Image: Exterior photograph of the entrance to the Neue Galerie at Grünangergasse 1, Vienna, circa 1923.
Courtesy Austrian Cultural Forum New York

From the Austrian Cultural Forum New York:

Americans today associate the name Neue Galerie with New York’s Museum of Austrian and German Art, founded by Ronald Lauder in 2001. However, the New York museum has a historical namesake, Otto Kallir’s Neue Galerie, which opened its doors in Vienna in November 1923.

The Neue Galerie represented such artists as Richard Gerstl, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin and, most especially, Egon Schiele. After the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, Kallir, a Jew, was forced to flee. He and his family ended up in New York, where Kallir’s Galerie St. Etienne (established in 1939) introduced Klimt, Schiele, and the other principal Austrian modernists to the U.S.

Kallir’s gentile secretary, Vita Künstler, ran the Vienna gallery until 1948, when she returned it to him more or less intact. However, it proved difficult for Kallir to manage the Neue Galerie from New York, and in 1954, he sublet the premises to Monsignor Otto Mauer, an ardent champion of contemporary artists. The enterprise has since continued under the name Galerie nächst St. Stephan, and it remains among today’s leading galleries.

Following up on commemorative exhibitions in Vienna at Galerie nächst St. Stephan—Rosemarie Schwarzwälder and Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is pleased to present a panel honoring and documenting the history of the original Neue Galerie. Veronika Floch, an art historian who has worked at numerous Austrian museums and is presently the archivist at the Galerie nächst St. Stephan—Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, will discuss the histories of the Neue Galerie and the Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna. Jane Kallir, President of the Kallir Research Institute, will talk about Otto Kallir’s flight from Austria and his subsequent activities in the U.S. The discussion will be moderated by Stephanie Buhmann, Head of Visual Arts, Architecture & Design at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York.

For RSVP, go to https://acfny.org/event/100years-neuegallerie

Wienerroither & Kohlbacher will be hosting the exhibition “Homage to Otto Kallir” at their New York space (Sheperd W & K, 58 East 79th Street) from May 8 to June 28.