The art world is reeling at news of the death of Myriam Ullens, who founded the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing with her Belgian husband, Guy Ullens, a major art collector.
Myriam Ullens was shot dead outside the couple’s home in the village of Ohain, south of the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Wednesday. She was 70.
A noted contemporary art collector in her own right, Myriam Ullens founded the independent, non-profit art space in the Chinese capital with her husband in 2007.
At the time, it was considered the first contemporary art institution of its scale in China. It showed works from the couple’s private collection and brought Chinese contemporary art to the world’s attention, contributing much to the development of the country’s contemporary art scene.
“The vision and passion of Myriam Ullens – her love for art, belief in cultural exchange, and commitment to helping others – are at the core of UCCA’s history and values,” said Philip Tinari, director of the UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art, in a statement.
“We are shocked and saddened by her death, and will remember her strength, style, creativity, and generosity as we carry forward the work of the institution that she and Guy so generously founded and nurtured through its first decade.”
According to reports in Belgium, the couple were in their car outside their home at around 10am on Wednesday when her stepson Nicolas Ullens shot her. Guy Ullens, 88, is reported to have survived the shooting. Multiple publications have reported in the past that Myriam and Nicolas Ullens were engaged in a protracted dispute over issues of inheritance.
Nicolas Ullens is one of four children Guy Ullens had with his first wife, Micheline Franckx, a former Belgian state security agent. He has been reportedly detained by police.
Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1952 to an officer in the Belgian army, Myriam Ullens was an art collector, philanthropist and entrepreneur who started and sold several successful businesses. In 1999, she married former diplomat Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten Whettnall.
Myriam and Guy Ullens began collecting Chinese antiquities, such as centuries-old scrolls, but then expanded their scope to Chinese contemporary art and the works of other contemporary artists such as Rashid Johnson and Tracey Emin.Among their holdings were many works by Chinese artists such as Huang Yongping, Wang Jianwei and Xu Zhen.From Zhang Xiaogang to the future: a seismic shift in Chinese art
In founding the UCCA, the couple consolidated their years of support for contemporary art in China and made an invaluable contribution towards its continued development. They later set up the Switzerland-based Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, focused on art and education.
Despite transferring ownership of the Beijing institution to new patrons and shareholders, they served on its Foundation Council remained members of the city’s arts community.
Myriam Ullens, who went by the name Mimi, was a survivor of breast cancer. After her recovery, in 2004 she founded the Mimi Foundation, a non-profit organisation with a team of psychologists, beauticians and hairdressers to provide physical and mental support for cancer patients during as well as after chemotherapy.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZK6zwNJmmq6kpKq%2FpnvAq6uim5yafHR%2BkG5qcm9fqLWwu9OipaBllJqutbSMprCroZGiera4y56lrGWTnbavsdKeZJynnqmyrrzOq5irsV2Wv7V5wqijpZ2TqbyzedKhppyjo2Kus8CMsKarpJQ%3D