Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 32. (Budapest, 2018)
Hilda HORVÁTH: Golddosen vom „Goldzug“. Die Sammlung von Hugó Hoffmann
GOLD BOXES FROM THE GOLD TRAIN THE COLLECTION OF HUGO HOFFMANN SUMMARY In historical Hungary in the second half of the 19th century, after civil rights equality and religious emancipation for Jews were granted, Franz Joseph conferred titles of nobility—as a sign of social recognition— on numerous citizens of Jewish ancestry for their outstanding roles in various aspects of economic life. On 23 October 1904, transport company owners Sámuel and Vilmos Hoffmann received noble titles, along with the noble surname Vágújhelyi, for their achievements in the realm of economics. The Hoffmann family and their fortune The S. and W. Hoffmann company was a joint venture of the two brothers, both grain merchants. They owed their wealth to their roles in Hungarian maritime shipping, benefitting from the expansion of the Hungarian food industry, including the export of Hungarian flour, in the period following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. The Hoffmanns had interests in shipping companies in the Adriatic and the Levant (Adriatic Shipping Company, Hungarian Eastern Shipping Company). Their wealth was mainly in securities and they had more modest properties in the Hungarian capital, on Andrássy Avenue. Hugo, who became an art collector, was the oldest son of Samuel’s brother Vilmos. Like his siblings, he participated in the family businesses. His activity in economic life was diverse. He became involved in art collecting around 1900, when he was in his twenties. Because he was not among the most well-to-do, and perhaps because of a lack of family tradition, his collection was not wide-ranging. He specialized in only a few object types: reform-period portraits, miniatures and gold enamel boxes. In 1919, one of the main steps taken by the Hungarian Soviet Republic was to nationalize artworks owned by private collectors. Hugó Hoffmann’s miniatures appeared in the exhibition of artworks seized and placed in the public collection. After the Republic fell, Hoffmann’s objects were returned to him. His family’s businesses, however, were affected by the world economic crisis and in the end, he sold his artworks in Vienna. His collection of boxes, which consisted of 25 pieces, had also been confiscated by the state and then returned. These works had mainly come from Hungarian collectors. Several items were from the collection of court councillor Gusztáv Gerhardt (1847-1910) in Budapest and later auctioned in Berlin in 1911. The fate of the boxes during World War II and in its immediate aftermath The boxes owned by Hugó Hoffmann suffered the vicissitudes of Hungarian and international affairs and political events. 100
