Baron Adolf Kohner Szaszberek (Budapest, April 26, 1866; Budapest, January 30, 1937) was a Hungarian businessman, landowner and a leading member of the Jewish community in that country.
Baron Adolf Kohner Szaszberek (Budapest, April 26, 1866; Budapest, January 30, 1937) was a Hungarian businessman, landowner and a leading member of the Jewish community in that country.
In 1874 Baron Kohner founded Adolf Kohner and Sons, a private bank. Through his efforts as manager and director, the bank grew to become one of the largest private banks in Hungary. In addition to being a leading figure in Hungarian financial circles, Kohner was also one of the country's most well educated large landowner and industrialist. His range of interests and knowledge was widespread, ranging from mechanical engineering to agricultural science. He was a significant figure in the Hungarian Jewish community and served as president of the Jewish Communities Federation in Hungary. [1]
Baron Kohner was famous for his role as an art collector and patron of the arts in Hungary. In 1902 he became president of the Hungarian National Art Association. In the same year he founded the artists’ colony in Szolnok, [2] Hungary. His private collection was focused on the paintings of the French impressionistic and post-impressionistic periods. Among the artists represented in his collection were Théodore Géricault, Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, painters of the Barbizon school such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-François Millet, Antoine Chintreuil, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Alfred Sisley, Paul Gauguin and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. The collection also included works from other periods such as Nuns” by Alessandro Magnasco and several paintings by John Constable and Francisco Goya. Leading Hungarian artists were also represented in his collection. These included Meszoly Geza, Laszlo Paal and Mihály Munkácsy and painters of the Hungarian artists' colonies Nagybanya and Szolnok. Many of the paintings were subsequently donated by Kohner to the Art Gallery of the National Museum of Hungary.
Kohner used the earnings from his banking and other businesses to buy an estate of 28.000 acres near Szolnok, Hungary, with the goal of transforming it into a model farm and university study center. Professors and students from the Agrarian University of Budapest used this land as an experimental laboratory and it ultimately became one of the most avant-garde farming system of all time. [3] Kohner was also a talented musician. He plays the cello and had a vast collection of Stradivarius and Guarneri violins. Among his closest friends were many famous musicians including Franz Liszt, Giacomo Puccini and Béla Bartók. [4]
Kohner was a major benefactor of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, providing him with an annual stipend for many years that enabled Bartók to travel throughout Hungary and assemble a collection of ancient Hungarian folk songs. In his memoirs Bartók recalled the help Kohner offered him in 1905 and he stated: "... he wanted me to understand that I could turn to him with confidence in case I needed money. He would be willing to help me from time to time. . It’s so kind of Kohner to be interested in my life ..". [5] Bartók also evoked the two weeks he spent in 1918 at Kohner's castle in the Hungarian countryside: "The house was just like a hotel where guests would come and go. The home library was full of manuscripts... People talked about many topics: music, literature, Jewish issues, religion, Bolshevik movement, manufacturing, trade. Mr. Baron is familiar with music, he plays the violin ... he is a close friend of some painters (the Kohner family loves Adolf Fényes very much. He was there for few days), one of his daughters is a painter as well and she is studying at Fényes’, the other one goes to university".
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Kohner was considered one of the richest men of the Hungarian-Jewish upper class. In addition to his success as a banker, he played a prominent role in the textile, food and chemical industries of Hungary. He was also a large landowner and, with his sons, developed a successful livestock farming business and canning company.
As a leading figure of the Hungarian-Jewish upper class, Kohner was a prominent social figure in the larger Hungarian community. The most important recognition of his role was the 1912 decision of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria to name Kohner a Baron and Court Counselor.
In the early 1930s Kohner unsuccessfully engaged in financial speculation which had negative effects on his businesses and ultimately dragged him to the brink of bankruptcy in 1933. The following year he was forced to auction most of his art collection in order to pay off his debts. Later, he was also obliged to sell his castle and many other real estate holdings. Upon his death in 1937, his obituary, appearing in the journal Past and Future, stated that, despite the financial collapse that forced him to a retired life, Kohner had endured with dignity finding solace in his beloved books.
Kohner died on January 30th 1937 and he was buried on February 2 in the Jewish cemetery in Salgotarjan. He left four children: Karoly, Ida, wife of the painter István Farkas, Lujza, Katalin.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became known as ethnomusicology.
Zoltán Jeney was a Hungarian composer.
The Franz Liszt Academy of Music is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several valuable books and manuscripts donated by Franz Liszt upon his death, and the AVISO studio, a collaboration between the governments of Hungary and Japan to provide sound recording equipment and training for students. The Franz Liszt Academy of Music was founded by Franz Liszt himself.
Vilmos Aba-Novák was a Hungarian painter and graphic artist. He was an original representative of modern art in his country, and specifically of its modern monumental painting. He was also the celebrated author of frescoes and church murals at Szeged and Budapest, and was officially patronized by the Hungarian nobility.
Ferenc Berényi was a Hungarian painter.
József Breznay was a Hungarian painter.
The Eight was an avant-garde art movement of Hungarian painters active mostly in Budapest from 1909 to 1918. They were connected to Post-Impressionism and radical movements in literature and music as well, and led to the rise of modernism in art culture.
Ádám György is a Hungarian pianist. György started his music studies at the age of four. While studying under Katalin Halmagyi, he was accepted to the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest in 1994. György won the National Youth Piano Competition in 1998 and the Hungary's Pianist 2000 award two years later. From 2000 to 2006, Ádám attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied under György Nador and Balázs Reti. Currently, he is pursuing graduate studies at the Franz Liszt Academy, and he is director of the Adam György Castle Academy. On 8 June 2012, he performed at the opening ceremony of the UEFA Euro 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. On 10 June 2023, György performed the piano version of the UEFA Champions League Anthem prior to the final in Istanbul.
Imre Varga was a Hungarian sculptor, painter, designer and graphic artist. He was regarded as one of Hungary's most important living artists, and he has been called one of the "most skilled sculptors in Hungary."
György Orbán is a Romanian-born Hungarian composer.
Adolf Fényes, originally Fischmann was a Hungarian painter of Jewish ancestry. He is best known for his cycle of paintings; The Life of a Poor Man and a series of still-lifes, done as table settings.
István Farkas was a Hungarian painter, publisher and victim of the Holocaust.
Alessandra Farkas is an Italian-American journalist and writer.
Sandor Singer and Jozsef Wolfner founded Singer and Wolfner Book Publisher and Bookstore in 1885. It was one of the largest and most successful of Hungarian publishers.
Jozsef Wolfner was a Hungarian publisher, founder of the publishing house Singer and Wolfner.
Farkas de Boldogfa,, is the name of a Hungarian noble family. Their members were landowners that occupied diverse relevant roles in the political, administrative and jurisdictional life at least during the last 300 years in the county of Zala, located in the former Kingdom of Hungary. They held offices as vice-ispáns of the county of Zala, Prothonotary of the county of Zala, they were members of the Hungarian Parliament, and also were chief magistrates of the county's districts (főszolgabíró), Hussars etc.
János Major was a Hungarian graphic artist, painter and photographer from Budapest. He was born as Janos Neufeld to a Jewish family in Budapest.
Farkas Heller was a Hungarian Economist, author and professor, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
