Grünangergasse 1Otto Kallir und die Neue Galerie in zeithistorischen Dokumenten
1923–1954

Exhibition

IntroductionVeronika Floch, art historian, and Jane Kallir, president of the Kallir Research Institute, NY
18:00

Exhibition displayMatthias Klos

Grünangergasse 1

1010 Vienna

29 Nov 2023 – 27 Jan 2024

read inGerman

“An artists’ salon called Neue Galerie has opened at Grünangergasse 1, on the corner of Schulerstraße, with a Schiele exhibition,” reads the New Free Press’s first mention (November 29, 1923) of the Vienna gallery whose multifaceted program would leave a lasting mark on the Austrian scene over the ensuing three decades. Founded by the art dealer and publisher Otto Kallir-Nirenstein, the gallery initially focused on Austrian modernism and the avant-garde. After World War II, the program was influenced by the cultural policies of the Allies and the search for an Austrian cultural identity – all against a backdrop of enormous political upheaval.

The Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder (originally Galerie St. Stephan) has occupied the original rooms of the Neue Galerie since 1954. Marking the centenary of the Neue Galerie’s founding allows us to reflect on the period between 1923 and 1954and in so doing, to engage more deeply with the history of our own gallery. The Neue Galerie’s trajectory was shaped by fundamental shifts in political, social, and art historical paradigms, which are made visible by the installation of each of our galleries. Selected documents, including correspondence, photographs, exhibition invitations, catalogues, as well as press items from the archives of the Neue Galerie and the Kallir Research Institute.

From its debut exhibition in November 1923 onward, the Neue Galerie swiftly established itself as a major locus for contemporary art in Vienna. By 1938, Kallir had presented more than 130 exhibitions, among them solo shows of Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Alfred Kubin, Oskar Laske, Lovis Corinth, Max Beckmann, and Vincent van Gogh. Kallir promoted 19th-century Austrian painting just as fervently as the Italian Futurists, the French Impressionists, art of the Soviet Union, and decorative objects by the Wiener Werkstätte. Kallir also collaborated on a number of exhibitions with the Hagenbund (a progressive Viennese artists’ association), and acquired Richard Gerstl’s surviving oeuvre when it was in danger of being discarded.

After the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938, the Neue Galerie’ss program, and indeed, life as the Kallir family had known it, came to an end. Otto Kallir (who had changed in 1933 his surname from Nirenstein, which had anti -Semitic connotations) fled with his family, first to Paris and then to New York. There he opened the Galerie St. Etienne—whose French name references the Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) in Vienna—which he would operate until his death in 1978. In his adoptive country, he continued to work as a gallerist. Ultimately, his tireless efforts to introduce American viewers to unfamiliar turn-of-the-century Austrian avant-gardes such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Richard Gerstl bore fruit.

Before leaving Austria, Kallir transferred ownership of the Neue Galerie to his longtime employee Vita Künstler. Künstler, who was not Jewish, ran the gallery through 1948, at which point ownership reverted to Kallir. Thereafter, Kallir and Künstler adopted a long-distance, joint system of management, which lasted until 1952. From 1952 to 1954, the gallery was run by Evamarie Kallir, Otto’s daughter.

At a time when other exhibition venues in Vienna were still in ruins, the Neue Galerie presented exhibitions of Alexander Calder, Walt Disney, Georges Rouault, and Grandma Moses, in collaboration with the Galerie St. Etienne, the newly-founded Austrian Cultural Association (Österreichische Kulturvereinigung), the French Cultural Institute, and the United States Information Service. The Austrian chapter of the International Art Club, the first avant-garde artists’ association after the war, staged its first ever exhibition in the gallery in 1947, and would hold another show there the following year.

In 1954, Otto Kallir ended his Viennese gallery operations. He leased most of the rooms to Monsignor Otto Mauer, who had long been active in the contemporary art scene, and who had been affiliated with the Neue Galerie in various ways for years. Mauer’s original principles have guided the Galerie St. Stephan from its founding in fall 1954 until today: Grünangergasse 1 is a site for reflection and exploration, for new discoveries and vibrant dialogue.

We wish to thank Jane Kallir for initiating this exhibition, and for her support, through both archival loans from the Kallir Research Institute and for the valuable exchange of ideas. The granddaughter of Otto Kallir, she has been the director of Galerie St. Etienne in New York since 1979. In 2020, the gallery terminated its exhibition program and transferred its archives to the Kallir Research Institute, of which Jane Kallir is - president. She has published numerous works on the art of Egon Schiele, and she was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1994.

Special thanks are also due to the Belvedere Museum for loans from the archives of the Neue Galerie, and to the team at the Belvedere Research Center. We are particularly grateful to Monika Mayer and Stefan Lehner for their extensive research support and contributions to the publication.

In tandem with this exhibition, from November 30, 2023, to February 2, 2024, the Galerie W&K – Wienerroither & Kohlbacher is showing “100 Jahre Neue Galerie Wien. Hommage an Otto Kallir” (100 Years of Neue Galerie in Vienna. Homage to Otto Kallir), a comprehensive retrospective featuring works by Gerstl, Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka, Kubin, Beckmann, and others.

A 56-page booklet with illustrations and texts by Jane Kallir, Stefan Lehner, Monika Mayer, and Veronika Floch will be published on the occasion of this exhibition.

Exhibition concept: Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder/Veronika Floch

Design of the exhibition display and booklet: Matthias Klos