Wilhelm von Bode

ISG outbid for Europa which he planned to give to Berlin Museum; he was director.

Bode, Wilhelm (German curator, museum official, and writer, 1845-1929)

Note: German museum official and writer. In the 30 years preceding World War I he was one of the most respected and powerful experts and collectors in the European art world.

LC name authority rec. no. n50010050

LC Heading: Bode, Wilhelm von, 1845-1929

Biography:

German museum official and writer. In the 30 years preceding World War I he (von Bode after 1914) was one of the most respected and powerful figures in the European art world. As a scholar his expertise was highly regarded in a wide range of fields and backed by a vast number of publications. As the leading light of the Berlin Museum (now the Altes Museum) he represented an institution of considerable intellectual prestige. His determined approach and unflagging energy earned him the nicknames ‘Kunstkaporal’ and ‘Bismarck of the arts’, though he did not match the uncompromising and humourless caricature promoted by his detractors.

(Rupert Scott. "Bode, Wilhelm." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 24, 2016, http://proxy.bostonathenaeum.org:2154/subscriber/article/grove/art/T009503.)