The FONDATION HUBERT LOOSER Collection

In three galleries on the east side of the Chipperfield Building visitors can view major works from the FONDATION HUBERT LOOSER COLLECTION, which is dedicated to the art of the twentieth century. HUBERT LOOSER, born in 1938 in Sarganserland, already became interested in art at the age of nineteen; he visited museums and galleries and at the start purchased mainly Swiss art – by Karl Liner, Serge Brignoni, Max von Moos and Martin Disler.  Buying Alberto Giacometti’s bronze “Annette assise” rounded off this first phase.

Giacometti’s sculpture opened up new dimensions for the art-loving entrepreneur and led him to international post-war art from the USA and Europe. In the course of two decades the collection became renowned for paintings, sculptures and drawings in from minimal art, arte povera and, most notably, so called Abstract Expressionism. It contains one of the world-wide most celebrated work groups by Willem de Kooning. Represented as well are Agnes Martin, Cy Twombly, David Smith, John Chamberlain, Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Judd, also Lucio Fontana and Giuseppe Penone with examples from museums. Other main focuses are on Surrealist movements, Informel and land art. Yves Klein and Pablo Picasso are each represented with one major work.

Salient themes are the painterly gesture, linearity, the processual, the spiritual and sensuousness/fleshly. What Hubert Looser looks for when purchasing works is the dialogue between American and European art and in doing so evokes associations that are as coherent as they are fascinating. In intensive activities over long years he has succeeded in giving his collection a striking and uniquely individual profile. A high aesthetic aspiration motivated him to design a house on Zürichberg as private location for his collection. The purchase of a large-format work on paper by Richard Serra in 2010 was the grand finale of his collecting activities. The art collection is being transferred to the Fondation Hubert Looser founded in 1988, a humanitarian foundation that supports numerous aid organisations and projects in Cambodia, Albania, Romania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and more.

After initial contacts, since 2010 an intensive dialogue has developed with Hubert Looser and his wife Ursula on the possibility of making a large group of permanent loans accessible to a broad-based public. The selection encompasses the focus of American art and major works by European artists. Besides the outstanding work group of Willem de Kooning and Cy Twombly, the major museum works are now on show that ideally enrich the Kunsthaus collection. Another principle playing a central role is the dialogue that occurs as time goes by, when the works of the Looser Collection are shown in alternation presentations together with those of the Kunsthaus.KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH