August Lederer

August Lederer (3 May 1857 in Böhmisch Leipa (Austria-Hungary) – 30 April 1936 in Vienna), was an Austrian industrialist and art collector whose art collection was looted by Nazis. He helped promote the artists of the Vienna Secession, notably Gustav Klimt.

August Lederer
Egon Schiele, August Lederer, 1918.
Born3 May 1857
Česká Lípa (Austria-Hungary)
Died30 April 1936 (1936-05-01) (aged 78)
Vienna (Austria)
NationalityAustrian
Occupation(s)art collector, businessman, philanthropist
Known forThe collection of August and Serena Lederer was considered the most important private collection of the work of Gustav Klimt. Lederer's business empire and art collection was looted by Nazis
Notable workrestitution claims for Beethoven Frieze and other important artworks

Biography
Portrait peint tout en hauteur sur fond clair d'une femme brune en robe blanche vaporeuse
Gustav Klimt, Serena Lederer, 1899, oil on canvas, 191 × 85.5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art .

In 1892 Lederer married Serena Pulitzer (1867–1943).

With a business empire built on distilleries, the Lederer family became the second wealthiest in Vienna, using their fortune to support artists and acquire art, notable of the Vienna Secession.[1] To complete the artistic claim, the furnishings of the residence had been entrusted to Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill und produced by the Wiener Werkstätte founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.[2]

Portrait peint en hauteur et dans des tons bruns d'un jeune homme en culotte de cheval, main sur la hanche
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Erich Lederer, 1912, oil and gouache on canvas, 139 × 55 cm, Kunstmuseum (Basel).

In 1912 the Lederers met Egon Schiele, who that year spent with them in Györ a memorable Christmas, and became particularly friends with their son Erich, whom he painted and drew several times.

Art collection

The Lederer's art collection was the largest and most important private collection of Gustav Klimt.[3]

Lederer acquired the Beethoven Frieze from Carl Reininghaus in 1915.[4]

Their relationship with Klimt was very friendly, intimate to the point that Elisabeth Franziska Lederer, born in 1894, was able to affirm during the Nazi period to be the adulterous daughter of the painter and to receive in 1940 a certificate of filiation establishing that she was only "Half-Jewish", while her two brothers, Erich and Fritz, were considered full Jews.

Gustav Klimt painted Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer between 1914 and 1916 for the Lederer family.[5]

Nazi persecution and looting

The Lederer's art collection was one of the first stolen by the Nazis in Austria.[6]

The Gestapo seized most of the Lederer's art collection. The "Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz" or so-called "Monument protection" and Vugesta were involved.[7][8]

The Lederer collection, confiscated in 1938, was stored mainly at Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria, where it would have largely burned in early 1945 under poorly clarified circumstances - which seems to contradict the fact that Isolated paintings resurfaced after the war, which were returned to the heirs.

In 2013 the Lederer heirs initiated a lawsuit to claim restitution of the Beethoven Frieze.[9] Austria refused the claim.[10][11][12]

In 2018 a Swiss court in Geneva ordered that the Galerie Kornfeld respond to questions asked by the Lederer heirs concerning artworks by Klimt and Schiele.[13]

Bibliography
  • Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele und die Familie Lederer (Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele et la famille Lederer), Vienne, 1979.
  • Tobias G. Natter et Gerbert Frodl, Klimt und die Frauen (Klimt et les femmes), Cologne-Vienne, 2000.

References
  1. "Tragedy beyond the canvas: Gustav Klimt's Elisabeth Lederer". www.gallery.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  2. Nebehay, Christian M. (1986). Gustav Klimt Egon Schiele und die Familie Lederer (in German). Bern, CH: Kornfeld Verlag AG. p. 11. ISBN 978-3857730160.
  3. "Lost Art Internet Database - Jüdische Sammler und Kunsthändler (Opfer nationalsozialistischer Verfolgung und Enteignung) - Lederer, August (Nachlass)". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  4. "Book review | The tortuous story of Gustav Klimt's Nazi-looted, 100ft-wide Beethoven Frieze uncovered". www.theartnewspaper.com. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  5. "Tragedy beyond the canvas: Gustav Klimt's Elisabeth Lederer". www.gallery.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  6. "The turbulent history of Klimt's Nazi-seized works | DW | 05.02.2018". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  7. "Lost Art Internet Database - Jüdische Sammler und Kunsthändler (Opfer nationalsozialistischer Verfolgung und Enteignung) - Lederer, August (Nachlass)". www.lostart.de. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2021-03-27. 1938 wurde der Lederer-Konzern unter die kommissarische Verwaltung von Hermann Berchthold gestellt; 1939 Beschlagnahmung der Sammlung Lederer durch die Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz; 1941 Beschlagnahmung des bei der Spedition Kirchner eingelagerten Übersiedlungslifts und Veräußerung über die VUGESTA.
  8. "Recommendation made to the Austrian Federal Minister for Art and Culture, Constitution and Media (unofficial translation)" (PDF). A memo from the Central Office for Monument Protection (Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz) of February 1939 indicates that because of unpaid debts that were "not large compared to the artworks" the Foreign Exchange Office (Devisenstelle) would seize Serena Lederer's assets only by agreement with the Central Office. A private claim against Serena Lederer of RM 36,000 was also noted. Attached to the memo is a list dated 14 February 1939 itemising twenty-eight works of art from the Lederer collection that "should in particular remain impounded". Item 21 on this list was the Beethoven Frieze with the addition "stored with Bäuml"
  9. "La Frise Beethoven – Héritiers Lederer c. Autriche — Centre du droit de l'art". plone.unige.ch. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  10. "Austria to keep Nazi-looted Klimt masterpiece". www.thelocal.at. 6 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-03-08. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  11. Locker, Melissa (7 March 2015). "Austria Plans To Keep Klimt Painting Once Looted By Nazis". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  12. Cohen, Patricia (2013-10-15). "Heirs Press Austria to Return Looted Klimt Frieze (Published 2013)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  13. "La justice genevoise condamne une maison de vente aux enchères". Tribune de Genève (in French). ISSN 1010-2248. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2021-04-11. Le propriétaire de la célèbre galerie bernoise Kornfeld a été condamné par la Cour de justice genevoise à répondre à une liste de questions dans le cadre d'une succession. Cette demande de renseignements émane d'héritiers de la collection Lederer, composée avant-guerre de 600 à 700 dessins du célèbre peintre symboliste autrichien Gustav Klimt et de 380 dessins de son disciple Egon Schiele. Ils cherchaient à déterminer qui a mis aux enchères, vendu et acheté certaines œuvres, quels contrôles ont été effectués, et qui possède encore des œuvres de la succession. Une procédure similaire en cours à Genève les oppose à la maison de vente aux enchères viennoise Kinsky.
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