Beyond a Cincinnati Legacy: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fleischmann III
Charles ‘Skip’ Fleischmann III’s great-grandfather, the first Charles, founded the Fleischmann Yeast Company in 1868, several years after immigrating to Cincinnati from Vienna. This began the legacy of the Fleischmann family in the United States, with many notable members making their mark. Charles exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition which led the company to become the largest producer of yeast in the world. Charles’ elder son Julius was a businessman in his father’s footsteps but also an avid sailor, a baseball and equestrian enthusiast, and Cincinnati’s youngest mayor, elected at 28. Julius’ daughter Louise became the president of the Hamilton County League of Women Voters and an advocate for maternal health, among numerous other accomplishments.
Image of Fleischmann Home Interior
From 1931-32, Julius Fleischmann Jr and his wife Dorette took a nearly year-long trip around the world on their yacht Camargo, and they brought along their newborn daughter Dorette, and four-year-old son, Charles. It was perhaps this trip that helped to spark Charles’ fascination with history and travel. He was a voracious reader who by age ten had read all volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica from beginning to end. He majored in Classics at Yale, working summertime archaeological digs in Gordion, Turkey. Upon graduating from college and before enrolling in law school, he attended the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. His wife, Blair Fleischmann shared his enthusiasm for history. While initially drawn to early Americana, over time their interests broadened to include the material culture of Europe, especially England. They participated in numerous forums and workshops, first at Colonial Williamsburg and later at the Attingham Trust Summer School in Shropshire, England. They developed lifelong friendships with like-minded people in Europe, and for many years spent the month of May in England, visiting friends and traveling around on their own, always at a leisurely pace and always on back roads, stopping to see historic houses and gardens open to the public.
Image of Fleischmann Home Interior
Though he was perhaps more private in terms of civic life than his predecessors, Charles, along with Blair, continued the family legacy of serving the city of Cincinnati through philanthropic work. Over the years, the Fleischmann Foundation helped to support the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet, the Cincinnati Historical Society, Playhouse in the Park, and other civic organizations – with Charles also serving on the board of many.
Image of Fleischmann Home Interior
These interests and travels resulted in the marvelous, eclectic collection offered here. While these lots represent only a small percentage of the art that Charles and Blair collected – they donated more than 3,000 objects to the Cincinnati Art Museum – they do exemplify their varied interests and unique collector’s eye. Early 19th-century maritime painting and sailor-made artworks were evident areas of enthusiasm, but highlights come from diverse categories including Chinese Export porcelain, contemporary art, English portraiture, American furniture, presentation silver, and Grand Tour objects – just to name a few. Charles was a scholar of his own collection – as evidenced by the envelopes of research attached to the back of each painting and the endless books on art and history that lined the shelves of studies and hallways. It seems that every addition was thoughtful and meant to be revisited, with a spot in the home already in mind. These are the objects that the couple enjoyed, studied and lived with comfortably in their 1928 Indian Hill home, and with an artistic flair, embodied in the fanciful Italian villa nestled on the property’s lake.
The collection presented here celebrates a couple whose family legacy and interests were far-reaching and worldly but who endeavored to use their resources and energy to benefit their hometown, elevating Cincinnati’s artistic and historic institutions with their efforts. Hindman is pleased to offer at auction the lifetime collection of Mr. And Mrs. Charles Fleischmann III.