Serena (Szeréna) Pulitzer Lederer (20 May 1867 in – 27 March 1943 ) was an Austro-Hungarian art collector and the spouse of the industrial magnate August Lederer, close friend of

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...

and instrumental in the constitution of the collection of Klimt's art pieces.

Early life

Born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

into a wealthy Jewish family (grandniece of the U.S. journalist

Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born , ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and a newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in the U.S. Democ ...

), Serena was known for being a beauty in her youth and later a ''Grande Dame''. She married August Lederer on 5 June 1892 at the Rabbinat of Pest. The family resided in Raab (Győr), in the Bartensteingasse n° 8 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and at the castle Ledererschlössel in Weidlingau.

Art

As early as 1888,

made a first miniature portrait of the young and then unmarried Serena Lederer for his work "Audience Room in the Old Burgtheater". In Vienna, one room of the flat was dedicated to Klimt works. The painting of Szeréna Lederer done in 1899 was the origin of a close friendship. On Klimt's recommendation, in 1912,

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painters, painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude sel ...

was introduced to the Lederer family and became friends with Erich Lederer, the youngest son. Szeréna Lederer was instrumental in the collection of Klimt's work. There are portraits of her mother Charlotte Pulitzer, her daughter Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt and herself by the artist. It has been suggested Elisabeth was the biological daughter of Lederer and Klimt. According to son Erich Lederer (1896–1985), the residence had been furnished by the

Wiener Werkstätte The Wiener Werkstätte ("Vienna Workshop"), established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria that brought to ...

founded by

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrians, Austrian-Sudeten Germans, Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architect ...

and Koloman Moser in Vienna in 1903. The furnishings had been entrusted to Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill

Nazi persecution

The Lederer collection was confiscated from Serena in 1940 and she fled to Budapest, where she died three years later. The

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

transferred the collection to Immendorf Castle, but the castle was set on fire in May, 1945 so that it would not fall into the hands of the Allies and some artworks in the collection were destroyed. However some of the artworks reappeared after the war. The Lederer's son Erich and his wife Elisabeth took refuge in Switzerland.

Restitution claims for looted art

After the war, 459 works by Gustav Klimt and 77 by Egon Schiele were returned to the Lederers, however most of the artworks were not found. Works that were recovered, however, could not be moved out of Austria, which forbade the Lederer family from exporting Klimt's masterpiece "Beethoven Frieze" to Switzerland. In 2018, the Lederer heirs went to court in Switzerland to attempt to oblige a Swiss art dealer Galerie Kornfeld to answer questions about artworks from the Lederer collection that had reappeared after the war with Wolfgang, Hildebrand et Cornelius Gurlitt. Also in 2018, it was discovered that Austrian authorities had restituted one of the Lederer's Klimts, ''Apple Tree II'', to the wrong family. because an investigation by the Art Restitution Advisory Board that mistakenly confused the Klimt with a different painting.

Bibliography

* Tobias Natter, Gerbert Frodl (Hsg.): ''Klimt und die Frauen'' (Ausstellungskatalog), Dumont Köln 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lederer, Serena 1867 births 1943 deaths Art Nouveau Austrian art collectors Jewish art collectors Women art collectors People from Austria-Hungary Nazi-looted art Subjects of Nazi art appropriations

Early life

Art

Nazi persecution

Restitution claims for looted art

See also

Bibliography

References