Fritz Aigner (Austrian, 1930-2005) Portrait of Herbert F. Rieser (1902-1978) signed and dated 'F Aigner 1968' (upper right); further signed, titled and dated (on the reverse) oil on panel 41.9 x 34cm (16 1/2 x 13 3/8in). Footnotes: Herbert F Rieser (1902-1978) was a London-based dealer in ethnographic art and antiquities, with a gallery filled with an eclectic stock at 49 George Str, Marylebone. Born in South Africa, he and his family emigrated in 1912 to (German-speaking) Zurich. He trained as a photographer in Munich and later at the Bauhaus; subsequently, he and Emmanuel Radnitsky (Man Ray) shared a passion for both photography and ethnographic art (which Man Ray had featured in exhibitions at Galerie Surrealiste in Paris as early as 1926). Rieser moved to London in 1935, where initially he worked for 'Picture Post'. He began art-dealing in the 1940s, becoming one of a small group of London's 'West End' specialist dealers attracted to ethnographic art, which he had discovered during photographic expeditions on the African sub-continent. The now-successful Surrealist artist-photographer Man Ray became only one of a stream of older and younger collector-clients frequenting the George Str. gallery (including a youthful David Attenborough and the fledgling Tibetan-art authority Alain Presencer); all attracted by endless anecdotes, a rich vein of art information, a thick haze of Gauloises, and a bottomless decanter of whisky. Herbert's brother was the artist Dolf Rieser. This portrait of Herbert, elderly but still active and with his trademark laconic smile, was painted by Dolf's friend the German artist Fritz Aigner in August 1968 during Aigner's visit to London. For more information about Reiser's career in the London dealing context, see Hermione Waterhouse and J.C.H.King, 'Provenance, twelve collectors of ethnographic art in England 1760-1990', Paris 2006 This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com