Daisy Hellmann (1890-1977) was a Viennese art patron and collector persecuted by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry.
Early life
Daisy Hellmann (née Steiner b. in Vienna April 22, 1890 - 5 January 5, 1977), was a member of one of the most important families of art patrons in Vienna in the first quarter of the 20th century. Her father was Wilhelm Steiner and her mother Eugenie (Jenny) Steiner (Pulitzer). In her book, ''Was Einmal War'', Sophie Lillie describes the lives of the "assimilated, haut bourgeois Jewry of Austria between the wars , people who without exception were talented, successful members of the community". One of the individuals she describes is Daisy Hellmann.
Daisy married Wilhelm (Willy) Hellmann of Vienna, a textile magnate. The Hellmanns lived at No. 17 Rathausstraße in Vienna’s first district, one of
Oskar Strnad
Oskar Strnad (26 October 1879 – 3 September 1935) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, designer and set designer for films and theatres. Together with Josef Frank he was instrumental in creating the distinctive character of the '' Wiener Sc ...
’s interior design projects.
Many of their parlor furnishings were designed by the co-founder of the Vienna Workshop, Austrian artist
Koloman Moser
Koloman Moser (; 30 March 1868 – 18 October 1918) was an Austrian artist who exerted considerable influence on twentieth-century graphic art. He was one of the foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement and a co-founder of Wiener Werks ...
a "ground breaking graphic designer, ceramicist, silver, jewellery, fashion and not least furniture designer".
Art collector, Nazi persecution and emigration
The artist
Egon Schiele
Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portr ...
was a personal friend of the Hellmanns, who purchased one of his paintings, "Landscape at Krumau" from him soon after it was painted. The work hung in the Hellmann’s apartment until October 1938 when it was seized by the Nazis and put up for sale in Vienna in 1942.The artwork was then acquired by
Wolfgang Gurlitt
Wolfgang Gurlitt (15 February 1888 – 26 March 1965) was a German art dealer, museum director and publisher whose art collection included Nazi-looted art.
Family and friends
He was grandson of the painter Louis Gurlitt, and son of the art de ...
who sold it to the Neue Galerie in Linz in January 1953 where it remained for decades. Other Schieles in their collection included Kleinkind (Baby)
Fleeing the Nazis, Daisy Hellmann arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1940.
Her mother,
Jenny Steiner
Jenny may refer to:
* Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people
* Jenny (surname), a family name
Animals
* Jenny (donkey), a female donkey
* Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of h ...
, owner of a silk factory and a prominent art collector, also fled Vienna, leaving behind her own collection of Schieles including ''Houses by the Sea'' (1914) which entered the Leopold collection in 1955.
Steiner died in New York in 1958.
Claims for Restitution
In late 2002, after years of wrangling, the City of Linz decided to return the painting 'Krumau, 1916' by Egon Schiele to the heirs of Daisy Hellmann. The fate of the rest of the collection is not known.
The
Leopold Museum
The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl.
It contains the wo ...
settled a restiiution claim with Jenny Steiner's heirs, including Daisy's daughter, in 2012.
The German Lost Art Foundation lists 29 search requests for artworks formerly in the Wilhelm and Daisy Hellmann collection, meaning that the family is trying to find them.
See also
*
The Holocaust in Austria The Holocaust in Austria was the systematic persecution, plunder and extermination of Jews by German and Austrian Nazis from 1938 to 1945. An estimated 65,000 Jews were murdered and 125,000 forced to flee Austria as refugees.
Jews in Austria befor ...
*
Vugesta
The Vugesta (also VUGESTAP) for “''Vermögens-Umzugsgut von der Gestapo''" ("Property Removed by the Gestapo") was a Nazi looting organization in Vienna that from 1940 to 1945 seized the possessions of 5,000-6,000 Viennese Jews. It was a key pl ...
*
List of claims for restitution for Nazi-looted art
The list of restitution claims for art looted by the Nazis or as a result of Nazi persecution is organized by the country in which the paintings were located when the return was requested.
Australia and New Zealand
Austria
Belgium
Ge ...
References
{{Reflist
1890 births
1977 deaths
Women art collectors
Austrian art collectors
Jewish art collectors
Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss
20th-century Austrian Jews