Who was Eberhard W. Kornfeld? Swiss auctioneer, art dealer and author dead at 99

Eberhard W. Kornfeld was a Swiss auctioneer, author, art dealer, and collector based in Bern. He was born on 23 September 1923 and died on 13 April 2023 at age 99.

Born in Basel, Kornfeld started to work with August Klipstein after a commercial apprenticeship with a local architect ended.

August Klipstein and Kornfeld started working together in 1945 and remained partners until the former’s sudden demise in 1951.

August Klipstein was noted for heading the auction house Gutekunst und Klipstein dating back to 1864.

After the sudden death of August Klipstein in 1951, an opportunity for the young Kornfeld to take over the lead of the house presented itsef.

Kornfeld took over the responsibility and under his leadership, the name changed from Klipstein und Kornfeld, to Kornfeld und Klipstein and finally to Galerie Kornfeld.

Aside his artistry dealings and writing skills, Kornfeld was involved in some controversies, some of which are below:

• In 1993, a lawsuit opposed him and David P. Tunick, a Manhattan dealer concerning the authenticity of a signature.
• In 2017, it was discovered that the son of Hitler’s art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt had been selling artworks from his secret stash in Munich through Kornfeld in Switzerland. However, Kornfeld denied selling Nazi looted art.
• In 2019 a judge ordered that two Schiele’s that Kornfeld had sold be restituted to the heirs of a Holocaust victim Fritz Grünbaum because they had been looted by Nazis.

Kornfeld had a generous heart and engaged in some philanthropic works, some of which include; donation of artworks to several museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Norton Simon Museum, the Calder Foundation, the MoMa and the Kunstmuseum Basel.