The Sammlung Hans Castorp is a traveling exhibition with pastiches of famous avant-garde artworks including Piet Mondriaaan, Pablo Piccasso, Paul Klée, Jackson Pollack and Mark Rotkho.
The masterpieces will be on view for the first time since 1964. In addition to these avant-garde icons of the 20th century, there are some early works of Hans Castorp on view. The German writer Thomas Mann wrote a novel about Castorp, “The Magic Mountain”, for which he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929.
Marina Raeymaekers and Marc van Campenhout were appointed curators of the exhibition by the sole heir of the collection, Mr Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr.
The masterpieces will be on view for the first time since 1964. In addition to these avant-garde icons of the 20th century, there are some early works of Hans Castorp on view. The German writer Thomas Mann wrote a novel about Castorp, “The Magic Mountain”, for which he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929.
Marina Raeymaekers and Marc van Campenhout were appointed curators of the exhibition by the sole heir of the collection, Mr Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr.
Letter from Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr. (translation Marina Raeymaekers and Luc Adriaenssen)
Hyeres, April 3rd, 2014
Dear Madam, dear Sir,
My name will probably mean nothing to you : Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr, but you may know my grandfather on my father's side: Hans Castorp of the Hamburg shipyards Tunder, Wilms & Castorp - and later chairman of the board of directors of the International Sanatorium Berghof in Davos, Switzerland.
My father, Jean-Claude Chauchat Sr, was born in Hyères on November 29th, 1908. His mother was a married woman of Russian origin: Clawdia Chauchat. She was separated from her husband and the real father of Jean-Claude Chauchat Sr. has remained unknown for a long time.
Long after the death of my grandmother (1948) my father found traces of potential lovers in het diaries, including a reference to "a young, somewhat reserved German" who she had met around 1907 - 1908 in sanatorium Berghof. The surname, Castorp, was not mentioned, but on February 29, 1908 she wrote ". Shrove Tuesday evening spent with Jean (Hanslein), un Allemand fort aimable et chaleureux, un poète ..."
In early May 1960, my father worked up his courage and went looking in Davos. The management refused to release the names of patients, but by chance father saw a painted portrait of a serious man in a three-piece suit in the great hall. The brass plaque stated: "Hans Castorp (Hamburg 1884 -), chairman of the board of directors of Berghof sanatorium, Davos." A helpful nurse told me that President Castorp first stayed for seven years as a patient in the sanatorium before the first World War, and permanently lived there as main shareholder since 1928.
Only a month later, my father was able to meet Castorp. The conversation was very formal and difficult as father spoke no German. Castorp had known Clawdia Chauchat fairly well, but, to his knowledge, she could not – or was not allowed to - have children. Moreover, when she returned after a long absence - in the company of an eccentric Dutch lover – she had said absolutely nothing about a possible child. After reading Clawdia's diary,though, and noticing my father’s Kyrgyz eyes, his long neck and his bitten fingernails, Castorp began to doubt. Moreover, when he noticed how the Frenchman, when entering, slightly cast forward his lower body and supported his chin during the conversation, just like his grandfather Hans Lorenz Castorp used to do, he was completely convinced that the man sitting in front of him was truly his son! You can imagine how emotionally charged the reunion, or rather the unexpected encounter, went on.
But I did not really want to talk about these things in this letter.
My grandfather had a broad cultural interest; he listened to music, especially to Wagner and Strauss. During his first stay (1907-1914) in a sanatorium in Davos, he met prominent philosophers and writers, including the late Nobel laureate Thomas Mann. He was even interested in modern art. He drew not badly himself, but his work was rejected by several international galleries. As a result he became greatly frustrated and thought it was unfair that the "amorphous work" of "inconsistent dabblers" was preferred over the solid, if somewhat well-behaved, paintings of a serious German.
His revenge was sweet. From the twenties onwards, until his death in 1964, he regularly purchased works by avant-garde artists, and then adding subtle changes - nowadays called pastiche. Grandfather always kept that collection hidden and only showed it to my father. I was absolutely unaware of the "Sammlung" myself, until a few months ago I received a letter from notary Stöhr in Davos. The collection of masterpieces had been forced to stay in a Swiss safe and was not allowed to surface until fifty years after his death.
Castorp also acted in his will that his heirs were only to exhibit the artworks in "small regional galleries" and not in "international promoters of rubbish".
I've been living in southern France since 1964, and so cannot go the well-known art galleries there with the "Sammlung Hans Castorp", but an old friend of mine in Antwerp, the city of my youth, however, knew an art gallery in the Flanders’ “Kempen” region that was favourable towards exhibiting pastiches of the so revered holy avant-garde.
On the 19th of June 2014, precisely fifty years after my grandfather died - the embargo expires on the works. Nothing prevents me now from showing this interesting collection to the general public .
You can visit AVANT-GARDE ICONS of the 20th century later this year at “Galerie De Mispel”, Valvekenstraat 79 in Lille (in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, not to be confused with Lille in France). Afterwards, the exhibition will travel around Europe.
I am sure that the two curators, Marc van Campenhout and Marina Raeymaekers, will do everything in their power to show the works of art in optimal conditions and to provide you with all the information you need.
With sincere artistic greetings
Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr.
Hyeres, April 3rd, 2014
Dear Madam, dear Sir,
My name will probably mean nothing to you : Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr, but you may know my grandfather on my father's side: Hans Castorp of the Hamburg shipyards Tunder, Wilms & Castorp - and later chairman of the board of directors of the International Sanatorium Berghof in Davos, Switzerland.
My father, Jean-Claude Chauchat Sr, was born in Hyères on November 29th, 1908. His mother was a married woman of Russian origin: Clawdia Chauchat. She was separated from her husband and the real father of Jean-Claude Chauchat Sr. has remained unknown for a long time.
Long after the death of my grandmother (1948) my father found traces of potential lovers in het diaries, including a reference to "a young, somewhat reserved German" who she had met around 1907 - 1908 in sanatorium Berghof. The surname, Castorp, was not mentioned, but on February 29, 1908 she wrote ". Shrove Tuesday evening spent with Jean (Hanslein), un Allemand fort aimable et chaleureux, un poète ..."
In early May 1960, my father worked up his courage and went looking in Davos. The management refused to release the names of patients, but by chance father saw a painted portrait of a serious man in a three-piece suit in the great hall. The brass plaque stated: "Hans Castorp (Hamburg 1884 -), chairman of the board of directors of Berghof sanatorium, Davos." A helpful nurse told me that President Castorp first stayed for seven years as a patient in the sanatorium before the first World War, and permanently lived there as main shareholder since 1928.
Only a month later, my father was able to meet Castorp. The conversation was very formal and difficult as father spoke no German. Castorp had known Clawdia Chauchat fairly well, but, to his knowledge, she could not – or was not allowed to - have children. Moreover, when she returned after a long absence - in the company of an eccentric Dutch lover – she had said absolutely nothing about a possible child. After reading Clawdia's diary,though, and noticing my father’s Kyrgyz eyes, his long neck and his bitten fingernails, Castorp began to doubt. Moreover, when he noticed how the Frenchman, when entering, slightly cast forward his lower body and supported his chin during the conversation, just like his grandfather Hans Lorenz Castorp used to do, he was completely convinced that the man sitting in front of him was truly his son! You can imagine how emotionally charged the reunion, or rather the unexpected encounter, went on.
But I did not really want to talk about these things in this letter.
My grandfather had a broad cultural interest; he listened to music, especially to Wagner and Strauss. During his first stay (1907-1914) in a sanatorium in Davos, he met prominent philosophers and writers, including the late Nobel laureate Thomas Mann. He was even interested in modern art. He drew not badly himself, but his work was rejected by several international galleries. As a result he became greatly frustrated and thought it was unfair that the "amorphous work" of "inconsistent dabblers" was preferred over the solid, if somewhat well-behaved, paintings of a serious German.
His revenge was sweet. From the twenties onwards, until his death in 1964, he regularly purchased works by avant-garde artists, and then adding subtle changes - nowadays called pastiche. Grandfather always kept that collection hidden and only showed it to my father. I was absolutely unaware of the "Sammlung" myself, until a few months ago I received a letter from notary Stöhr in Davos. The collection of masterpieces had been forced to stay in a Swiss safe and was not allowed to surface until fifty years after his death.
Castorp also acted in his will that his heirs were only to exhibit the artworks in "small regional galleries" and not in "international promoters of rubbish".
I've been living in southern France since 1964, and so cannot go the well-known art galleries there with the "Sammlung Hans Castorp", but an old friend of mine in Antwerp, the city of my youth, however, knew an art gallery in the Flanders’ “Kempen” region that was favourable towards exhibiting pastiches of the so revered holy avant-garde.
On the 19th of June 2014, precisely fifty years after my grandfather died - the embargo expires on the works. Nothing prevents me now from showing this interesting collection to the general public .
You can visit AVANT-GARDE ICONS of the 20th century later this year at “Galerie De Mispel”, Valvekenstraat 79 in Lille (in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, not to be confused with Lille in France). Afterwards, the exhibition will travel around Europe.
I am sure that the two curators, Marc van Campenhout and Marina Raeymaekers, will do everything in their power to show the works of art in optimal conditions and to provide you with all the information you need.
With sincere artistic greetings
Jean-Claude Chauchat Jr.