Kallir, Otto, 1894-1978

Otto Kallir (1894-1978) was an art collector and dealer who founded the Neue Gallerie in Vienna in 1923; he was forced to emigrate in 1938, leaving the operation of his gallery to the care of a colleague, and eventually settled in the U.S., where he opened the Galerie St. Etienne in New York City in 1939. Fanny Kallir (Franziska, Gräfin von Löwenstein-Scharffeneck) was Otto's wife; they were married in 1922.

From the description of Correspondence to Alma Mahler, 1942-1958. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155863596

Epithet: art critic, President of Galerie St Etienne New York USA

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000758.0x0002f3

Otto Kallir was born in Vienna, Austria on April 1st 1894 as Otto Nirenstein. He changed his name to Kallir in 1903. He studied engineering at a technical college from 1918 to 1920 and went on to study art history from 1927 to 1931. He finished with a dissertation on Beiträge zur Vischerforschung in 1931. The anti-Semitic legislation passed after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 as well as his open endorsement for the Schuschnigg Government forced him to emigrate to France in 1938. Only one year later he left for the United States.

Kallir developed an early interest in art and design. He founded the publishing house Neue Graphik in 1919. From 1921 to 1923 he was head of the art department at the Rikola publishing house in Vienna. In 1938 he founded Gallery St. Etienne which he reopened in New York in 1939. The gallery became well known for the works of Austrian and German expressionists like Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. Kallir also provided Grandma Moses her first one-woman exhibition which was a major push for her later career. Otto Kallir died on November 30, 1978.

From the guide to the Otto Kallir Collection, 1907-1999, bulk 1916-1918, (Leo Baeck Institute)