Max Hollein

Life

Hollein was born in Vienna in 1969 to architect Hans Hollein and Helene Hollein. He studied art history at the University of Vienna and business administration at the Vienna University of Economics. During this period, he also free-lanced for the business section of the national daily newspaper “Der Standard”. Following the successful completion of his studies with two master's degrees in 1995, he moved to New York City to take on the position of project director of exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

From 1996 until the end of 2000, he worked closely with Guggenheim director Thomas Krens, initially as “Executive Assistant to the Director“ and, from 1998 onward, as “Chief of Staff and Manager of European Relations“ responsible for key projects such as the establishment of the exhibition halls “Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin” and “Guggenheim Las Vegas”, fundraising, travelling exhibitions, the inauguration activities at Guggenheim Bilbao as well as liaising with European cultural institutions, collectors, media, curators and sponsors.

Hollein is married to fashion designer and author Nina Hollein. The couple have three children and live in San Francisco.

Schirn Kunsthalle

Hollein repositioned the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt nationally as well as internationally through a highly popular yet challenging exhibition programme from classical to contemporary art mounting up to ten major shows per year. The depth, quality and quantity of the programme has been accompanied by a significant increase in corporate funding. Among the highlights of the programme have been exhibitions such as “Shopping: A Century of Art and Consumer Culture”, “Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors”, “Yves Klein”, “The Naked Truth: Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka and Other Scandals”, “Women Impressionists” and “Edvard Munch. The Modern Eye”. At the Schirn, his frequent collaborator was noted art historian Olivier Berggruen, and for many years now, the Schirn has been the most popular art institution in the Rhine-Main region. In 2012 the Schirn had its best attended year so far with a total of 479,121 visitors. Its online and digital outreach has been significantly advanced and the Schirn publishes its own wide reaching online magazine “Schirn Mag” since 2011.

Städel Museum

At the Städel Museum, Max Hollein introduced a wide spectrum of new exhibition formats: from small “cabinet exhibitions” on such artists as Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Martin Kippenberger and others, to the “Constellations” series with works of contemporary art from the museum’s holdings. Under his direction, the Städel realised major exhibitions on the Old Masters, including “Cranach the Elder”, “The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden” and “Botticelli” as well as significant retrospectives on modern masters such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Beckmann. Under Max Hollein, special emphasis was also given to the development of the collection: between 2006 and 2012 more than 1,500 works were added to the collection. Among the most significant projects worthy of mention in this context was the major expansion of the Städel Museum completed in 2012 which doubled the institution’s gallery space and created a new wing for the presentation of art since 1945. Both the architecture as well as the significant collection development were hailed by the public and the media. More than 50 percent of the 52 million euro construction costs were raised through private sources in an unprecedented fundraising campaign. The Städel was honoured as “Museum of the Year 2012” by the German art critics association AICA in 2012. In the same year, the museum recorded its highest ever attendance numbers, with 447,395 visitors. The Städel significantly enlarged its activities and outreach through a major digital expansion on the occasion of its 200-year anniversary in 2015.

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

Under Max Hollein’s directorship, the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung underwent the greatest reorganisation of its infrastructure since 1990. The various departments from Old Egypt and Antiquities, through Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque to Neoclassicism as well as the “studioli” on the top floor of the museum villa were newly installed under his tenure and reopened in 2008 with an entirely new colour and lighting concept. Funding for this major renovation came to a large extent from private and corporate sources. Exhibitions such as “Sahure – Death and Life of a Great Pharaoh”, “Gods in Colour ”, “Franz Xaver Messerschmidt” and “Jeff Koons: The Sculptor” were received with unprecedented success. In 2012 the Liebieghaus had 153,737 visitors, making it the best attended year in the history of the institution.

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Hollein assumed the role of Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on 1 June 2016. Since his appointment Hollein has instituted a major restructuring of the museum organization and has added the institution's first contemporary curator; Claudia Schmuckli. Hollein has successfully launched a contemporary art initiative, bringing the work of living artists into dialogue with the buildings and collections of the de Young Museum and Legion of Honor, with exhibitions by Urs Fischer and Sarah Lucas at the Legion of Honor and Carsten Nicolai and Leonardo Drew at the de Young museum. In January 2017, the institution announced a significant new addition to its collection of American art through the acquisition of 62 works by 22 contemporary African American artists, including Thornton Dial's Blood And Meat: Survival For the World (1992) and Lost Cows (2000-1), Joe Light's Dawn (1988), Jessie T. Pettway's Bars and String-Pierced Columns (1950's), Lonnie Holley's Him and Her Hold the Root (1994) and Joe Minter's Camel at the Watering Hole (1995). Since his appointment he has opened several critically acclaimed exhibitions, including The Brothers Le Nain: Painters of Seventeenth Century France, Frank Stella: A Retrospective, Danny Lyon: Message to the Future, Monet: The Earl Years and Stuart Davis: In Full Swing. The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll marked the end of his first year in tenure. The exhibition celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Over its 19-week run, it drew almost 270,000 visitors and 400.000 online visits from around the world, making the exhibition the highest attended in recent years.

Other activities

Max Hollein served as general commissioner and curator of the American pavilion at the Seventh Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000, general commissioner and curator of the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale in 2005 and curator of the avant-garde festival “Kontra.com” in Salzburg on the occasion of the Mozart year 2006.

In addition, Hollein is a member of various supervisory and advisory boards as well as award juries at cultural institutions worldwide, including the following:

He has curated numerous shows such as “Shopping”, “Jonathan Meese”, “Julian Schnabel”, “Francesco Clemente” and “Carsten Nicolai”, published a large number of exhibition catalogues and a wide spectrum of other writings on contemporary art, modern art and museum management, and lectured extensively on these subjects as well.

Awards

Selected publications