Kurt L. Black

Kurt Leo Schwarz (born April 5, 1909 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † July 10, 1983 in Los Angeles ) was an Austrian antiquarian and art historian.

Life

Kurt L. Schwarz was the son of the antiquarian Ignaz Schwarz (1867–1925) and his wife Margarete (Grete, née Horner). From 1927 to 1932 he studied art history, classical archeology, history, German studies and philosophy at the University of Vienna , interrupted by the 1930 summer semester, during which he studied in Berlin. In 1932 he received his doctorate from Julius von Schlosser with a dissertation on the painter Daniel Gran , which, however, remained unpublished.

Since 1927 he worked in his father's bookshop, after the death of his father he ran it with his mother. On March 13, 1938, the day after the Anschluss , he emigrated, the company was " Aryanized " and transferred to Johann K. (Hanns) Paulusch (1901–1989), who had worked for the company from 1920 to 1928. At the end of 1940 he joined forces with Hans von Bourcy and founded the company "Bourcy & Paulusch". After the war, Kurt Schwarz fought for compensation in court.

Schwarz first went to Paris, in 1939 to London and in 1940 to Shanghai , where he was librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society Library until 1941 . From 1940 to 1947 he worked for Heinz Egon Heinemann in his "Western Arts Gallery" in Shanghai, which sold books, art and second-hand goods to German emigrants. In 1947 he went to the USA, where he founded the antiquarian bookshop "Kurt L. Schwarz Antiquarian Books" in Beverly Hills (450 North Beverly Drive), from 1957 he ran it in Los Angeles (738 South Bristol Avenue). He specialized in European art and oriental culture and published over 125 catalogs.

Publications

• On the aesthetic problem of the "program" and the symbolism and allegory in baroque painting . In: Wiener Jahrbuch der Kunstgeschichte 60, 1937, pp. 79–88.

literature

• Kurt Schwarz - A Tribute . In: The Professional Rare Bookseller No. 6, 1983, pp. 51-53.
• Jacob Chernofsky: Kurt Schwarz . In: AB August 1, 1983, pp. 390-391.
• Donald C. Dickinson: Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers . Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1998, ISBN 0-313-26675-1 , p. 200.
• Ulrike Wendland: Biographical handbook of German-speaking art historians in exile. Life and work of the scientists persecuted and expelled under National Socialism. Part 2: L – Z. Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-11339-0 , pp. 637-638.
• Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin from the 18th to the 20th century. Volume 3: S – Z, Register. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 1243 (No. 9531).

Web links

• Kurt L. Schwarz spotted at Wiener Kunstgeschichte