Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1902-10-05
Death 1954-08-19
Americans,
English, German,

Biographical notes:

Art dealer and gallery director; New York, N.Y.

Valentin came to the U.S. from Germany in 1937. He worked at the Buchholz Gallery, which he took over and renamed the Curt Valentin Gallery. The gallery closed in 1955.

From the description of Catalogs of exhibitions organized by Curt Valentin, 1929-1948. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122514918

Curt Valentin was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1902. After completing his education, he became a dealer in modern art in Berlin. In 1934 he returned to Hamburg and worked in the Buchholz Gallery, owned by Karl Buchholz. This gallery comprised two businesses: a bookstore in the front, and, in the rear, an art gallery devoted to the modern art classified as "degenerate" by the Nazis.

In 1937 Valentin emigrated to the U.S. with a sufficient number of modern German paintings to open a gallery under the Buchholz name in New York City. In 1951 the gallery was renamed the Curt Valentin Gallery.

Widely respected as one of the most astute dealers in modern art, Valentin organized influential exhibitions and attracted major artists to his gallery. His enthusiasm for sculpture is revealed by the artists and exhibitions he selected. He also published several distinguished, limited-edition books in which the writings of poets and novelists were illustrated by a contemporary artists.

Valentin died of a heart attack in Aug. 1954, while visiting Marino Marini in Italy. One year later the gallery was liquidated and some of the work from it was sold at a Parke-Bernet auction in Nov. 1955. Several of Valentin's artists, as well as his assistant, Jane Wade, joined the Otto Gerson Gallery, which, after Gerson's death in 1962, became the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery.

From the description of Curt Valentin papers, 1937-1955. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122484147

Links to collections

Comparison

This is only a preview comparison of Constellations. It will only exist until this window is closed.

  • Added or updated
  • Deleted or outdated

Information

Permalink:
SNAC ID:

Subjects:

  • Art, Modern
  • Art
  • Art dealers
  • Art dealers
  • Art galleries, Commercial
  • Art, German
  • Entartete Kunst
  • Gallery directors
  • Prints
  • Sculpture, Modern

Occupations:

not available for this record

Places:

  • New York (State)--New York (as recorded)
  • New York (State)--New York (as recorded)
  • Germany--Berlin (as recorded)