Dorotheum

The Dorotheum is a 1707 based auction house headquartered in Dorotheergasse 17 in the 1st district of Vienna Inner City. It is the largest auction house for art and applied art in Central Europe and in Germany. In addition to the auctions are also the distributors and the traditional pawn shop cornerstone of the Dorotheum.

At the Dorotheum paintings, graphic works and sculptures as well as objects of applied art, especially furniture, porcelain and jewelry will be auctioned from different centuries. The objects are previously presented in exhibition spaces. Catalogs of the ( Internet) in printed and digital version. There are also showrooms.

In 1992, the Dorotheum received the National Award and since then must the federal coat of arms used in commercial transactions.

Buildings and stores

The building is built in the neoclassical style. 2001, the former state-owned company was sold to an Austrian consortium. The Dorotheum expanded considerably since then.

Branches exist in 12 districts of Vienna, in the Austrian provinces ( Dornbirn, Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz, Traun, Salzburg, Wiener Neustadt, St. Pölten ). There are also representative offices in Prague (since 1992 ), Brussels ( since 1996), Dusseldorf and Munich ( since 2003), Milan (since 2005 ) and Rome (since 2008), as well as contacts in Zagreb, Florence, and a representative office in Tokyo. More than 700 employees worldwide, including 100 art experts, will be employed. Every year there are about 600 auctions that provide about 60 percent of total sales.

History

The founding as " offset and Frag Office at Vienna " was made in 1707 by Emperor Joseph I. Thus, the first auction house was born. In addition to the pawn shop first brought foreclosures that have been handled in a tight circle, to which the general public had little access, the most revenue. 80 years later, the move took place in the former Dorotheerkloster, the " Dorotheum " received its present name. End of the 19th century works of art, auction books, coins and stamps in the first place. The new building of the Palais Dorotheum in Dorotheergasse at the site of the old convent was completed in 1901.

Before the palace became the headquarters of the internationally renowned Dorotheum, the original offset and Frag Office 1707 was already housed in the Vienna city center. But only the 1787 neubezogene house Dorotheum was identity and above all names stiftend. The auction is being experienced since the end of the 19th century an upswing. In 13 auction halls auctions were held.

Emperor Franz Joseph gave the order to build the palace on the same ground of the former Dorotheerklosters, designed according to the plans of the famous Ringstrasse architect Emil von Förster and took in 1901 before the grand opening. Forester should provide Magnificent, without being wasteful. The official title of " Dorotheum " for the house had been after the end of the monarchy in 1918, was introduced. From the historic structure reflects among other things the " Kielmansegg wall " in the current court - loading zone of the Dorotheum. Here was allowed to grave stones and reliefs in the one after the governor Count Kielmansegg, a structural innovator of Dorotheum, named Wall.

Kielmansegg laid the foundation for modern auction house where he also introduced the division into sectors. Were the auctions and your catalogs before even a mixture of different art, antiques and collector lines, so was 1900 first own art department and the Numismatics Department.

The new spatial conditions this 1901 inaugurated downtown Palais and increased demand allowed the auctioning business flourish, it also hosted numerous special auctions. Especially prominent collections came in the interwar period to the call. Thus, the estate of the Austrian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) changed hands as well as 1921, the entire establishment of the Salzburg Castle Klessheim, once owned by Archduke Ludwig Viktor. Much of the collection of Albert Figdor, one of the largest private collections in Europe, also arrived at the Dorotheum for calling. The auction halls were around the central main room, now named Emperor Franz Joseph Hall, grouped. The populated with about 170 seats auction room, the " Ludwigstorff Hall ", is derived from the name of this imperial counselor.

Role during the Holocaust

The Dorotheum was taken to the German Reich in March 1938 after the "Anschluss " of Austria. This also happened with other state institutions and auctions worldwide. The old management was deposed by the Nazis and replaced by the NSDAP party members Anton Jennewein and Franz Hofbauer. All Jewish employees were laid off. Jennewein and Hofbauer were anxious to expand its auction business with the protection of the Nazis throughout the empire. This was the beginning of the 1940s, mainly through the auction of " aryanised " equipment and household items. The " linearization " of numerous works of art by means of auctions in this state institution was formally legalized.

The Dorotheum benefited as a commission by the admissions of Nazi agencies such as the Gestapo, the customs and tax authorities and the municipality of Vienna. The Dorotheum enjoyed in the Third Reich almost a monopoly position and increased its profit enormously with the sale of the seized property by former Jewish and other owners. The valuables were usually assessed far below their real value to the owners pay as little as possible. When auctioning the goods and chattels were of course sold at her or just the real value, thus, considerable gains were.

After 1945, held the Dorotheum on the legal requirements, especially in the context of the 3rd Restitution Act. These laws were so restrictive that it was almost impossible for the previous owner to get back to their former property. They had to prove themselves not only what the former possession was, but to buy back their former property, which was almost impossible because they was all taken away by the Nazis. The Dorotheum failed to beyond a support or help for those who " aryanised " in search of their belongings were. Lists of stolen goods were later destroyed, which further made ​​it difficult to return. To date, it is not possible to identify many objects, whether the owners were Jewish and who are the rightful heirs.

Analysis of the history

The privatization of the company began 2001. After decades of Social Democratic Chancellor with little activity, continued since the cancellation in 2000 FPÖ participation in the new government, strong international pressure on even the part of the Jewish communities of Austria, and the Dorotheum has been exposed to increasing criticism. An important first step and symbolic act against the victims and descendants was the payment of 32 million dollars from the sale proceeds of the Dorotheum in the " General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism."

Another expression of the assumption of responsibility by the new management was to set up a separate department for Provenance Research. The company is the first and only auction house in the German-speaking area, which has set up such a site. Working with victims' associations and particularly the Jewish Community Vienna, has been strengthened.

A basic activity of the historian was to sift through the old files (1933-1967) located at the Dorotheum, prepare and organize. These sources were handed over to the Austrian State Archives and made ​​available to the public. Historians Sonja Niederacher, Alexander and Stefan Schrock August Lütgenau designed after several years of research, taking into account domestic and foreign archives enterprise historical presentation and analysis of the company before.

In spring 2006, the Dorotheum presented the study between government and business. The Dorotheum in National Socialism the public. At the same time the historical documentary material of the Dorotheum by the transfer to the Austrian State Archives was made ​​publicly available. The historian Sonja Niederacher wrote in the daily newspaper Der Standard: " At the economic level, the Dorotheum has benefited from the Nazi regime." Dorotheum managing director Martin Bohm spoke of a " symbolic act ", an " act of responsibility towards history. " At the same time he asked publicly, " all concerned, where suffering was inflicted on the part of our house, sorry ."

Antiques and jewelery trade

Since 1978, the trade area is a further division of the Dorotheum. In commercial galleries, now called Dorotheum Gallery, anyone can, regardless of the sale of art and decorative objects and antiques purchase immediately. This branch is in common with Dorotheum Jeweller one of the three pillars of the Dorotheum in the Jubilee Year 2007. Past two years, the singer Sandra Pires advertises for the jewelry. Traditional silver and gold jewelry, watches and a fashionable trend - line offer 27 sites in Austria and thus make the Dorotheum for the most jewelry provider in the country. The expansion into the international jewelry business prepared the purchase of Hungary's largest jewelery retail chain OREX - a traditional company, which will retain its name - in 2004 The gem lab will test not only jewels for the auctions, but creates reports and certificates of authenticity and quality of stones and. performs estimates.

Dorotheum as a patron of the arts

The Dorotheum is a sponsor of the MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna) repeatedly organizer of the " Museum Day " in which the public has free access. It also financed the permanently installed "White Cube" by renowned artist Heimo Zobernig, a connecting bridge in the museum. The Dorotheum initiated the establishment of the "Art Cluster Vienna ", an association of all the great Viennese art houses, museums and art schools who want to propagate in the connection with art and business location Vienna increasingly international. A great sign is the type cluster since 2004 with the same time to the present day art fair Viennafair in April held " Vienna Art Week," a week of art with special events such as special tours, art dinners, panel discussions and more Since 2006 " viennaartbookaward " is also organized in collaboration with the Galerie Sanct Lucas, the Liechtenstein Museum and LGT, worth 25,000 euros awarded.

Auctions

The main attraction of the Dorotheum, and enshrined in the founding of 1707 patent, are the daily auctions. Around 600 annually handles the team from the Austrian provinces, in Prague and especially in Vienna. In the four annual "Auction Weeks" are the main focuses in the field of modern and contemporary art, 19th century art, silver, glass and porcelain, jewelry, watches, Art Nouveau, furniture, sculptures, Master Drawings and Old Masters. The expert Peter Wolf discovered a painting of Hans von Aachen as originating whose track had been lost over the centuries. It was sold for 472,000 euros to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Other names

From the Viennese it is also referred to as "the Pawnbroker " ( pawnshop ) or as "Aunt Dorothy ", the one like once something " borrows". Under this title Ludwig Hirsch sang on his 1979 album Come appeared eerie large black bird with a macabre auction Viennese charm.

Board

Supervisory Board members are Erwin Soravia, Alfred Karny, Michael and Johanna Tojner Dichand.