Arpad Weixlgärtner

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Arpád Weixlgärtner (born April 6, 1872 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; died February 2, 1961 in Gothenburg ) was an Austrian art historian .

Life

Arpád Weixlgärtner was an illegitimate son of the lawyer and temporary Budapest mayor János Radocza von Sárszentmiklós (1835-1926) and the actress Wilhelmine Weixlgärtner (1843-1918). In 1911 he married the sculptor Josephine (Pepi) Theresia Neutra (1886–1981), sister of the architect Richard Neutra , who was of Jewish origin. Their children were the artist Elisabeth Söderberg (1912–1991) and the linguist John Weilgart (1913–1981).

Weixlgärtner studied law, art history, history and archeology in Vienna and received his doctorate from Wickhoff and Reisch in 1899 with a dissertation on Albrecht Dürer's nude and proportion studies. Weixlgärtner worked from 1901 at the Kupferstichkabinett of the Vienna Court Library and from 1906 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, initially as curator of the collection for sculpture and applied arts (until 1930). From 1920 he was treasurer (= custodian) of the secular and spiritual treasury of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. From 1931 to 1933 he was director of the picture gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1934 he retired, but kept the office of treasurer. On March 16, 1938, immediately after the annexation of Austria , he was "given leave" by the National Socialists for racist reasons.

After Hitler's speech on March 15, 1938, Weixlgärtner led SS people into the treasury. He reports about this day: “I keep the treasure chamber open in vain, of course no cat comes in, as access via Heldenplatz is blocked. [...] A huge crowd on the ring waiting for Hitler to move in. It takes me and my two overseers an hour and a half to get from the Schweizerhof around the Burgtheater, in front of the town hall and behind the parliament to the museum to hand in the treasury keys. [...] That was my last tour of the treasury on March 15th at half past eleven o'clock in the morning. "

From 1946 he taught art history at various universities in Sweden, where after the fire in his apartment in 1945 he was invited by King Gustav VI. lived. He received Swedish citizenship in 1959.

literature

  • Bengt Thordeman: In memoriam Arpad Weixlgärtner. In: Fornvännen 56, 1961, pp. 130-132.
  • Alfred Westholm: Arpad Weixlgärtner. In: Konsthistorisk tidskrift 30, 1961, pp. 161–162.
  • Herbert Haupt: Years of Endangerment. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 1995, ISBN 978-3-900325-54-1 .
  • Johannes Weiss: A gardener, but not a gardener per se. Arpád Weixlgärtner. In: Wiener Geschichtsblätter 67 (1), 2012, pp. 33–51.
  • Weixlgärtner, Arpád , in: Ulrike Wendland: Biographical manual of German-speaking art historians in exile. Life and work of the scientists persecuted and expelled under National Socialism . Munich: Saur, 1999, ISBN 3-598-11339-0 , pp. 743-748
  • Weixlgärtner, Arpád , in: Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 . Volume 2.2. Munich: Saur, 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 1233

Web links

Wikisource: Arpad Weixlgärtner  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Weixlgärtner, Josephine Theresia , in: Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 . Volume 2.2. Munich: Saur, 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 1233
  2. ↑ see Elisabeth Söderberg in the Swedish Wikipedia
  3. ↑ John Weilgart , at aui
  4. ↑ Haupt 1995, 10.
  5. ↑ Weixlgärtner, quoted in in Haupt 1995, 9.
personal data
SURNAME Weixlgärtner, Arpad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weixlgärtner, Arpád
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian art historian and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 2nd February 1961
Place of death Gothenburg