Diethard Leopold - Böcker

The art academy failed to recognise his talent; he rejected the contemporary art scene in Vienna; and his visionary work was largely neglected during his lifetime: the painter Richard Gerstl (1883–1908), whose creative period lasted for just four intensive years, is regarded today as one of the most important representatives of Austrian Expressionism for his portraits and landscapes. With his early pictures Self-Portrait against a Blue Background and The Sisters Karoline and Pauline Frey Richard Gerstl began to create an oeuvre which was well ahead of his times and which made him one of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism. In 1906 Gerstl met the musician Arnold Schönberg. He embarked upon an affair with the latter’s wife Mathilde, who briefly left her husband but then returned to him in 1908. Gerstl not only lost his lover but was also socially isolated; he committed suicide during that same year. His work sank into oblivion

In the historical period of new beginnings starting in the 1950s, the collector Rudolf Leopold (1925‒ 2010), with pioneer - like foresight and a keen sense of art, was able to do someting few others of his ilk succeeded in doing: build up a large, both aesth etically sophisticated and art historically relevant collection of international renown.The biography paints a picture of Rudolf Leopold as a fascinating collector. It is based on the personal memories of his son, Diethard Leopold, and the latter’s conve rsations with his father, relatives and contemporaries, as well as with competitors of his father. It is the lasting record of a lifelong effort to preserve what has defined a cultural period. Beginning with Schiele as core artist, his collection includes numerous major works by the likes of Klimt, Kokoschka, Gerstl, Egger - Lienz, and Kubin as well as by German Expressionists. Important furniture, arts and crafts, jewelry, and African and Japanese art complement the collection.