Würthle Gallery

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The Würthle Gallery was an Austrian art gallery that existed from 1881 to 1995. It was based at Weihburggasse 9 in Vienna , not far from Stephansplatz . Closely linked to her are the names Lea Bondi , Otto Brill as a partner, Friedrich Welz as “ Ariseur ” in 1938, Luise Kremlacek , the collectors Fritz Kamm and Editha Kamm-Ehrbar , the artist Fritz Wotruba , the curator Heimo Kuchling , the exhibition organizer Otto Breicha and the publisher Hans Dichand as the last owner.

The gallery took from 1990 regularly at the Art Basel in part

owner

history

The institution was founded as a branch of the publishing house and art dealer Würthle and Spinnhirn from Salzburg , which in turn was founded in 1862 by Gregor Baldi and Friedrich Würthle . In spring 1908 Thekla Würthle had the company "Würthle & Sohn Nachf." Registered with the Salzburg Commercial Court. The main office was in Salzburg, the branch in Mariahilferstrasse 88a in Vienna. Thekla Würthle was the owner and managing director. At the turn of the year 1915/16 the main office in Salzburg was closed and the Viennese company, which was now located at Weihburggasse 31, was transferred to the kk Oberleutnant d. R. and painter Ulf Seidl (1881–1960) sold. The entry in the Vienna Commercial Register takes place on February 23, 1917 under Reg. A 34, 88, the business object was now the art trade.

Interwar period

On June 6, 1919 Lea Bondi was entered in the Vienna Commercial Register as an authorized signatory of the Würthle & Sohn Successor company . In the following year, the business was expanded, on June 22, 1920, the individual power of attorney was also transferred to Otto Nirenstein (1894–1978), later known as Otto Kallir , the company name was given the addition of Verlag Neuer Graphik . The aim of the company expansion was to publish contemporary and modern original graphics from Austria. Works by Faistauer , Itten , Jungnickel , Kubin and, posthumously, by Schiele have been published. Nirenstein's power of attorney was canceled on May 26, 1922. He then founded the Neue Galerie in Grünangergasse. Bondi became an open partner in the Würthle art dealer. In 1926 the owners Leopoldine and Ulf Seidl left the gallery, and on August 13, 1926 Bondi became the sole owner of the gallery. According to the database of Jewish collectors and art dealers , the manufacturer and collector Otto Brill (1881–1954) is said to have been a partner.

In the interwar years, Lea Bondi cooperated with important art dealers throughout Europe - Alfred Flechtheim (Düsseldorf), Paul Cassirer (Berlin) and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (Paris) - and established the Würthle Gallery as an important center for contemporary art in Vienna. It showed both Austrian artists and representatives of the international scene.

Aryanization

When German troops marched into Austria, the gallery suddenly lost its livelihood. A Jewish gallery owner was not allowed to sell to so-called “Aryan” customers, and the wealthy Jews of Vienna invested all their cash in fleeing and no longer in art. Works by Jewish artists and so-called “ degenerate art ” had suddenly become worthless in Hitler's sphere of influence. Works that conformed to Nazi ideology were either subject to export bans or confiscation. Jewish gallery owners - like stage artists who were no longer allowed to perform or writers who were no longer published - had no choice but to agree to the " Aryanization " and flee. Flechtheim had emigrated to London via Paris. Walter Feilchenfeldt and Grete Ring , the successors of the late Cassirer, had relocated their operations to Amsterdam and London respectively. Now Nirenberg and Bondi, who was called Lea Jaray after their marriage in 1936, also had to flee. Nirenstein went straight to Paris and the following year to New York. Lea Jaray and her husband fled to London in 1939. Shortly before she left, the gallery's " ariseur ", Friedrich Welz, pressed the portrait of Wally from her, a picture from her private collection that was hanging in her apartment. Lea Jaray also worked as a gallery owner in London. She ran the St. George's Gallery there , again with Otto Brill as a partner.

After the "Aryanization" of the Würthle Gallery, the name was changed to Welz Gallery , until the fall of the Nazi regime and for three years after that.

post war period

Friedrich Welz was arrested by the US Army in May 1945, then released and finally arrested again in November 1945. He was taken to the Glasenbach camp for war criminals, where he was held by the occupying forces until April 14, 1947. Through various documents and interrogations, he distinguished himself as a master of confusion , the title of a book by Gert Kerschbaumer . He still made a profit in the post-war years by moving around, hiding and swapping paintings. Lea Bondi-Jaray was also a victim of his machinations in the post-war period - in several ways. The legal owner of the gallery, now living in London, had chosen Emmerich Hunna , the president of the Vienna Bar Association, as legal representative , not knowing that he was involved in Aryanizations himself. She got the gallery back, but without the supposedly "lost" works of art. For example, at least 47 works by Anton Kolig were missing . Not only did she not receive any compensation or loss of profit because her lawyer failed to sue for this, but was sentenced on August 17, 1949 to pay 9,000 schillings to the ariseur Friedrich Welz - as compensation for his expenses, payable within 14 days. The Schiele painting Wally pressed from her by Welz was sold and moved several times behind her back. She never got it back.

From 1953, the sculptor Fritz Wotruba was able to reposition the project with the support of the Kamm collectors, as a house of Austrian contemporary art and Viennese modernism , occasionally with guest performances by the international avant-garde. Fritz Kamm, owner of the gallery, and his wife Editha Kamm-Ehrbar from Vienna did not appear in public and gave Wotruba a free hand. In the opening year, the gallery showed works by French artists - Johnny Friedlaender , Fernand Léger , Pablo Picasso , Jacques Villon . Wotruba also exhibited himself, for example in 1954 works in stone and bronze, watercolors and drawings.

During the Dichand era, his daughter Johanna Dichand gradually took over the management. The gallery slowly lost customers and reputation. In 1995 the art shop was closed. Then the luxury brand Prada rented the former gallery space. In July 2015, when Prada had moved to the Golden Quarter , the Salzburg clothing company Dantendorfer took over the business.

Collector

In the course of history, the gallery has worked with numerous collectors who later became famous, for example Heinrich Rieger , who lent the first major Egon Schiele exhibition in 1925 , Otto Brill , Viktor Fogarassy , Rudolf Leopold , the Kamm couple and Hans Dichand .

Artists of the gallery (selection)

Before 1938
After 1945

See also

literature

Luise Kremlacek, Hans Dichand (Ed.): 60 Years Galerie Würthle 60 Years Modern Art in Austria Volumes 1 and 2, Galerie Würthle, Vienna 1981

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In 1881 the photo studio, founded in Salzburg in 1862 and trading under the name Würthle und Spinnhirn from 1881 , opened a branch in Vienna
  2. ^ "Aryanization" using the example of the companies Halm & Goldmann and Verlag Neuer Graphik (Würthle & Sohn Nachf.) , Documentation by Stefania Domanova and Georg Hupfer, p. 14
  3. ↑ pdf file [Schiele_MOA.pdf DOSSIER on Egon Schiele "Moa", 1911, Leopold Museum Privatstiftung LM Inv. No. 2310] , ed. from the Museum Leopold and the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria, accessed on January 26, 2020
  4. ↑ Stefania Domanova, Georg Hupfer: "Aryanization" using the example of the companies Halm & Goldmann and Verlag Neuer Graphik (Würthle & Sohn Nachf.) , Accessed on January 26, 2020
  5. ^ German Loss of Cultural Property Center : Brill, Otto , in the database of Jewish collectors and art dealers (victims of National Socialist persecution and expropriation) , accessed on January 19, 2020
  6. ↑ Erica Tietze-Conrat : Diaries , Volume I: Der Wiener Vasari (1923–1926), Volume II: With the means of discipline (1937–1938), Volume III: Register and Appendix, Böhlau 2015, p. 158
  7. ^ Gert Kerschbaumer : Master of Confusion , The business of the art dealer Friedrich Welz, Czernin Verlag 2000, ISBN 978-3-7076-0030-8
  8. ↑ Gabriele Anderl, Alexandra Caruso (ed.): "Nazi art theft in Austria and the consequences", Studien-Verlag 2005, ISBN 978-3-7065-1956-4 , p. 164
  9. ^ Der Standard (Vienna): Dantendorfer: Hunting, Collecting - and Selling , October 6, 2015

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