Heinrich Thannhauser

Heinrich Thannhauser
Thannhauser portrayed by Lovis Corinth

Heinrich Thannhauser (born 16 February 1859 in Hürben, today a district of Krumbach (Swabia); died 1934 on the German-Swiss border) was a German gallery owner of Jewish descent and art collector. As an art dealer, he was one of the most important promoters of early Expressionist art in Germany.

Early life and education

Thannhauser was born 16 February 1859 in Hürben (presently Krumbach, Swabia), the third of six children, to Jonas Thannhauser (1833–1890), a sawn goods merchant, and Michle "Mina" Thannhauser (née Thannhauser, into a German Jewish family.[1]

His paternal family originally hailed from Thannhausen but were settled in Mönchsdeggingen in the early 18th century. In 1813, when German law required to have formal surnames, the family chose Thannhauser, by their original place of origin.[2]

Initially, Thannhauser completed an apprenticeship as tailor and had a women's clothing store between 1885 and 1897.

Art career

He founded his Munich Modern Gallery (Moderne Galerie)in 1904.[2] At first he exhibited the artworks of French Impressionists such as Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Paul Gauguin. Later works by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were added.

In 1909, Thannhauser separated from his partner Franz Josef Brakl and continued to run the gallery under the name Galerie Thannhauser.[3] The first exhibition of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München took place in the Arco-Palais in the same year. In 1911 he began collaborating with Der Blaue Reiter.[1] In 1918 he had himself painted in Berlin simultaneously by Lovis Corinth and by Max Liebermann; the one he sat for a portrait in the morning, the other in the afternoon.

In 1920 his nephew Siegfried Rosengart opened a branch of the gallery in Lucerne.[4]

In 1934 in attempting to flee from the Nazis to Switzerland, Thannhauser died of a stroke at the border.

Personal life

On 26 May 1891, Thannhauser married Charlotte Nachtigall, originally of Nuremberg, at Heidingsfeld (presently a part of Wurzburg). They had one son;

  • Justin Karl Thannhauser (1892–1976), who became one of the most important European art dealers,[4] married firstly to Käthe "Kate" Levi (1894–1960) with whom he had two sons, secondly to Hilde Breitwisch (1919–1991). All the European holdings were lost by confiscation of the Nazis. In 1941, he was able to flee to the United States, where he settled in New York City and continued in the art business.[5] His daughter, Gertrude "Trude" Beyer (née Thannhauser; 1921–2015), was also an art collector.[6]

Thannhauser died on 24 November 1935 in Lucerne, Switzerland aged 76.[5]

Literature

  • Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau: Die Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser in München. In: Henrike Junge (Hrsg.): Avantgarde und Publikum: Zur Rezeption avantgardistischer Kunst in Deutschland 1905–1933. Böhlau, Köln, Weimar, Wien 1992.
  • Thannhauser. Händler, Sammler, Stifter. Hrsg. v. Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels e. V. ZADIK und SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn. Sediment – Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Kunsthandels, 11. Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg 2006
  • Emily D. Bilski: Die „Moderne Galerie“ von Heinrich Thannhauser / The „Moderne Galerie“ of Heinrich Thannhauser. Sammelbilder / Collecting Images, 6. Minerva, München 2008. (Zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung. Jüdisches Museum München, 30. Januar 2008 – 25. Mai 2008.)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Portrait of the Art Dealer Heinrich Thannhauser | Kimbell Art Museum". kimbellart.org. Retrieved 2022-02-06. Heinrich Thannhauser, founded a gallery in Munich that hosted a landmark exhibition of more than 90 works by Vincent van Gogh in 1908. Three years later, he organized the first exhibition of the Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider") with artists Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. The first comprehensive exhibition outside France of the works of Pablo Picasso followed in 1913.
  2. ^ a b "Moderne Galerie". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-02-06. Heinrich Thannhauser (1859–1935) opened the Moderne Galerie in 1909, in an ornate space in the Arco Palais, a grand, eighteenth-century Rococo-style building on Munich's Theatinerstrasse
  3. ^ "Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Moderne". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-06. Heinrich Thannhauser [1859-1935] opened his gallery in the Spring of 1909 in the Arco Palais on Theatinerstrasse in Munich, after having been an associate of F.J. Brakl in Munich from 1906. The first exhibitions were of the impressionist painters, followed by exhibitions including modern artists such as Kandinsky, Braque, Picasso, Roualt, and Vlaminck
  4. ^ a b Riding, Alan (2003-09-02). "On a Swiss Lake, a Father-Daughter Art Dream Lives". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2022-02-06. Born in Germany in 1894, Siegfried Rosengart came here in 1920 to open a gallery on behalf of his uncle, Heinrich Thannhauser, who also had galleries in Munich and Berlin.
  5. ^ a b "Portrait of the Art Dealer Heinrich Thannhauser | Kimbell Art Museum". kimbellart.org. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. ^ "Obituary information for Gertrude "Trudi" Thannhauser Beyer". www.anthonychapels.com. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
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