Art collector Helmut Zambo has donated nearly 800 artworks valued at more than 31 million euros ($31 million) to the state of Lower Austria, with a selection now on display at the Arnulf Rainer Museum in Baden. The exhibition, titled "Arnulf Rainer - Art Brut," showcases the unique connection between the renowned Austrian artist and the raw art movement.
Unlike most people who hang simple art prints on their walls for decoration, 85-year-old Zambo, a business consultant and art collector, exclusively collected original works of exceptional quality and quantity. Last year, he decided to donate this vast collection to ensure the artworks would remain together and be displayed in the state's museums. "I was looking for a home for my paintings. Here my collection can stay together and be presented in the state's museums," Zambo explained.
Zambo's passion for collecting began remarkably early in his life. "I started when I was 16 years old," he modestly explains when asked about the incredible size of his collection. Over more than sixty years, he has been not just a collector but a lifelong companion to individual artists, following their careers and development throughout their artistic journeys.
One artist has particularly captivated Zambo's attention and admiration: Arnulf Rainer. "Someone once said about my relationship with Arnulf Rainer: He is your messiah and you are his disciple. For me, he is a genius and one of the greatest artists of all time," Zambo states with conviction. His first Rainer piece was purchased in 1960 when he was a young working student, buying it directly from Rainer's Vienna studio on an installment plan. That first painting, titled "Der Absturz" (The Fall), was later joined by many other works.
Zambo's interest in Art Brut, or "raw art," also developed through his connection with Rainer. "My enthusiasm for Art Brut was awakened during a studio visit with Arnulf Rainer in the mid-1960s. There I came into contact with art from Gugging for the first time and was immediately fascinated," Zambo recalls. This encounter opened up an entirely new collecting field for him.
The current exhibition at the Rainer Museum explores this fascinating connection between Arnulf Rainer and Art Brut. Zambo, who currently serves as chairman of the Private Foundation Artists from Gugging and is a board member of the Association Friends of the House of Artists in Gugging, hopes that museum visitors will have a similar experience to his own from 60 years ago. "May they be touched and delighted by the paintings. May the encounter with these artworks open their eyes and make them sensitive to their unique beauty and expressiveness," he wishes.
The term Art Brut was coined by Jean Dubuffet in 1945 to describe a radical alternative to the established, commercially-oriented art world. This raw art form fascinated Arnulf Rainer, who became one of the discoverers and first collectors of art from Gugging. "This exhibition is dedicated to his lifelong engagement with Art Brut," explains curator Nikolaus Kratzer.
Rainer's involvement with Art Brut took various creative forms throughout his career. In the 1970s, he created Art Brut homages by overpainting works by artists such as Johann Hauser, Jean Dubuffet, Antonin Artaud, and Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern. In 1984, he collaborated directly with Fritz Koller on two drawings and with Hauser on one piece, both of which are featured in the Baden exhibition.
A particularly significant project occurred in 1994 when Rainer created 58 mutual overpaintings with artists from Gugging. Rainer held special admiration for Gugging artist Johann Hauser, writing that Hauser "managed to degrade 99 percent of professional painters through the quality of his artistic work." Both Rainer's works and those of Art Brut representatives are characterized by a very special form of immediacy of expression, as emphasized by both Kratzer and Zambo.
Despite donating such an extensive collection, Zambo's walls at home haven't remained empty for long. As he notes with characteristic understatement, "A few more pictures were found in the basement." The exhibition continues to celebrate this remarkable donation and the enduring connection between traditional artistic training and raw, unfiltered creative expression.
