About the gallery
1920
The brothers Karl Nierendorf (18 April 1889 – 25 October 1947) and Josef Nierendorf (19 August 1898 – 21 June 1949) start an art dealership and exhibitions in Cologne: Nierendorf Cologne New Art.
1920
1923
Karl Nierendorf takes over the graphic art gallery of J.B. Neumann in Berlin.
1925
Josef Nierendorf relocates the gallery from Cologne to Düsseldorf for a year. Karl Nierendorf establishes the ‘Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf GmbH’ in Berlin and runs it together with his brother Josef under this name from 1926 until 1933.
1925
1933
In September, the company will be converted into ‘Galerie Nierendorf GmbH’.
1936
In May, Karl Nierendorf travels to the United States and opens the Nierendorf Gallery there in 1937, while Josef Nierendorf continues to run the Berlin gallery on his own.
1936
1938
Josef Nierendorf can only hold exhibitions until the summer. The gallery premises are being terminated. Karl Nierendorf organises exhibitions with German artists in New York.
1939
Josef Nierendorf stores the gallery's inventory in a small shop. When war breaks out, he is drafted into the Wehrmacht and therefore deregisters his business. Karl Nierendorf continues to run the gallery in New York with increasing success until 1946 and becomes a citizen of the United States.
1939
1946
Karl Nierendorf travels around Germany and Europe from May until September 1947, while his colleague continues to run the gallery in New York.
1947
With the death of Karl Nierendorf, the gallery ceased to exist. As there was no will and only German heirs, his estate was confiscated by the State of New York.
1947
1948
In mid-January, the Guggenheim Museum purchases Karl Nierendorf's entire estate for $72,000, including more than 150 works by Paul Klee. The German heirs are left empty-handed, as the entire proceeds are offset against liabilities and administrative costs.
1949
Before Josef Nierendorf can resume trading in art in a room in his wife's bookshop, he dies on 21 June.
1949
1955
Florian Karsch, Josef Nierendorf's stepson, together with Inge Loewe, his future wife, begins holding regular exhibitions and trading art again in the designated space under the name of his mother, ‘Galerie Meta Nierendorf’.
1963
New exhibition rooms are rented at Hardenbergstraße 19 and the company is entered in the commercial register as Galerie Nierendorf. The gallery is still located in this building today.
1963
1970
Anniversary exhibition: ‘50 Years of Galerie Nierendorf’. A special catalogue, volume 8, will be published to accompany the exhibition, featuring 26 original prints by renowned artists.
1972
The gallery is showing ‘Otto Dix on his 80th birthday’. Shortly before, the catalogue raisonné of Otto Dix's graphic works, compiled by Florian Karsch, was published.
1972
1974
Memorial exhibition: ‘Otto Mueller on his 100th birthday. The Complete Graphic Works’, accompanied by a special catalogue of the same name, compiled by Florian Karsch, listing Otto Mueller's graphic works.
1980
Anniversary exhibition: ‘60 Years of Galerie Nierendorf’. The gallery is publishing a special catalogue entitled ‘13’, which contains 13 original prints by well-known artists.
1980
2000
Anniversary exhibition: ‘80 Years of Galerie Nierendorf’. The catalogue Kunstblätter 68 will be published to accompany the exhibition, featuring a representative cross-section of 80 works by 80 artists.
2010
Anniversary exhibition: ‘90 Years of Galerie Nierendorf’ with the catalogue Kunstblätter 88
2010
2011
In December, Ergün Özdemir-Karsch, the adopted son of Florian Karsch, owner of Galerie Nierendorf, will
2015
Anniversary exhibition: ‘95 Years of Galerie Nierendorf’ with the catalogue Kunstblätter 96
2015