Unknown Quantity: The Backstory to Count Felix Schaffgotsche and the Making of a Biography In-Person
Michael Huey’s biography of Count Felix Schaffgotsche was published in Vienna in early 2026 in English, by Album Verlag. At over 1,000 pages, Unpredictable Weather, the first full-length account of the life of Schaffgotsche, is the product of five years of research and writing: research in the privately-held Witt-Dörring and Schaffgotsche family archive near Vienna, but also in Austrian and German State Archives, as well as family archives accessible to the public in Donaueschingen, the Czech Republic, and the United States.
As is generally known, Schaffgotsche (dubbed ‘Wetti’ within his family) is an integral part of the story of Sun Valley. While his work for and with Averell Harriman in the 1930s stands out as Wetti's biggest career success, his time in Sun Valley nevertheless represents but a short stretch of his own brief existence: until now histories of Sun Valley that touch upon his life have lacked the context of his family background, his upbringing, his other work experience, his politics, his ambitions, his friendships and networks, and his personal world and sexuality. Born in the Upper Austrian town of Enns in 1904, Wetti lived through four distinctly different political regimes that served as backdrop to his life’s story; with each came a new imperative to re-examine and radically restructure his family’s financial underpinnings, as well as the need to position himself politically for or against. Aside from his hometown Altmünster, he lived variously in Vienna, Donaueschingen, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, London, New York, and Sun Valley, and was en route from Moscow to Manchuria when his fortunes took a swift turn in his 37th year.
Huey’s talk will focus on the challenges and complexities of finding and working with the materials necessary to write Wetti’s intricate biography and about the parts of his life that have, until now, remained in the shadows.
Registration recommended to join us in person. To watch live online (no registration needed): https://vimeo.com/event/5865777. The recording will be available to watch later on The Community Library's Event Archive.
The Community Library has a copy of Unpredictable Weather in the collection, and Michael Huey will bring some copies for sale the night of the talk.
- Date:
- Wednesday, June 24, 2026
- Time:
- 5:30pm - 6:30pm
- Time Zone:
- Mountain Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall
- Campus:
- The Community Library
- Audience:
- Adults All Ages
- Categories:
- Regional History
Michael Huey was born in 1964 in Traverse City, Michigan; he is a dual US/Austrian citizen. A graduate of Amherst College (B.A. German Studies) and the University of Vienna (M.A. art history), Huey began his career at The Christian Science Monitor, later becoming a regular freelance correspondent for Condé Nast at The World of Interiors. After 1999 he developed his primary practice as a conceptual artist, leading to solo exhibitions at galleries in Vienna, London, and New York, as well as at institutions such as the Kiesler Foundation and the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna. In 2003 Huey published Viennese Silver. Modern Design 1780-1918 for the Neue Galerie New York and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Subsequent personal history books echoed the themes of memory addressed by his work as an artist: loss, legacy, and the archive. Two family histories, Dearie—The Louis Betts Portrait of Harriet King Huey (2011) and Straight as the Pine, Sturdy as the Oak (2013) were followed by the anthology Inside Stories—Writing About Home (2021). In early 2026 the first full-length biography of Felix Schaffgotsche made its debut: Unpredictable Weather. The Sunny, Surprising, Sad Case of Count Felix ‘Wetti’ Schaffgotsche 1904-1942. Huey and his husband, the art historian Christian Witt-Dörring, split their time between Vienna and Leelanau County, Michigan.