Nikolaus Leskovar began his career in the art world working for a gallery in the Stadtpark in Vienna, before opening his own space, Contempo Fine Art, with his partner Silvia Schuster. Bastion of the Viennese art scene, Leskovar eventually established Leskovar Fine Arts as a private dealer, making it easy for collectors to acquire and sell top-notch art in a user-friendly and personalized way, while offering art management and advisory services.
Among the diversity of artworks on offer and artists featured, Leskovar Fine Art has a particular specialization in prints and, more specifically, Pop art prints – a longstanding passion of Leskovar himself.
We reached out to the art dealer to learn more about his career trajectory and what he learned along the way.
Andy Warhol, Flowers FSII.65 (1970). Courtesy of Leskovar Fine Art.
Can you tell us about your background and what led you to found Leskovar Fine Art?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs and merchants. For three generations, my family had a hardware store in Austria. So I know the buying and selling of goods well. As a young child, I always collected different things. First, in kindergarten, I picked up stones. Then, when I went to school, I collected stamps, then bottles of champagne. When I was 19, I met Adolf Rischner in my home town of Graz. Adolf also came from Graz, and he was an expert in engraving. He was the master printer of Styria Studio, New York. He invented Technik screen printing for pop artists Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and many others.
Adolf taught me all about printmaking, and I also traveled to New York, Los Angeles, and fell in love with American pop art. I bought some prints and decided to start collecting Pop art prints. I put the prints in very nice frames, and displayed the artworks in a very nice way in my room. After a while, my friends also loved what I like and started buying me Pop Art prints. My passion was the motivation for them to start buying from me. I flew to New York again to buy more prints and became a collector and dealer on my own. That was 30 years ago now, and I still love every piece of art, and I’m still a little unhappy when I sell one of my babies.
After having galleries in three different cities and doing about 70 different art fairs in 30 years, I decided to sell my galleries and work as a private agent and dealer just for, say, 20 people and friends. Today, I am working on beautiful collections for my art lovers and friends, and I am very happy to meet new clients and work on their dreams and fulfill their wishes when they search for a certain artwork in the art market.
Roy Lichtenstein, Blueface (Corlett 226) (1989). Courtesy of Leskovar Fine Art.
How would you describe your philosophy and approach as an art dealer?
My approach is that I see everything through the eyes of a collector, and I fight for my clients to buy only the good works and help them develop a plan, a vision for their collection. And it doesn’t matter whether their collection is made up of four works or 150 works. It’s always the same thing: buying every work of art with passion.
Leskovar Fine Art’s Artnet profile features a wide range of works, from Andy Warhol to Marc Chagall. Is there a unifying theme or guiding principle for the type of art that Leskovar Fine Art works with?
I collect and only buy what I like. Don’t buy a painting if the painting doesn’t speak to you!
Do you have any future-proof advice for collectors looking to start or grow their collections?
Only buy what you like to watch – don’t worry about the value.
Marc Chagall, profile head (1958). Courtesy of Leskovar Fine Art.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned as an art dealer?
Enthusiasm and knowledge of art alone are not enough to successfully run an art business for many years. Of course, one must also take into account the different skills of a businessman, such as patience, perseverance, perseverance and, above all, cash planning, so as not to get into trouble.
In addition, post-pandemic, there are unfortunately more and more art market players who deceive dealers and collectors and pretend to be in possession of certain works of art, collect deposits, and then never deliver – an unpleasant experience that unfortunately did not spare me last winter.
If you could own one work of art in the world, what would it be and why?
A double Elvis painting by Andy Warhol. And a walking man by Giacometti in front.
This brings tears to my eyes.
J. Leitner, PARISIAN ELEGANCE (2023). Courtesy of Leskovar Fine Art.
Learn about the fine arts of Leskovar here.
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