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historical notes
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Fred Grunwald was born in 1898 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Grunwald's interest in art was sparked during a prolonged hospital stay after the First World War, where he became a student of graphic art and developed a fondness for twentieth-century German Expressionism. When he returned to civilian life, he built up a modest collection. Fleeing Nazi persecution, Grunwald emigrated, without his collection, to Los Angeles in 1939, where he started a garment factory. In 1949, the Adenauer government in West Germany initiated a program of restitution for those who suffered losses due to Nazi persecution. Grunwald received a substantial settlement as a disabled veteran and decided to invest in original graphic art, particularly focusing on works by twentieth-century German and Central European Expressionists.
Fred Grunwald's art collection included works by German Expressionists such as Ernst Barlach, Paul Klee, Willi Baumeister, Otto Kokoschka, Max Beckmann, Käthe Kollwitz, Otto Dix, Max Liebermann, Max Ernst, Franz Marc, George Grosz, Edvard Munch, Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, Carl Hofer, Max Pechstein, Wassily Kandinsky, Hans Thoma, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. In addition to German Expressionists, his collection featured pieces by other European artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jacques Villon, Marc Chagall, Georges Rouault, Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Paul Cézanne, Georges Braque, Louis Favre, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Gauguin, and Honoré Daumier, among others. He also acquired works by artists like Marino Marini, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Mario Avati, Antonio Frasconi, John Paul Jones, and June Wayne, further diversifying the range of art in his extensive collection.
Grunwald's commitment to art extended beyond collecting; he generously donated a significant portion of his collection to institutions like the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), ensuring that his treasures would inspire and educate generations to come. His legacy lives on through the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, which continues to thrive at UCLA, offering exhibitions, educational programs, and a vast collection that enriches the artistic landscape. |
