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 (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

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

Early life

Born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

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

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

), Serena was known for being a beauty in her youth and later a ''Grande Dame''. She married on 5 June 1892 at the Rabbinat of Pest, August Lederer. The family was resident of

Raab Raab is a market town (''Marktgemeinde'') in the district of Schärding in Upper Austria in Austria. History The village historically belonged to the Duchy of Bavaria until the Treaty of Teschen transferred the area to Austria in 1780. During t ...

(Győr), in the Bartensteingasse n° 8 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 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 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 (engl.: ''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 bro ...

founded by

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrian- Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet P ...

and

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 ...

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 (), 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 Prussia into one organi ...

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 the collection was destroyed. However it is not certain that all the artworks had actually been consumed in the fire as there are reports that some of them reappeared after the war.

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

Early life

Art

Nazi persecution

See also

Bibliography

References