Victor Ganz
| Victor Wendell Ganz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
7 April 1913 New York City |
| Died | October 26, 1987 (aged 74) New York City |
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Known for | Art collection |
| Spouse(s) | Sally Wile |
| Children | 4 |
Victor Wendell Ganz (1913–1987) was an American business owner and art collector. He was the president of D. Lisner & Company, a small costume jewelry manufacturer. With limited resources he and his wife Sally Wile-Ganz built one of the most important collections of contemporary art in the 20th century. They became known for their ability to choose art, as "collectors who never made a mistake". Their collection was sold after their deaths in record-setting auctions.
Victor Wendell Ganz was born in New York on April 7, 1913. The son of Saul Ganz and his wife, the former Ruth Wendell, he attended public schools and the City College of New York before going to work at D. Lisner Company, a costume jewelry business, that had been founded by his uncle in 1875. Lisner costume jewelry was sold all over the United States, but maintained a small sales force of about ten reps throughout the country. As president of Lisner, Ganz was a creative spirit and became involved in every aspect of jewelry production. He traveled weekly between New York and Providence to oversee manufacturing. After his in-house designer, Sidney Welicky, retired, Ganz himself and Iraida Garey, vice president of product development, took over the designing responsibilities. Ganz' style could be seen in everything from the actual jewelry to the retail packaging and advertising.
Ganz started collecting art in his teenage years with the purchases of watercolors by Louis Eilshemius and Jules Pascin and an oil painting by Raphael Soyer. With these purchases, his fascination with contemporary masters was born.
Ganz had almost no training and was largely self-taught. In the 1930s he had a strict regimen in order to learn more about art. Every Saturday he traveled as far as possible, visiting exhibitions and art shows in and around New York. Although he made contacts with artists, dealers and curators, most of his knowledge came from the study of the works themselves.
In 1941 there began what Ganz sometimes described as "a love affair with Picasso". He bought his first Picasso in 1941, Le Rêve, for $7,000. (Steve Wynn, seller of the painting, had arranged to sell it to Steven A. Cohen for $140 million, which would have made it the highest price ever paid for a painting, but he infamously poked a 6 inch hole in the picture with his elbow while showing it to some prominent guests in 2007.) In 1942 Ganz married Sally Wile and together they started a collection that represented more than merely a collection; for them it was a passion. Thereafter the Ganzes bought heavily and very well in all periods of Picasso. In 1956 they acquired the entire series of Picasso's variations of Eugène Delacroix's The Women of Algiers. The series was composed of 15 works and acquired at a cost of $212,953. Victor later sold all but five to dealers and museums for about $138,000.
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