Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Heinemann, Rudolf J. print view role Dealer/Gallery Collector dates 1901-1975 city New York City state NY other cities Munich, Germany; Florence, Italy; Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; sex M historical notes Dr. Rudolf Jakob Heinemann was an art dealer, scholar, collector, served on the Advisory Council of NYU’s Institute of Art, and was an adviser to the collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921–2002). Heinemann began his art career under the tutelage of his father, Max Heinemann (1861–1931), via the family owned art gallery, Galerie Heinmenann (1872–1938). Galerie Heinemann was founded by his Grandfather David Heinemann (1819–1902) in 18721, and had branches in Munich, Nice, Frankfurt, and New York. In addition to having his own firm in New York City—Pinakos, Inc.—Heinemann was associated with the following art galleries: Knoedler & Co., Arnold Seligmann Rey & Co., and Thomas Agnew & Sons. Heinemann worked behind the scenes and often purchased works of art in concert with other galleries and dealers. Heinemann and his wife, Loretta “Lore” Leiter (1914–1997, m. 1947), collected Old Master paintings and drawings. A large portion of Heinemann’s Tiepolo drawings came from the collection of his friend the collector, dealer, artist, and scholar Tomás Harris, 1908-1964. The Heinemann’s left works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Pierpont Morgan Library. Some of the works of art given jointly to the National Gallery of Art and the Morgan Library sold in a series of auctions at Christie's in Manhattan and London, and the proceeds were used to create the Lore and Rudolf Heinemann Fund for curatorial and scholarly travel, research and conservation of 14th- to 19th-century paintings and drawings. They left Heinemann’s library to The Frick Collection, Frick Art Reference Library. Heinemann was a resident of the United States in 1935 and became a naturalized citizen in 1941. He was a member of the advisory council of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In 1940, both George Henschel, then president of Knoedler & Co., and Paul M. Byk, then president of Arnold Seligmann Ray & Co., signed as Heinemann’s witnesses for his naturalization papers – they affirmed that he’d been in the country since 1935. decades of activity 1920-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1950-1960 1960-1970 website http://heinemann.gnm.de/en/welcome.html updated 02/14/2025 10:12:26 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Oral history interview with Eugene V. Thaw 2007 Oct. 1-2. see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Library of Rudolf J. Heinemann. see details... The Getty Research Institute Research Libraries, Archives and Special Collections William Suhr papers, ca. 1846-2003, bulk 1928-1982 see details... Deutsches Kunstarchiv im Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nurenberg Kornmarkt 1 Galerie Heinemann online see details... see also: Galerie Heinemann «  back