Franz Hauer: Self-made Man and Art Collector

The legendary Austrian art collector Franz Hauer started out penniless, the son of a mailman, but went on to establish himself as an eminent art collector. After becoming wealthy by running the legendary Griechenbeisl restaurant in Vienna, he began acquiring art, including seminal modernist works by Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. He died in 1914, and almost the entire collection was sold in the years following his death. Today, Hauer’s treasures are held by numerous important museums and private collections throughout Europe and the United States. This book reconstructs Hauer’s legendary art collection and sheds new light on the fascinating personality of the first self-made man among the Viennese art collectors.