Guido Dessauer
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Guido Dessauer (7 November 1915 – 13 January 2012) was a German physicist, pioneer in paper engineering, business executive, writer, art collector,
patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
of the arts, and academic. Born into a family of paper industrialists, he worked as an aerospace engineer during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and was an executive of the family's coloured paper factory in
Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
from 1945. He was an
honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...
of Austria for saving 300 jobs in Styria in the 1960s. He earned a Ph.D. from the
Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology (, short TU Graz) is a public research university located in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology research and educational institute in Austria. ...
in his late 50s and became an honorary professor there. Interested in art, he collected bozzetti (
model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...
s for sculpture) for 50 years and initiated the career of
Horst Janssen Horst Janssen (14 November 192931 August 1995) was a German draftsman, printmaker, poster artist and illustrator. He had a prolific output of drawings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and wood engravings. Janssen was a student of Alfred Mahlau a ...
as a lithographer.


Life

Guido Dessauer was born in
Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
to a family of industrialists who owned the Aschaffenburger Buntpapierfabrik, a leading coloured-paper factory with a long tradition. His parents were Hans Dessauer and Bertha, ''née'' Thywissen. Dessauer's older brother was Hans Dessauer, known as John H. Dessauer. He was also a nephew of the scientist Friedrich Dessauer, a member of parliament. Dessauer attended a gymnasium in Aschaffenburg that taught the Greek and Latin languages. Later in life he regretted that he had not learned Hebrew, because he would have liked to read what his Jewish ancestors had written. He studied physics at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
, and was also interested in art and history. During World War II he worked in aerospace research. Later he was a pioneer in the paper industry and registered more than 30 patents. In 1945, he entered the management of the Aschaffenburger Buntpapierfabrik, becoming its technical managing director in 1951. Beginning in 1970 he directed a research department at another paper producer, in
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. In 1985, Dessauer was appointed honorary professor at the Institut für Papier-, Zellstoff- und Fasertechnik (Institute for Paper, Pulp and Fibre Technology) of the
Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology (, short TU Graz) is a public research university located in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology research and educational institute in Austria. ...
, where he had earned his Ph.D. in 1972. Dessauer was a member of the
Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
from 1957 onward. As a founding member of the Rotary Club of Aschaffenburg in 1958, he was awarded honorary membership of the club on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. He was also an honorary member of the International Association of Paper Historians. Dessauer was married in 1949 to Gabrielle von Keller (20 December 1916 – 22 February 2010), a daughter of the diplomat Friedrich von Keller. They had four children, Irene, Franziska, Friederike, and
Gabriel Dessauer Gabriel Dessauer (born 4 December 1955) is a German Cantor (church), cantor, concert organist, and academic teacher. After studies with Diethard Hellmann and Franz Lehrndorfer, he was responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden ...
, who became the Kantor at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden. They lived in
Tutzing Tutzing is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Starnberg (district), Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany, on the west bank of the Starnberger See. Just 40 km south-west of Munich and with good views of the Alps, the town wa ...
, where he died on 13 January 2012.


Art

Dessauer collected European
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
s, especially three-dimensional
model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...
s for sculpture called
maquette A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...
s or bozzetti. They are of special interest to experts because they show the creative process. The ''Sammlung Dessauer'' (Dessauer Collection) of 340 pieces from several periods up to the ''Klassische Moderne'' era is the largest private collection of bozzetti in Germany. A selection of 72 pieces from the Baroque era was shown in 2002 in the
Germanisches Nationalmuseum The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...
in Nuremberg, the Alte Galerie (Old Gallery) of the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, the Kunstmuseum "Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen" in
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
, and the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg, under the title ''Kleine Ekstasen – Barocke Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Dessauer'' (Little ecstasies – Baroque master works from the Dessauer Collection). It showed bozzetti from the baroque,
rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
, and
Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...
eras by sculptors including
Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italians, Italian Neoclassical sculpture, Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was ins ...
, François Duquesnoy, Etienne-Maurice Falconet,
Jean-Antoine Houdon Jean-Antoine, chevalier Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor. Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects ...
, Camillo Rusconi, und Philipp Jakob Straub. In the early 1950s, Dessauer commissioned a portrait of his father-in-law from
Horst Janssen Horst Janssen (14 November 192931 August 1995) was a German draftsman, printmaker, poster artist and illustrator. He had a prolific output of drawings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and wood engravings. Janssen was a student of Alfred Mahlau a ...
, followed by portraits of other family members. Janssen was able to create his first
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
s using the technical equipment at the Aschaffenburger Buntpapierfabrik.


Awards

In 1964, Dessauer was awarded
honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...
in Austria for saving 300 jobs while serving as a member of the board of the paper factory in Niklasdorf. He received the ''Großes Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Steiermark'' (
in German IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...
) for ''Verdienste um die steirische Papierindustrie, Kunstförderung'' (Services to the
Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
n paper industry, patronage of the arts). In 2008, Dessauer was awarded the German Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Cross of the Order of Merit).


Publications

* ''Horst Janssen und Aschaffenburg'' (Horst Janssen, Brigitte Schad, Guido Dessauer, Reiner Meyer), Aschaffenburg 2002, * ''Wolkenkleister, Marmor und Brokat: Historische Buntpapiere'' (Gisela Reschke, Guido Dessauer "Über Moden und Zyklen in der Rezeption von Kunst und Kunsthandwerk" About fashions and cycles in the reception of art and crafts), Berlin 1997,
''Papierzerfall: Ursachen und Konsequenzen'', Ein Beitrag von Prof. Dr. Guido Dessauer, Graz
Forum Bestandserhaltung of the
University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...
2001


Literature

* Frank Matthias Kammel: ''Kleine Ekstasen – Barocke Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Dessauer''. Beiträge von Saskia Durian-Ress, Annette Scherer, Beatrize Söding, Ulrich Söding. Nürnberg 2001,


References


External links

*
"Was sie nur mit der Kunst haben" / Ausstellung: Galerie Kunst & Genuss in Amorbach zeigt Radierungen und Lithografien von Horst Janssen
(Show of Janssen lithographs, including portraits of Dessauer family members, in a gallery in Amorbach) Main-Echo 21 April 2008 *Michaela Schneider
Welch edles Kunstprodukt / Schau: »Gefärbt, gekämmt, getunkt, gedruckt« - Buntpapier im Mainfränkischen Museum
(What a noble art product / Show: »Coloured, combed, dunked, printed« - Coloured paper in the Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg) Main-Echo 25 October 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dessauer, Guido 20th-century German physicists 20th-century German art collectors 21st-century art collectors Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1915 births 2012 deaths Dessauer family