11 Facts About Victor Ganz

Victor Wendell Ganz was an American business owner and art collector.

Victor Wendell Ganz was born in New York on April 7,1913.

Victor Ganz traveled weekly between New York and Providence to oversee manufacturing.

Victor 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.

In 1941, there began what Victor Ganz sometimes described as "a love affair with Picasso".

Victor Ganz bought his first Picasso in 1941, Le Reve, for $7,000.

Victor Ganz later sold all but five to dealers and museums for about $138,000.

Victor Ganz was chairman of the Battery Park City Fine Arts Committee from its inception in 1982 to his death.

In 1985 Victor Ganz served on the museum's advisory panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Victor Ganz died of lung cancer at his home in New York on October 26,1987, at age 74.

Sally Victor Ganz consigned 12 paintings to Sotheby's, where they sold for $48.4 million on November 10,1988, the third-highest gross for a collection of modern and contemporary art sold at auction.