Full Name: Piper, Reinhard
Gender: male
Date Born: 1879
Date Died: 1953
Home Country/ies: Germany
Overview
Art historian and founded of the art publishing firm Piper Verlag in Munich in 1904. In May, 1904, the twenty five-year old Piper founded the R. Piper & Co. publishing house in Munich. Piper and his wife, the painter Gertrud Engling had close connections to the “the blue rider” artists, especially Franz Marc, Ernst Barlach and Wassily Kandinsky. Their almanac appeared in 1912 published by Piper, establishing the house as the publishing house of the German artist avant-garde. The press encounter financial difficulties and in 1926, Piper added Robert Freund as a partner. After the seizure of power of Hitler in January 1933 Piper Verlage was forced to separate from Freund, who was Jewish. His son, Klaus Piper (1911-2000) assumed a partnership in 1941. In 1945 the company reorganized to its roots, publishing contemporary and experimental authors in literature and the arts. His papers are located in part in the Schiller-Nationalmuseum.
Selected Bibliography
Das Tier in der Kunst. Munich: R. Piper, 1910; Das Liebespaar in der Kunst. Munich:, R. Piper, 1916; [Alfred Kubin] Abendrot: 45 unveröffentlichte Zeichnungen mit einer Kleinen Plauderei über sich selbst. Munich: R. Piper, 1952.
Sources
Max Beckmann, Briefe an Reinhard Piper. Munich: KulturStiftung der Länder, Hypo-Kulturstiftung, 1994.