Honored Persons

 

Otto Ressler

Otto Hans Ressler, born on November 12th, 1948 in Knittelfeld, Styria, is an Austrian writer, art expert and auctioneer. Otto Hans Ressler is the father of the artist Oliver Ressler. After his original professional career as department and division manager of the Sparkasse of the city of Knittelfeld, Ressler took over the management of the Dorotheum in Graz in 1978, and in 1986 became the head of the art department of the Vienna Dorotheum. In 1993, he founded "Die Wiener Kunstauktionen Ges.m.b.H." at the Kärntnerringhof in Vienna's city center, together with other art dealers. In 1999, the auction house moved to the downtown Kinsky Palace in Vienna, and the new location was appropriately renamed "Auction House in Kinsky GmbH". Since 1995 Ressler is a sworn and court-certified expert on art. Contrary to his original plan to retire in 2015 in order to devote himself entirely to writing, together with Peter Coeln, the head of WestLicht and OstLicht, as well as the financial adviser Markus Schmut and the real estate developer Valentin Basilides, Ressler founded the auction house "RESSLER KUNST AUCTIONS GMBH ". Ressler's activity as an auctioneer is not limited to his own auction house, but also includes many other auctions in the field of art, often honorary work - for example, the art auctions of the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights.