The Beginnings of the Werner Abegg Collection
Hermann Fillitz

Werner Abegg started collecting works of art around the end of the 1920s. He had a special interest in medieval and Renaissance applied art, and concentrated above all on textile art from late classical antiquity to the eighteenth century.

Among his earliest acquisitions we find precious textiles from Egypt and ornate faiences from ancient Persia. Romanesque bronzes and enamels take their place beside Spanish and Italian textiles from the High Middle Ages, while splendid Renaissance velvets and caskets stand alongside late-baroque silks in the bizarre style. The collection reflects a young man with wide interests and broad horizons, who in just a few years was to lay the foundations for a collection of international renown.

By 1939, when the imminent threat of war led Werner Abegg to move from Turin to New York, the emphasis and contours of the collection were already clear. They have shaped the character and activities of the Abegg Foundation to this day.

The author, Hermann Fillitz, first met Werner and Margaret Abegg during the 1950s. From then on he followed the development of the collection with great interest. His essay portrays the collector and the beginnings of his collection, while the illustrations show a selection of Werner Abegg’s early acquisitions, with brief captions about the origin, technique and special features of the works.

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