Unicef art auction: "Children's rights A place for every child" raises 100,000 euros

ART

Unicef art auction: "Children's Rights: A Place for Every Child" realises 100,000 euros

In the Mutter Ey-Café: Frankonia founder Uwe Schmitz with Unicef's Heribert Klein and artists of the project: Maria Neumann, Nicole Jutka, Anton Fuchs, Miki Terao, Theresa Kallrath, Henriette Astor

©Wolfgang Harste

Düsseldorf, 5 December 2023: At today's vernissage of the Unicef art auction "Children's Rights A Place for Every Child" in the Mutter-Ey Café, the founder of Frankonia Eurobau AG Uwe Schmitz presented a cheque for 100,000 euros to Unicef. The fundraising campaign is the result of a multi-year art project by Unicef Germany member Heribert Klein, in which children's stools designed by artists were auctioned off. All proceeds go to children's aid projects in the Ukraine.

75 years of the German Committee for Unicef

The idea of "Children's Rights A Place for Every Child" was the brainchild of Heribert Klein, a member of the German Committee for Unicef. The former bank director and press officer of a major bank in North Rhine-Westphalia says that he was inspired by his friend, Unicef World Ambassador Sir Peter Ustinov, to become involved in charity over 40 decades ago. Among other things, Heribert Klein is responsible for the first Unicef Germany Gala in Hilden in 1982, a series that he continues to this day. Another idea was "A Heart for Unicef", a campaign that generated 1.4 million euros for "Unicef - Children in Need". Now, in the anniversary year "Unicef - 75 years of the German Committee for Unicef", Klein wants to draw more attention to children's rights.

Over two years ago, Heribert Klein had the idea of having children's stools artistically designed. He had the small stools designed in the traditional Krefeld wood-turning workshop Olav Schlieper. He then sent them to 18 national and international artists. Once the artworks were back in Düsseldorf, they were shown in several exhibitions in 2021 and 2022. The minimum bid was 1000 euros. In his speech, Heribert Klein explained that there had been many interested bidders, but then Uwe Schmitz offered to bid for the art project as a whole and trumped the previous bidders with his offer of 100,000 euros.

Among them: local greats such as Stephan Kaluza, Meral Alma and Theresa Kallrath, who represented her home country of Sweden. Some artists also attended the vernissage, such as Anton Fuchs from Cologne. He designed his stool entirely in black. Fuchs emphasised that for him, his "black" would document the suffering of children in the world and the terrible events of the war. Other artists: Maria Neumann, Uschi Schmiedeberg, both from Germany, Prof. Qi Yang, China, Henriette Astor, Netherlands, Fabiana Capoti-Serrano, Italy, Herbert Bauer, Austria, Srour Alwani, Syria, Wonkun Jun, South Korea, Nicole Jutka Stoian, Romania, Dave Van Dorst, Monaco, David Gerstein, Israel, and Oscar Oiwa, USA.

Uwe Schmitz and his wife Manuela have made several appearances as patrons of the arts. "The Living Room" by Uwe Schmitz is like a museum with free admission for everyone. Visitors will find art by Tony Cragg, Julian Schnabel, HA Schult, Günther Uecker and also Dieter Nuhr's digital paintings. Perhaps the 18 art stools will soon find their place there too.

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