Viktor Fogarassy

Viktor Fogarassy (6 May 1911 – 24 March 1989) was an Austrian merchant, managing partner of the Kastner & Öhler department stores, and an art collector, especially of works by Egon Schiele. The state of Styria named a prize for the support of contemporary art after him, the Viktor-Fogarassy-Preis.

Viktor Fogarassy
Born(1911-05-06)6 May 1911
Preßburg, Austria-Hungary
Died24 March 1989(1989-03-24) (aged 77)
Graz, Austria
Occupations
  • Merchant
  • Managing partner
  • Art collector
Organizations

Life

Fogarassy was born in Preßburg (today: Bratislava)[1] on 6 May 1911.[2] The family had earned nobility in the 17th century, fighting the Ottoman invasion. He grew up in Hungary and then in Vienna, where he completed school with the Matura in 1930.[1]

Fogarassy was married to Dollie Kastner, a granddaughter of Carl Kastner,[3] a co-founder of the Graz department store Kastner & Öhler, and his wife Julie who was Jewish.[4][5] In 1938, the directors of the department store decided to sell their shares to their "Aryan" sons-in-law to prevent a confiscation by the Nazi regime. Fogarassy became the manager of their Agram operations in Croatia. When these were confiscated by communists in 1946, he moved back to Graz,[3] where he became managing partner (Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter) in 1948. He remained in the position until his retirement in March 1977 when he was succeeded by his son-in-law Franz Harnoncourt.[4]

Kleine Stadt by Schiele
Dämmernde Stadt by Schiele

Fogarassy was one of the important art collectors in Austria after World War II. His nephew reported that he acquired prints by Egon Schiele before his Matura.[3] According to the American art historian Alessandra Comini, he began collecting works by Schiele before 1938. From the 1950s, he bought mostly at the Galerie Würthle. The gallery later sold parts of his legacy.[3][4] He was a member of the Kuratorium (board of trustees) of the Joanneum, the museum of the province of Styria, in Graz.[6] He was a member of the Rotary Club in Graz from 1968, and served as its president in 1979 and 1980.[1]

He died in Graz on 24 March 1989.[1][2] The Requiem was held at the Graz Cathedral on 31 March 1989.[1]

Legacy

The sculptor Josef Pillhofer made a bronze portrait head of Fogarassy in 1976, which was displayed in an exhibition of his heads at the Belvedere in Vienna in 2002.[7]

The state of Styria founded a prize for the support of contemporary art (Förderungspreis des Landes Steiermark für Zeitgenössische Bildende Kunst) in his name, the Viktor-Fogarassy-Preis.[8] A related exhibition has been held at the Neue Galerie of the Joanneum.[9]

In 2018, in an act of private restitution, his family agreed to auction a painting, Schiele's Dämmernde Stadt (City in Twilight or The Small City II), that he had acquired in good faith, sharing the proceeds with the descendants of the former Jewish owner.[4][10]

References
  1. Bericht über das Meeting am 5. April 1989 (in German). Rotary Club Graz. 5 April 1989.
  2. "Selbstbildnis mit Grimasse (Grimacing Man) / Egon Schiele" (PDF). collectiongruenbaum.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  3. Niederacher, Sonja (31 December 2014). "Dossier zu Egon Schiele". kunstkultur.bka.gv.at (in German). Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  4. Derndt, Gregor (12 March 2014). Provenienzforschung Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum / Bestand Sammlung Walther Kastner (in German).
  5. Kronsteiner, Olga (5 October 2018). "Kunstverkauf / Warum die Versteigerung dieses Gemäldes von Egon Schiele eine Sensation ist". Der Standard (in German). Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  6. "Kuratorium" (PDF). Jahresbericht (in German). 1984. pp. 7–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  7. Pillhofer, Josef. "Portraitkopf Viktor Fogarassy". josefpillhofer.at (in German). Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  8. "Förderungspreis des Landes Steiermark für zeitgenössische bildende Kunst 2019". Joanneum (in German). 2019. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  9. Viktor-Fogarassy-Preis 1990 (in German). Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum. 1990. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  10. Simmons, Lucian (5 October 2018). "Impressionist & Modern Art / A Restituted Masterpiece by Egon Schiele". Sotheby's. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
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