851 through 1932. He collected more art than anyone in history than Napoleon. Yet, he is largely unknown. Without the vision and the generosity of James Simon, Berlin would not have many of the cultural treasures that it has today. For example, he personally funded archeological excavations in Egypt and Mesopotamia. At one such dig the famous bust of Nefertiti was discovered. Since Simon paid for the dig he technically owned it, but he gave all of the objects he ever purchased (over 20,000) to museums in Berlin. He was very knowledgeable and advised Kaiser Wilhelm about art. At the end of his life, however, due to global economic circumstances and rising anti-Semitism he died broke and disenfranchised. The irony is that he donated all of his art to German museums before the Nazis had the power to steal it. So, today I am thanking James Simon because without his generosity I could not have enjoyed the beautiful things I saw.

The conference at which I was scheduled to speak started in the afternoon, so Jill and I went to the “Museum Island,” which is in former East Berlin. Our first stop was the “Neues (New)” Museum, home of the renowned Egyptian collection. The museum was originally built in the mid 1800s, but British bombers destroyed its roof in 1943. For over 60 years the building lay in ruins and the treasures were moved to a different place. Following a spectacular renovation (more a recreation than a renovation) by the British architect David Chipperfield, the Neues is the hottest museum in town. The architecture and the presentation of the objects are as interesting as the pieces themselves. For example, the photo shows bits and pieces of the old museum's walls that could not be matched with their original location. So, the architect created a new display from the 19th century walls and called it "the Fragmentarium." Of course, Nefertiti is the queen of the exhibits, and she was every bit as beautiful as I expected. I wasn’t allowed to photograph her, but she is all alone in a room surrounded by her adoring fans. She looked so modern that it was hard to believe she was created in 1340 B.C. Interestingly, under the reign of Akhnaten and Nefertiti , the artistic depiction of human figures became more realistic, except for certain fashionable “touches.” For example, there were a number of princess’s heads that were misshapen. This was not due to an epidemic of skull malformations but rather a stylistic construct.

After leaving the Neue, Jill and I went across town to another museum that benefitted from Simon’s generosity, the Gemaldegalerie. There I saw two Vermeers, “The Girl with the Pearl Necklace” and “The Glass of Wine.” The former one I had seen before on loan in Rome, but the latter was a new one.