Galerie Zacke

With 39 years of exhibitions and events, hundreds of catalogues (now searched by specialists), and thousands of art objects entrusted to its care, GALLERY ZACKE “upstairs“ has an international reputation in the field of antique Asian art. It is the largest specialty auction house of its kind in Austria. GALLERY ZACKE - THE STORY: Kokoschka, Hundertwasser and Ukiyoe marked the beginning of a passion. Gallery Zacke started as a modern gallery in the 60s. In the so-called “Art Cabinet,“ where prominent artists and famous painters met, including Oskar Kokoschka, Zacke was the first to show works of the Viennese School (Fuchs, Brauer, Hausner, Lehmden, Hutter) in Switzerland. Following initial successes with bequest exhibitions from Oskar Laske, Max Oppenheimer, Carry Hauser, Kolo Moser, Jungnickel and Alfred Kubin, a love of Asian art developed. Step by step, Gallery Zacke presented to the Viennese art market countless exhibitions of regional antique Asian art from India, all over Southeastern Asia, China and Japan. Later, they added art from Oceania and the Ancient Americas. BREAKTHROUGH WITH NETSUKE: The first breakthrough to the international art market came with what was, at that time, a unique exhibition that included more than 200 netsuke. The exhibition made the art of netsuke a much-discussed and respected subject. (Netsuke are small carved figures of wood or ivory from Japan, originally worn as clasps for various objects on one's belt.) The Netsuke Symposien sponsored by Zacke from 1984–1993 attracted great international interest. Collectors and experts from all over the world met in Vienna. Semiannually, Zacke organized visits to major Asian museums in Eastern Europe (then still behind the Iron Curtain), Prague, Krakow, Budapest and even to The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, which exhibited and published our collectors` extensive netsuke collections. SWORDS FOR $200,000 AND MORE: Our exhibitions of precious samurai swords and sword fittings also enjoyed widespread European recognition. Four presentations shown by Zacke were totally sold out. The valuable blades reached prices in excess of $200,000. But there was even more -- exhibitions about Japanese lacquer art, camphor prints (the earliest and most beautiful large-format color prints in the world) by Hokusai, and archaic and antique jades.