Leopold Museum: Valuable Donation from an Eminent Austrian Private Collection

15.07.2024

The artworks – among them outstanding exhibits by Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, Broncia Koller-Pinell, Tina Blau-Lang and Anton Kolig – represent an essential addition to the museum’s collection

Over the course of forty years of passionate collecting, a married couple, both physicians, from Lower Austria managed to compile an extraordinary treasure of paintings. The emphasis of their collection is on art of Austrian Modernism. The Leopold Museum is delighted with this generous gift, which will enrich the museum’s collection with 37 works by 24 artists. The exhibits are mostly paintings, though the mixed lot also includes watercolors and drawings.

The Leopold Museum’s Director Hans-Peter Wipplinger, who over the past years has built a trusting relationship with the donors, remarked about this precious endowment: “It is wonderful to meet people who regard their passion for collecting as their life’s work and decide to make their compilation accessible to the public through a donation. This is indicative of the donors’ distinct philanthropic nature, and in this particular instance ties in particularly well with the idea of the human condition guided by medical ethos. This gift represents an essential enrichment of our holdings and at the same time an obligation to fulfill the noblest task of a museum: to preserve, research and impart works to the public.”

The new additions fit in wonderfully with the profile of the Leopold Museum’s collection, as they are mostly by artists who already feature in the museum with key exhibits. The works comprised in this endowment, whose combined worth amounts to an eight-figure sum, will be shown as part of the permanent presentation of the collection as well as in special exhibitions.

Expressionism: Schiele, Gerstl, Kokoschka

The gift includes two oil paintings by Egon Schiele, one of the most important Austrian Expressionists, who is represented in the museum’s collection with the largest and most eminent compilation of his work in the world: a 1907 self-portrait, which shows the young artist with long hair, as well as a portrait of Schiele’s uncle Leopold Czihaczek created the same year. Further part of the donation are three Schiele works on paper. With the drawing Girl with Bow in Her Hair (1909), the watercolor Pregnant Woman (1910) and a 1917 female nude, the mixed lot includes works from important periods of the artist’s oeuvre. The work Interior with Thonet Chair was created by the groundbreaking pioneer of Austrian Expressionism Richard Gerstl during the last year of his life in 1908. The colored chalk lithograph Self-Portrait from Two Sides as a Painter by Oskar Kokoschka was created in 1923. Kokoschka used this motif for a poster advertising an exhibition at Kunstsalon Wolfsberg in Zurich.

The Nötsch Circle: Kolig, Mahringer

Anton Kolig features in the endowment with the watercolor Fairy Tale (c. 1926) and two male nudes. Like Kolig, Anton Mahringer, too, was a member of the Carinthian artists’ association known as the Nötsch Circle. The two works by him from the donation are a Self-Portrait (1952) as well as the 1961 work Blue Landscape.

Landscapes of Atmospheric Impressionism: Blau-Lang, Wisinger-Florian, Pettenkofen, Hörmann, Schindler

The earliest painting included in the donation is the work Szolnok Square by Tina Blau-Lang (1874): The Szolnok School of Painting was founded in 1850 by August von Pettenkofen, an artist’s colony whose members included Theodor von Hörmann and later also Tina Blau. Owing to the special lighting in the Hungarian town, the group created pioneering depictions which had a lasting impact on Austrian landscape painting. In 1874, Hörmann painted the work Mill in Erla in Lower Austria. The painting View of the Zuiderzee by Emil Jakob Schindler, executed in 1875 in the Netherlands, shows a view over the bay in the North Sea. Pettenkofen created the scene Monastery Garden in Assisi in 1885 during one of his trips to Italy. Alfred Zoff, known for his coastal sceneries and seascapes, painted the work Anchoring Sailing Ships off Chioggia in 1905. Along with a Motif from Schwabing (1884) by Tina Blau-Lang, the donation further includes two landscapes by Olga Wisinger-Florian, including a 1899 Poplar Avenue.

Still Lifes by Faistauer, Boeckl, Pauser, Lerch, and others

Another emphasis within the endowment is on still lifes, among them Still Life with Apples (1915) by Anton Faistauer and a Still Life with Fruit and Knife (1927) by Herbert Boeckl. The work Flowers in a White Pitcher was created by Sergius Pauser in 1932. Franz Lerch executed his Still Life with Fruit in 1944 in exile in the US.

Koller-Pinell: Reinforcement of this important painterly position in the Leopold Museum

Works by Broncia Koller-Pinell, a key figure within the network of Viennese Modernism, have attracted particular attention during the past few years both in the Leopold Museum’s special exhibitions and as part of the permanent presentation "Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism". With this gift of two of her paintings – Koller-Pinell’s Still Life with Oranges, Flower Vase and Statuette (1890) as well as a 1910 portrait of her daughter Silvia – this eminent artist is now showcased even more prominently at the Leopold Museum.

The artists featured in the donation are:

August von Pettenkofen (1822–1889), Theodor von Hörmann (1840–1895), Emil Jakob Schindler (1842–1892), Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844–1926), Tina Blau-Lang (1845–1916), Alfred Zoff (1852–1927), Broncia Koller-Pinell (1863–1934), Richard Gerstl (1883–1908), Hans Böhler (1884–1961), Felix Albrecht Harta (1884–1967), Alfred Wickenburg (1885–1978), Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980), Anton Kolig (1886–1950), Anton Faistauer (1887–1930), Egon Schiele (1890–1918), Viktor Tischler (1890–1951), Aloys Wach (1892–1940), Herbert Boeckl (1894–1966), Franz Lerch (1895–1977), Sergius Pauser (1896–1970), Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky (1898–1956), Gerhart Frankl (1901–1965), Anton Mahringer (1902–1974), Hans Fronius (1903–1988).

The Works in Detail

AUSTRIAN EXPRESSIONISM: WORKS BY MAIN EXPONENTS RICHARD GERSTL, OSKAR KOKOSCHKA AND EGON SCHIELE

Two oil paintings from the endowment hail from the early oeuvre of Egon Schiele – a 1907 Self-Portrait with Long Hair as well as the Portrait of Leopold Czihaczek, Schiele’s uncle and legal guardian, which was created the same year. Further part of the donation are three eminent works on paper by Egon Schiele: the watercolor Pregnant Woman (1910) and the drawings Seated Girl with Bow in Her Hair (1909) and Standing Female Nude (1917). The graphic works include one from his early oeuvre, one from his Expressionist phase from 1910, as well as one from Schiele’s later years. The work Interior with Thonet Chair (Room) was created by the groundbreaking pioneer of Austrian Expressionism Richard Gerstl in 1908, the year of the artist’s death, who passed away at only 25 years of age. The colored chalk lithograph Self-Portrait from Two Sides as a Painter by Oskar Kokoschka was executed in 1923. Kokoschka used this motif for his poster advertising an exhibition at Kunstsalon Wolfsberg in Zurich, which is also part of the Leopold Museum’s collection.

TWO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NÖTSCH CIRCLE: ANTON KOLIG AND ANTON MAHRINGER

Anton Kolig created the watercolor Fairy Tale (c. 1926), which is part of the gift along with two male nudes by the artist – the pencil drawing Reclining Male Nude from Behind (1936) and the colored work on paper “The Dream of Happiness”. Male Nude Lying on His Back (Rudolf Baurecht) created in 1944. Like Kolig, the German artist Anton Mahringer, too, was a member of the loose artists’ association known as the Nötsch Circle. Works by Mahringer in the endowment include his Self-Portrait in Front of Landscape (1952) and Blue Landscape (1961).

LANDSCAPES OF ATMOSPHERIC IMPRESSIONISM: AUGUST VON PETTENKOFEN, THEODOR VON HÖRMANN, EMIL JAKOB SCHINDLER, TINA BLAU-LANG, OLGA WISINGER FLORIAN

The oldest painting included in the donation is the work Szolnok Square by Tina Blau-Lang. The artist created the composition in the style of Atmospheric Impressionism in 1874 during a study trip to Hungary. The Szolnok School of Painters was founded in 1850 by the Viennese artist August von Pettenkofen. The members of this artists’ colony included the “puszta painters” Johann Gualbert Raffalt, Theodor von Hörmann and later Tina Blau. Owing to the special light in and around the little town east of Budapest, many interesting landscape depictions were created there, which had a lasting impact on Austrian landscape painting. Theodor von Hörmann painted the work Mill in Erla in 1874 near St. Pantaleon, situated in western Lower Austria, not far from Enns. The painting View of the Zuiderzee, a Dutch coastal landscape created in 1875 in the Netherlands by Emil Jakob Schindler, shows the view over the bay in the North Sea. The work Monastery Garden, Motif from Assisi was likely painted in 1885, during one of his many trips to Italy, by the artist August von Pettenkofen. The painter Alfred Zoff, who was also an exponent of Atmospheric Impressionism, is known for his coastal sceneries and seascapes. The painting Anchoring Sailing Ships off Chioggia was executed south of Venice in 1905. Further landscapes included in the mixed lot of works from the donation are the Munich Motif from Schwabing (1884) by Tina Blau-Lang, Path in Wobach (1887), created in a village near St. Veit an der Gölsen in Lower Austria, as well as a Poplar Avenue (1899) by the Emil Jakob Schindler student Olga Wisinger-Florian. The latter work allows for a wonderful comparison with Schindler’s Poplar Avenue near Plankenberg (c. 1890) and Wisinger-Florian’s Poplar Avenue – Landscape with Train (1901) from the collection of the Leopold Museum.

STILL LIFES BY ANTON FAISTAUER, GERHART FRANKL, HERBERT BOECKL, ALOYS WACH AND SERGIUS PAUSER

Another emphasis of the donation is on still lifes, including Still Life with Apples (1915) by Anton Faistauer, Gerhart Frankl’s Still Life with Waiter, Glass and Fruit (1925), Still Life with Fruit and Knife (1927) by Herbert Boeckl and Still Life with Fruit by Franz Lerch, which he created in 1944 in exile in the US. That year, Lerch was awarded American citizenship. He lived for 33 more years in the United States, before he passed away in 1977 in New York. Aloys Wach features with his Still Life with Lemons and Tulips (1931). The work by the Expressionist, whose art was defamed as “degenerate” by the National Socialists, already shows influences derived from the emerging style of New Objectivity. The work Flowers in a White Pitcher by Sergius Pauser was created in 1932.

FELIX ALBRECHT HARTA, HANS BÖHLER, SERGIUS PAUSER, HANS FRONIUS

The light-flooded Beach Scene by Felix Albrecht Harta was created in 1909, likely in Spain. Another maritime rendering is the work Seagull by Hans Fronius, showing a gull making a dash for a dead fish on the beach. This work was created in 1986 and is the most recent work from the endowment. Sergius Pauser’s view from a window onto the harbor of Monte Carlo, captured with the brush and rendered entirely in the style of New Objectivity, was created in 1928. Selma with Striped Blouse, the portrait of an African-American woman, was created by Hans Böhler in 1937, a year after moving to the US, where he lived until 1950. His riverscape Sunset on the Hudson was executed in 1942.

NEW NAMES IN THE COLLECTION OF THE LEOPOLD MUSEUM: ALFRED WICKENBURG AND WILHELM NICOLAUS PRACHENSKY

After founding the Leopold Museum Private Foundation in 1994, and bringing more than 5,200 works into the foundation, Rudolf Leopold continued his private collecting activities. For his private collection, he acquired works by Alfred von Wickenburg and Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky. The latter has been been absent from the collection of the Leopold Museum until now which, over the past years, has grown to include more than 8,500 objects. Following the acquisition of Diana and Actaeon (1921) by Rudolf Leopold, the Graz-born painter Wickenburg is now represented in the collection through the donation with another prominent work, Still Life with Peacock Feather (1919). The Innsbruck-born artist Prachensky now features with the view, created in Trentino, of an Italian house On the Path to Mezzocorona (1917) and with his 1953 painting Northern Italian Landscape.

BRONCIA KOLLER-PINELL – A NETWORKER IN VIENNA AROUND 1900: CLOSURE OF A GAP IN THE COLLECTION

Broncia Koller-Pinell, a key figure within the network of Viennese Modernism, has up until now only featured in the collection with correspondence, including a letter from the artist to Schiele’s brother-in-law, the painter Anton Peschka, and a letter from Edith Schiele to Koller-Pinell. Throughout the past few years, it has been possible to secure works by the artist as permanent loans from renowned private collections, among them the Eisenberger Collection, and to show them as part of special exhibitions and in the permanent presentation Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism. Thanks to this gift, which includes Koller-Pinell’s Still Life with Oranges, Flower Vase and Statuette (1890) as well as the painting Silvia with Hat (1910), a portrait of her daughter, works by this eminent artist are now an integral part of the museum’s holdings, thus permanently closing a gap in the Leopold Museum’s collection.

VIKTOR TISCHLER’S NEW SAFE HAVEN IN VIENNA

Another new artist in the collection is Viktor Tischler, to whom the art critic and Schiele benefactor Arthur Roessler dedicated a monograph in 1924. He features with the work Still Life with Fish and Seashell (no date). Tischler had been living in Paris since 1928, and in 1940/41 lived in the South of France, from where he managed to flee to the US. He returned to France in 1949. This painting was possibly created in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the Côte d'Azur, where the painter died in 1951. Through the donation, this special work by Viktor Tischler has now found a new safe haven in Vienna.

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