Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)

ÁCS Piroska: Glück Frigyes. Egy polgári műgyűjtő

PIROSKA ÁCS FRIGYES GLUCK - A MIDDLE CLASS ART COLLECTOR AS REPRESENTED IN THE SOURCES "In my collection of human characters forgive me for using such a conceited expression - it has been for years Frigyes Glück who represents the excellent and respectable kind of Hungarian middle-class patrician. He is a clever, broadminded, educated and - with this I say no news goodhearted man who is able to use his literary and artistic talents with taste and sense in order to improve his profession..." - these were the words of Ferenc Herczeg, a Hungarian playwright and novelist, written in 1904 about Frigyes Glück, one of the most popular figures of Budapest society life and an excellent representative of the Hungarian hotel and catering trade at the turn of the century.

1 However, we cannot go deep into the introduction of his professional biography, neither can we enlist all his merits; we would only like to place his figure in the history of Hungarian art collecting. On the other hand, to shape a rough brackground of his collecting and patronizing activities, some lexical data are inevitable. Born in Budapest in 1858, he was the son of a landlord. After finishing his studies at the secondary school and commercial college, he started travelling: he received his diploma in Switzerland and Germany and improved his professional knowledge in England, France, Holland, Italy and North-America. When he returned to Hungary, his life was devoted to the elegant Pannónia Hotel.

2 Situated close to the old building for members of Parliament, in the neighbourhood of the old National Theatre and the Society of Writers and Artists, this building was the meeting point for political and theatre life. Glück - as the owner of the hotel - was one of the 1200 taxpayers called "viriles", who contributed the biggest amount to the city.

3 As an acknowledgement of his merits, he became a Knight of the József Ferenc Order at the age of 41, and in 1923 he was given the title of Royal Head Counsellor of the Government. This educated and wealthy middle-class man, being a good patrician as well, always wanted to serve society with his fortune and numerous positions. Besides, he was a real "amateur" (i.e. a patron of art) and more than 40 years from his active life was dedicated to antiquities. He started collecting works of art at the end of the 1870, slowly and hesitating at first and gradually more consciously later; he gained full awareness of this activity in the first decades of the twentieth century. His collection was even more valuable since it was not a mere purchase and merging of earlier collections; the owner selected the treasures almost one by one and piece by piece. His sources of purchase were First of all the auctions in Hungary and abroad (from 1912 onwards, several auctions were arranged first by the Saint George Guild, then by the Ernst Museum.)

4 The collection itself is divided into three bigger parts: fine arts, books and objects of applied arts. Paintings created the backbone of the fine arts group; according to Ludwig