In 1979, the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History (le Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel) received a significant donation from James Adolphe Yvan Amez-Droz (1888-1976). Yvan Amez-Droz purchased a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books, and objets d’art in Paris, where he was based. By donating the modern part of this collection, the art lover wishes to show his affection for Neuchâtel, his family’s birthplace.
Named “The Yvan and Hélène Amez-Droz Bequest” by the donor’s wishes to associate his name with that of his sister, the collection comprises 69 works: 45 paintings, 18 drawings, two monotypes, and four sculptures.
It combines a range of French artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from open-air painting to the early École de Paris.
The collection centres on the famous Impressionist artists Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Auguste Renoir. The exhibition ‘Courbet, Monet, Renoir…..Focus Provenance’ also highlights the fertile artistic period that preceded the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. It includes works by representatives of Realism (Gustave Courbet) and Art Nouveau, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Hodler. A model for Swiss Art
In another room is the exhibition ‘Hodler. A model for Swiss art’ (Hodler. Un modèle pour l’art suisse).
Celebrated from Paris to Vienna, and compared to Paul Cézanne, Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin, he was one of the most recognised painters at the dawn of the First World War.
In Switzerland, he made a decisive contribution to artistic modernity, acting as a role model, a driving force and also a repellent.
