János Scholz (December 20, 1903 – June 3, 1993) was a Hungarian-born American cellist and art collector.

Early life

Scholz was born in 1903 in

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

, Hungary. He graduated from the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...

in Budapest.

Career

Scholz began playing the cello with the

Budapest Symphony Orchestra The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known earlier as Budapest Symphony Orchestra) (; MRZE) is a Hungary, Hungarian radio orchestra. It is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation, Magyar Rádió. History The Hungaria ...

. He joined the

Roth Quartet Roth may refer to: Places Germany * Roth (district), in Bavaria, Germany ** Roth, Bavaria, capital of that district ** Roth (electoral district), a federal electoral district * Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany: ** Roth an der Our, in the distric ...

in 1932. By 1933, he was a cellist in New York City. He became "one of the great cellists of the twentieth century." He also taught at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. Scholz began his Italian Art collection in 1935 which grew to 1500 drawings. Representing drawings of both major and minor artists of Italy they are noted for the quality of individual works and the comprehensive nature. In 1973, he donated the works, including "drawings by

Pisanello Pisanello (), born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento. He was acclaimed b ...

, Veronese, Titian,

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

, and Piranesi", to

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

. Scholz conducted seminars for New York University Institute of Fine Arts, Columbia University and the New School for Social Research providing rare first hand contact with works through his collection. Many exhibitions were organized in the U.S., Canada and Italy.

Personal life and death

Scholz was married twice. His first wife was Anne Bigelow Rosen. His second wife, Helen Marshall Schelling, was the widow of conductor

Ernest Schelling Ernest Henry Schelling (July 26, 1876 – December 8, 1939) was an American pianist, composer, and conducting, conductor, and music director. He was the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1935 to 1937. Biography He was born in ...

. They resided on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

in Manhattan, New York City. Scholz had two sons with Anne Bigelow Rosen and one with Helen Marshall Schelling. Scholz died on June 3, 1993, in New York City, at age 89.

Art collecting and Philanthropy

Scholz assembled a large collection of Italian drawings, acquiring, in 1939, theatre-related drawings from Michael Mayr, and, in 1944, 1000 Italian drawings, including 49 Bibienas. In 1973 Scholz offered to bequeath his collection to the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. Scholz also donated more than 5,000 photographs to the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame as well as works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2016 the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

reached a settlement with the family of Michael Berolzheimer, a Jewish art collector who had been persecuted by the Nazis, for a drawing of a stag that Scholz had gifted to the museum.

Selected works

* *Italian Master Drawings, 1350–1800, From The Janos Scholz Collection, Selected And Described by Janos Scholz

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scholz, Janos 1903 births 1993 deaths People from Sopron People from the Upper East Side Hungarian emigrants to the United States Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni American art collectors 20th-century American cellists