How the Cotton King became famous and what role he played in the art world: James Simon

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

During his lifetime, Henry James Simon created a huge private art collection, including a bust of Nefertiti, and donated more than ten thousand art treasures to Berlin museums. It is also rumored that the collector gave away a third of his total income to poor people. About what the "cotton king" really was, bearing the titles of entrepreneur, philanthropist and social benefactor - further in the article.

Henry was born on September 17, 1851 in Berlin to the family of a cotton wholesaler. At the age of twenty-five, he began working for his father's company, which soon became a global market leader. Originally "The Cotton King" was a nickname for James' father, his own success as a cotton wholesaler later earned him that nickname. As a cotton wholesaler, Henry became one of the richest industrialists in Germany. Together with his wife Agnes and three children, he lived a rich life in Berlin. The young entrepreneur used his newly acquired wealth for his passion to collect art and make it available to people. Thus, at the turn of the century, one of the richest men in Berlin became one of the greatest patrons of art.

At this time, he met with Kaiser Wilhelm II and their acquaintance grew into friendship on the basis of common interests and hobbies for ancient relics and art. There was another important figure in Henry's life - Wilhelm von Bode, director of Berlin museums. In close collaboration with him, he led Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) to excavate art treasures in Egypt and the Middle East. DOG was founded in 1898 to stimulate public interest in oriental antiques. James donated a lot of money to various expeditions that the organization has led.

One of such expeditions brought world fame to James, as it later happened with Berlin museums: the excavations of Ludwig Borchardt in Tell el-Amarna near the Egyptian capital Cairo. It was there that Pharaoh Akhenaten, around 1340 BC, built Akhetaton, the new capital of his revolutionary monotheistic solar state. This excavation campaign was extremely successful.

The main objects of numerous finds were portrait heads of various members of the royal family of Akhenaten, made of plaster, and an unusually well-preserved painted limestone bust of Nefertiti, who was the main wife of the pharaoh. Since James was the sole financier and signed a contract with the Egyptian government as a private individual, the German share of the finds passed into his personal possession. So he became the proud owner of a bust of Nefertiti.

Despite the fact that James is primarily associated with the discovery of the bust of Nefertiti, his property has a myriad of treasures. A few years before the bust of Nefertiti was discovered in 1911, the house of the Jewish entrepreneur turned into a kind of private museum. In the era of Wilhelm, private art collections were seen as an opportunity to acquire and represent social value. Like many other nouveau riche, James took this opportunity. When the Jewish businessman acquired his first painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, he was only thirty-four years old.

The idea of collecting art in order to make it available to other people has always been critical to James. This thought also underlies the donations he has made to Berlin museums since 1900. In a new museum project, the forty-nine-year-old collector donated his Renaissance collection to the public collections in Berlin. In 1904, the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum was opened, which is today called the Bode Museum. The museum was Wilhelm von Bode's central concern for many years and was promoted by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a prestigious Prussian project.

For James, as a collector and a Prussian patriot, it was very important to be involved in this campaign. His Renaissance collection not only complemented existing collections, but was also exhibited in a separate room called Simon's Study. At James's request, the collection was presented in the usual variety - much like the private collection in his home. It was this motif of the artistic presentation that was shown again in 2006, almost a hundred years later, when the Bode Museum was reopened after renovation.

The bust of Nefertiti was donated to the Berlin museums by James, along with much of his collection in 1920. This happened seven years after the bust and other finds from Tell el-Amarna found their place in his private collection. Then numerous guests, especially Wilhelm II, admired the new sights. On his 80th birthday, James was honored with a large inscription in the Amarna Hall of the News Museum.

His last public appearance was a letter to the Prussian Minister of Culture, in which he campaigned for the return of the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt. However, this never happened. The bust of Nefertiti is still a “Berlin woman,” as author Dietmar Strauch called the treasure in his book about James Simon. In 1933, after the start of the anti-Semitic dictatorship of the National Socialists in Germany and before World War II, the above inscription was removed, along with all other references to his donations. Today, a bronze bust and a memorial plaque are dedicated to the patron saint.

James was a great art benefactor. In total, he donated about ten thousand works of art to Berlin museums and therefore made them available to everyone. However, the Jewish entrepreneur was much more than just an art philanthropist. James was also a social benefactor, as he not only supported arts and science, but also spent a lot of his money - a third of his total income on social projects. In an interview with the German TV channel Deutschlandfunkkultur, author Dietmar Strauch explains this by the fact that it has something to do with Simon's daughter:.

The reason few people are aware of James's social obligations is because he never gave it much thought. On a plaque in Berlin's Zehlendorf district, you can read the inscription that James said: "Gratitude is a burden that no one should burden." There is evidence that he founded numerous charity associations, opened public baths for workers who could not afford a weekly bath. He also created hospitals and rest homes for children and helped the Jewish people from Eastern Europe start a new life in Germany and more. Simon also directly supported a number of needy families.

Art historian Wilhelm von Bode has always been an important advisor to the young art collector. Over the years, both men have created a carefully selected and high quality private collection with objects from different genres of art. In addition to antiquity, Simon was particularly enthusiastic about the Italian Renaissance. For about twenty years, he amassed a collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture and coins from the 15th to the 17th centuries. All these treasures were kept in James's private home. By appointment, visitors had the opportunity to come there and see his things.

An entrepreneur, art collector, philanthropist and social benefactor - it's all about James Simon. He was a well-known and socially recognized person within the framework of what was possible with the latent anti-Semitism of the time. Friends and colleagues described him as extremely polite, very reserved and always striving to separate the personal from the professional. James was presented with titles and honors, which he also accepted so as not to offend anyone. He did all this with calm satisfaction, but avoided any public ceremony. James died just a year after being honored in the Amarna Hall at the Neuss Museum at the age of eighty-one in his hometown of Berlin. His estate was put up for auction in 1932 by the auction house of Rudolf Lepke in Berlin.

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