Interested in art, he collected bozzetti (models for sculpture) for 50 years and initiated the career of Horst Janssen as a lithographer.

[2] Beginning in 1970 he directed a research department at another paper producer, Feldmühle [de] in Düsseldorf.

[5] A selection of 72 pieces from the Baroque era was shown in 2002 in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Alte Galerie (Old Gallery) of the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, the Kunstmuseum "Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen" in Magdeburg, and the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg, under the title Kleine Ekstasen – Barocke Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Dessauer (Little ecstasies – Baroque master works from the Dessauer Collection).

[6][7] It showed bozzetti from the baroque, rococo, and Classicism eras by sculptors including Antonio Canova, François Duquesnoy, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Camillo Rusconi, und Philipp Jakob Straub.

[10][11] In 1964, Dessauer was awarded honorary citizenship in Austria for saving 300 jobs while serving as a member of the board of the paper factory in Niklasdorf.

[1] He received the Großes Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Steiermark (in German) for Verdienste um die steirische Papierindustrie, Kunstförderung (Services to the Styrian paper industry, patronage of the arts).