Agenda

On the occasion of the bicentenary of Greece’s declaration of independence (25 March 1821), the Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’Antiquité classique  and the museum put the friendly relations between Greece and Geneva at the beginning of the 19th century into perspective of three personalities.

The museum also organises the exhibition  A taste for the antique. Anna et Jean Gabriel Eynard (Le goût de l’antiqu).

Jean Capodistrias (1776-1831), a Greek citizen, and two Genevans, Charles Pictet de Rochemont (1755-1824) and Jean Gabriel Eynard (1755-1863), played a key role in the independence of Greece. Eynard was also a co-founder of the National Bank of Greece.

These three figures also worked together to integrate Geneva into the Helvetic Confederation in and after 1815. A few years later, Eynard distinguished himself by coordinating the European Philhellenic Committees, which were set up in the wake of the uprising by the Greek people.

Kapodistrias became the country’s first president in 1827. He was assassinated by his opponents in 1831. A decade later, Eynard co-founded the National Bank of Greece.

From today´s perspective, the Langmatt villa in Baden (Kanton Aargau) in the early 20th century was one of the most important concentrations of modern art in Switzerland.

The villa belonged to the industrialist Brown family. In 1891, Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown (1863-1924) and his brother Sidney William Brown (1865-1941) joined Walter Boveri (1865-1924) to found the firm Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC).

Charles and Sidney were children of the English engineer Charles Brown (1827-1905) and the Swiss Eugenie Pfau (1845-1929). The firm flourished and soon became a multinational, known as ABB since 1988.

In 1896, Sidney married Jenny Sulzer (1871-1968). They gave rise to one of the world´s most significant private collections of impressionist and modernist art.

Around 1920, they also developed a marked interest in French art of the 18th and 19th century. They also accumulated a remarkable collection of Chinese ceramics and furniture, silver and porcelain from different epochs.

The city of Baden became the owner of the villa and its collections in 1987 and founded the Museum Langmatt in 1990.

The family’s interest was not limited to the arts. They also collected the multilingual canon of world literature, history, philosophy, literature, religion, politics, music and the fine arts.

An extensive correspondence with dealers testifies to the acquisition of magnificent volumes. Many historical photos show the family members busy with their passion and selected books reveal their inner selves.

The Showcase Archive (Schaufenster Archiv) presents for the the library and for the first time large parts of the archive. They were systematically indexed and partially digitised in 2017–18.

It contains, among other things, documents, letters, postcards, diaries and photographs from the Brown family estate.

The time frame of the documents spans the years 1850 to 1987, when John Alfred Brown died (born in 1900). He bequeathed the Villa and its rich collections to Baden.

The exhibition ((Du précieux au quotidien. Le verre plat dans l´architecture) is devoted to the fascinating history of the production and use of sheet glass from antiquity to the present day.

The exhibition will highlight the interactions between technological innovations and developments in the field of flat glass production, the construction industry and architecture, and will give an insight into the diversity of this once precious and now everyday material.

A special look is taken at the company Epredia/Erie-Electroverre in Romont, which in 1935 inaugurated the first electric furnace for the production of drawn glass. Documents, photographs and filmed testimonies trace the history of this company, which unfortunately closed its doors in 2021. This closure concludes the history of one of the last drawn glass production sites in the world.