Номер объектаM2002/021:001
Создатель Oskar Stoessel (artist)
ОписаниеColour etching portrait of Helene Benisch, wife of Viennese banker, Franz Conrad Benisch, shown seated, full length, 1922. Artist Oskar Stoessel.
After Anschluss (incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany, 12 March 1938), and as World War II threatened, 23-year-old Anne Marie, the only child of Helene and Franz Conrad Benisch, was sent to England where other family members were living. When Helene and Franz were deported (the first organised mass deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1941), a family friend gathered some of their personal belongings and sent them to their daughter in England. Among these possessions was a portrait of her mother, a coloured etching in a gilt frame, produced in 1922 by the well-known Viennese artist, Oskar Stoessel (1879-1964). It is signed by the artist and numbered ‘1 Druck’ (first proof).
The portrait depicts a refined and beautiful Helene Benisch, “wife of a Viennese banker”, captured in a moment of contemplation: striking blue eyes, pearls around her neck, long flowing red dress with feathers at its base; one pointy fashionable high-heeled shoe showing.
It took until 1950 for Anne Marie to find out what happened to her parents: they had been murdered in Auschwitz.
By 1955, Anne Marie had married and with her husband Kenneth Graham-Browne, came to Australia where Kenneth had secured employment. A short time after her husband's death in 1985, Anne Marie moved into a retirement village, bringing her mother's portrait with her. It was her express wish that upon her death, the portrait should be offered to the Sydney Jewish Museum. The etching was donated after her death in 2002.
After Anschluss (incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany, 12 March 1938), and as World War II threatened, 23-year-old Anne Marie, the only child of Helene and Franz Conrad Benisch, was sent to England where other family members were living. When Helene and Franz were deported (the first organised mass deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1941), a family friend gathered some of their personal belongings and sent them to their daughter in England. Among these possessions was a portrait of her mother, a coloured etching in a gilt frame, produced in 1922 by the well-known Viennese artist, Oskar Stoessel (1879-1964). It is signed by the artist and numbered ‘1 Druck’ (first proof).
The portrait depicts a refined and beautiful Helene Benisch, “wife of a Viennese banker”, captured in a moment of contemplation: striking blue eyes, pearls around her neck, long flowing red dress with feathers at its base; one pointy fashionable high-heeled shoe showing.
It took until 1950 for Anne Marie to find out what happened to her parents: they had been murdered in Auschwitz.
By 1955, Anne Marie had married and with her husband Kenneth Graham-Browne, came to Australia where Kenneth had secured employment. A short time after her husband's death in 1985, Anne Marie moved into a retirement village, bringing her mother's portrait with her. It was her express wish that upon her death, the portrait should be offered to the Sydney Jewish Museum. The etching was donated after her death in 2002.
Место изготовленияVienna, Austria
Дата circa 1922
Наименованиеetchings
Материалpaper
Техникаetched
Размерность
- whole height: 1060.00 mm
width: 910.00 mm
Язык
- German 1. Print
Кредитная линияSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Bequeed by Anne Marie Graham-Browne. Funding for conservation and restoration has been donated by a generous benefactor in memory of Vera Matteman (1938-1943).