Art Dealer Ernst Beyeler Dies at 88

Art dealer turned collector Ernst Beyeler died late Thursday at his home near Basel, Switzerland. He was 88. His career in the art world began as a part-time job during college at an antiquarian book and print shop in Basel. By the early 1950s, he had taken over the place and was exhibiting Japanese woodcuts and modernism. But it was really a string of major purchases (100 Klees here, 80 Giacomettis there) from the collection of steel magnate David Thompson that set him on his way.