Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1903 Hong Kong

Died: 1968 Bristol

Year of Migration to the UK: 1931

Other name/s: Henry Hanson Schubart , Hans Schubart CBE

Biography

Conservator and museum director, Hans Schubart was born in 1903 into a German banking family in Hong Kong, then a dependent territory of the United Kingdom (now a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China) and where his father was the Director of Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank. As a young child, Schubart left his birthplace with his mother, journeyed through Asia, and lived for a time in Japan, before moving to Europe. He eventually settled in Germany and Austria, studying art in Vienna.

Schubart's young adult years were marked by significant travels and career shifts. He first moved to the USA as part of a firm importing Chinese paintings and then became a librarian for a year (1927-28) at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art (precursor to the Philadelphia Museum of Art). In 1928, Schubart and a colleague, a paintings curator at the Philadelphia Museum, established a gallery specialising in Old Masters, but it closed the following year. By 1929, Schubart had travelled from New York to Southampton, UK. His journeys continued, taking him to Delaware, USA, and later to Berlin, where he worked at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in 1931, the year he left for England. There, he met the painting restorer and art historian, Helmut Ruhemann, and in 1934, following the Nazi rise to power, Schubart became his apprentice, after Ruhemann was forced out of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum due to his Jewish ancestry. Ruhemann subsequently secured a position in exile at the National Gallery in London, where Schubart remained with his mentor until 1937, before becoming an independent restorer for clients, such as the Bristol Museum and the National Building Society. After the war, Bristol Museum sought Schubart’s expertise to restore their war-damaged collection of Old Masters.

In Bristol, Schubart ascended to the position of museum curator in 1946, eventually becoming director of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in 1953. He was instrumental in broadening the institution's collection, expanding it from English 17th-century paintings to include French glass, Japanese prints, and modern art. When Manchester Gallery rejected a controversial Henry Moore torso, Schubart quickly acquired it for Bristol in 1954. His role as curator and, eventually, as director, led to a distinguished public life, demonstrating his resilience, diplomacy, and connoisseurship. In 1956, the museum was targeted by youths who defaced 11 paintings (including a Gainsborough and a Madonna attributed to Botticelli) with graffiti and puncture marks, . Schubart responded with composure, addressing the financial implications of the damage (Birmingham Daily Post, 1956, p. 1). In 1961, financial matters were highlighted, with the press noting a significant increase in the museum's budget, including £5000 set aside for new acquisitions. Schubart remained discreet about his purchasing plans, keeping the press intrigued (Bristol Evening Press,1961, p. 7). Schubart was also often in the press for his identification of masterpieces from unusual sources. Some mouldy fragments of paintings turned out to be by the 17th-century Spanish painter, Murillo (Birmingham Daily Post, 1958, p. 4), others by the Italian Baroque painter, Giordino, and the 18th-century French artist, Monnoyer (Bristol Evening Post, 1966, p. 33). He even spotted a Gainsborough in Weston-Super-Mare’s Town Hall. Schubart was passionate about restoration and conservation, training the next generation of British curators, including John Bull and David Bull, who subsequently worked at the Tate and the National Gallery, respectively. Schubart was involved with wider arts education programmes, both personally, through lectures to art groups, and via the Museum's nascent schools programme.

The museum's notable Asian art department began under Schubart’s stewardship, reflecting his global view of art. In 1946, the Asian art collection of Ferdinand Nassau Schiller was donated to the museum while Schubart was curator, most likely through the émigré network of art historians and collectors, leading to the display of exquisite pieces of Song, Tang, Ming, and Qing ceramics, along with jades and bronzes, in the dedicated Schiller Gallery (2024). Under Schubart’s leadership, much of Bristol’s Japanese ukiyo-e collection was acquired, from the 1940s to the 1960s, creating a substantial collection of 500 Japanese woodblock prints, including Hokusai's Wave (1831). Schubart considered Japanese woodblock prints essential for a world class collection and he aimed for Bristol to achieve global recognition. With the bequest of over 300 pieces of Chinese glass from Henry Robert Burrows Abbey, the museum's Asian art collection has now been awarded designated status, with the ukiyo-e holdings in the top five of UK regional collections.

In 1931, Schubart married Betty Verner, daughter of Sir Edward Wingfield Verner, 5th Baronet, and Agnes Laming, with whom he had two daughters. His name was legally changed to Henry Hanson Schubart by Deed Poll. Schubart was awarded the honorary degree of Master of Arts by Bristol University. Henry Hanson Schubart died in Bristol, England in 1968, shortly after being awarded a CBE and is buried in Smallcombe Vale cemetery. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery hosts an annual memorial lecture to commemorate his contributions.

Related books

Vivian Wing-Yan Ting, 'One collection many lives: On curator, collection, and the public', 博物館學季刊/ Museology Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2012, p. 19
Ulrik Runeberg, 'Immigrant Picture Restorers of the German-speaking World in England from the 1930s to the Post-war Era', in Marian Malet and Shulamith Behr, eds., Arts in Exile in Britain 1933-1945: Politics and Cultural Identity (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005), p. 339-371
Bristol Evening Post, 'A Date with Roy', 10 October 1975, p. 5
Western Daily Press, 'City Art Expert Dies at 64', 8 July 1968, p. 1
Bristol Evening Post, 'Art Find among the Rubble', 2 December 1966, p. 33
A. D.P. Wilson and Hans Schubart, Japanese Prints (Bristol: City Art Gallery, 1965)
Bristol Evening Post, 'Shrewd Buyer', 20 November 1964, p. 13
Bristol Evening Post, 'Big Rise in Cash Needed', 30 November 1961, p. 7
Bristol Evening Post, 'Unnoticed Picture worth £1,000 says expert', 8 October 1960, p. 3
Birmingham Daily Post, 'Church Painting Identified a genuine Murillo', 30 September 1958, p. 4
Birmingham Daily Post, '11 Valuable Paintings Defaced ', 30 November 1956, p. 1
Western Mail, 'Vandals Raid Town's Art Gallery', 30 November 1956, p. 1
Daily Herald, 'Buyer for the Torso', 29 April 1954, p. 3

Related organisations

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Director)

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Hans Schubart curator