Schmalenbach, Werner

Date born:  1920

Place Born:   Göttingen, Germany

Date died:  

Place died:  

Modernist art historian and museum director, film historian, and author of monographs on the artists Schwitters and Bissier. Schmalenbach's father was Herman Schmalenbach and his mother Sala Muentz (Schmalenbach).  He attended the University in Basel University.  . He joined the Gewerbemuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland, as a curator in 1945. He married Esther Grey in 1950.  In 1955 was appointed director of the Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover, Hannover, Germany.  He was Commissioner for 1960 International Venice Biennial . Between 1962 and his retirement in 1990, Schmalenbach was the first director of the newly founded Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, Germany. Schmalenbach was appointed a member of Sotheby's International advisory board in 1991  Schmalenbach published his memories in 1996.

Home Country:  Germany

Sources: Werner Schmalenbach.  Die Lust auf das Bild:  ein Leben mit der Kunst.  Berlin: Siedler, 1996. 

Bibliography:  and, Schmidt, Georg.  Der Film: wirtschaftlich, gesellschaftlich, künstlerisch. Herausgegeben vom Schweizerischen Filmarchiv Basel.  Basel:  Holbein-Verlag, 1947.  Kurt Schwitters. 1967.  [English trans.]  New York: H. N. Abrams 1970.