Fritz Waerndorfer

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Ex-libris for Waerndorfer, designed by Kolo Moser, 1903

Friedrich Waerndorfer , originally Wärndorfer (born May 5, 1868 in Vienna , † August 9, 1939 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania ) was an Austrian entrepreneur, patron and founding member of the Wiener Werkstätte .

Life

Fritz Waerndorfer came from the Jewish industrialist family Wärndorfer, who owned one of the largest cotton processing companies in the Austrian monarchy . He was the son of Samuel Wärndorfer (* 1842, † 1912) and his wife Berta geb. Neumann (* 1844; † 1921). In 1895 he married the translator Lili Jeanette b. Hellmann (* 1874 in Vienna; † 1952 Nyack, California), with whom he had three children: Helene ("Helen"), married. Bunzl (* 1897; † 1938), Karl Richard ("Charles Richard Warndof") (* 1899; † 1983). and Herbert (* 1905; † 1924). The marriage between Fritz and Lili was divorced in 1930. In 1931 he married the young English-born pianist and composer Fiona McCleary (* 1900; † 1986).

Through Hermann Bahr he came into contact with the Vienna Secession and its leading members such as Josef Hoffmann , Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser .

In 1902 Fritz Waerndorfer ordered Charles Rennie Mackintosh from Glasgow to set up a music salon in the villa in Vienna 18. , Carl-Ludwig-Straße 45 (today Weimarer Straße 59, corner of Colloredogasse 19), in which he and his wife with his father Samuel ( 1843–1907) and his brother August (1865–1940) lived. The father and the two brothers were registered in 1902 (with the spelling Wärndorfer) in Lehmann 's general housing advertisement for Vienna as shareholders of the Náchoder cotton spinning mill Wärndorfer, Benedict, Mautner . At the same time, Mackintosh's wife Margaret MacDonald designed a frieze for the salon based on the motifs of the Belgian poet Maurice Maeterlinck “The Seven Princesses”.

So-called. Waerndorfer frieze from the music salon of Villa Waerndorfer in Vienna, 1906, exhibited at the MAK Vienna

In 1903 Fritz Waerndorfer financed the establishment of the Wiener Werkstätte and became its commercial director. In 1913 he had to file for bankruptcy in person , whereby he and his wife lost DKK 12.5 million according to his son , and in 1914, under pressure from his family, he emigrated to the USA with his wife and son . (The also bankrupt Wiener Werkstätte GmbH was saved by Otto Primavesi , Moritz Gallia and others.) In the United States he first became a farmer, then worked as a designer for a textile company and began to paint watercolors, which in 1927 in the Otto Nirenstein Gallery (later known as Otto Kallir ) were shown in Vienna.

Fritz Waerndorfer owned an extensive and high-quality art collection, which is now scattered and is difficult to reconstruct using photos and other documents. From Gustav Klimt, whom Waerndorfer particularly appreciated, he acquired important works such as B. Pallas Athena or Hope I . His collection included around 150 letters from Aubrey Beardsley and works by the Belgian sculptor and graphic artist Georg Minne , both artists who were honored by the Secessionists in exhibitions. Another focus was numerous graphic works by Koloman Moser and Marcus Behmer .

His extensive letters to Carl Otto Czeschka , who was appointed to the Kunstgewerbeschule from Vienna to Hamburg in 1907, document Czeschka's continued intensive collaboration with the Wiener Werkstätte.

In the USA he called himself "Frederick Warndof" or "Fred Warndof" and worked as a farmer, designer and painter. He died on August 9, 1939 near Philadelphia in Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania).

literature

Web links

Commons : Fritz Waerndorfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reports in the New York Times, August 10, 1939, page 39 and in the "Pittston Gezette" of August 11, 1939, page 7: Fritz Waerndorfer died on August 9, 1939 in Bryn Mawr Hospital. He was buried on August 11, 1939. "AUSTRIAN PAINTER DIES Bryn Mawr, Pa., Aug. 11. Funeral services were planned today for Fred Warndof, widely - known painter who established the Wiener Workstaette, an organization In Vienna which sought to bring Industry and art closer together. Warndof, who changed his name from Fritz Waerndorfer when he came to this country shortly before the World War. died Wednesday in Bryn Mawr hospital. He leaves his wife, the former Fiona Mc-Cleary, a pianist and composer. "
  2. ↑ She was married to the Jewish lawyer Dr. Ernst Bunzl. After Helene's death in Vienna on January 14, 1938, he fled to Brazil via France. (Olga Kronsteiner: Kokoschka was stolen twice . DerStandard.de. June 10, 2018. Accessed April 14, 2019.)
  3. ^ Fritz & Lili Waerndorfer: Art Patrons In New Vienna , on the website The Blue Lantern. Illuminating Arts And Letters
  4. ↑ He died on April 19, 1924 as a result of a traffic accident in which his mother had driven the car. (Report in the Wiener Zeitung "Arbeiterwille", April 23, 1924 p. 8 - http://anno.onb.ac.at/anno-suche ) and was buried in the Döbling cemetery.
  5. ↑ Generosity, hospitality and generosity
  6. ↑ u. a. Peter Vergo - Burlington Magazine 2011
  7. ↑ see publication: "A modern afternoon ..." Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and the Salon Waerndorfer in Vienna "(de + en) Ed. By Peter Noever / MAK Vienna, 2000 Böhlau Verlag Vienna
  8. ^ Entry on Lili Waerndorfer on the website Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal of the AGSÖ, the archive for the history of sociology in Austria
  9. ^ Heinz Spielmann : Carl Otto Czeschka. A Viennese artist in Hamburg. With unpublished letters and articles by Hella Häussler and Rüdiger Joppien. HWS series: Artists in Hamburg (Ed. By Ekkehard Nümann) Vol. 1, Wallstein-Verlag 2019, ISBN 978-3-8353-3434-2
  10. ↑ http://www.hws.org/maezaene/die-kuenstlerreihe/die-baende/
  11. ↑ http://www.austrianposters.at/2019/09/07/wiener-werkstaette-und-wiener-schmaeh/
  12. ↑ Herta Neiß "100 Years of the Wiener Werkstätte. Myth and Economic Reality, 2004, Vienna. Page 92
personal data
SURNAME Waerndorfer, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wärndorfer, Fritz; Waerndorfer, Friedrich (full name); Wärndorfer, Friedrich (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian patron of the arts
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1939
Place of death Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania