Walter Feilchenfeldt (born 21 January 1894 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

; died 9 December 1953 in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

) was a German art dealer and publisher.

Life and work

Walter Feilchenfeldt was born in

on 21 January 1894, the son of a doctor. In 1919 he began working for the art dealer and publisher

Paul Cassirer Paul Cassirer (21 February 1871, in Görlitz – 7 January 1926, in Berlin) was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Im ...

, becoming a partner in the Cassirer art dealship in 1924. After Cassirer's death, he continued to run the art dealership and the publishing house, together with Greta Ring.

Amsterdam and Zürich

When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

came to power in 1933, Feilchenfeldt was persecuted due to his Jewish heritage. He left Berlin and went to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, where he succeeded Helmuth Lütjens (1893–1986) as director of the Dutch branch of Cassirer and married in 1936

Marianne Breslauer Marianne Breslauer (married surname Feilchenfeldt, 20 November 1909 – 7 February 2001) was a German photographer, photojournalist and pioneer of street photography during the Weimar Republic. Life Marianne was born in Berlin, the daughter ...

. Their first son Walter Feilchenfedlt Jr was born in 1939. His business partner Grete Ring dissolved in 1937 the Berlin branch of Cassiser and founded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

a British company, Kunsthandlung Paul Cassirer Limited. Feilchenfeldt moved to Switzerland with his family and worked as an art dealer lin

Ascona 300px, Ascona Ascona ( lmo, label= Ticinese, Scona ) is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore. The town is a popular tourist destination and holds the yea ...

and

. His second son, Konrad Feilchenfeldt, was born in 1944. In 1948 he founded the die Kunsthandlung Walter Feilchenfeldt, which he directed until his death in 1953. The art dealership was then directed by his widow, Marianne Breslauer-Feilchenfeldt, until 1990. She was joined in 1966 by their son Walter Feilchenfeldt Jr who later managed the business until 2011. Feilchenfeldt Jr was also the director of Kunstvermittlung AG in Zürich and the president of the Swiss Art Trading Association from 1997 until 2007.

Literature

* Marianne Feilchenfeldt Breslauer: ''Bilder meines Lebens – Erinnerungen.'' Wädenswil, 2009, ISBN 978-3-907142-03-5. * ''Feilchenfeld, Walter'' ic! in: Werner Röder,

Herbert A. Strauss Herbert Arthur Strauss (1 June 1918, Würzburg, Germany – 11 March 2005, New York, NY) was a German-born American historian. Life Strauss spent his youth in his home town of Würzburg, Bavaria. After school he began a commercial apprenticeshi ...

(Hrsg.): ''Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933. Band 1: Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben.'' Saur, München 1980, S. 168f. * ''Feilchenfeldt, Walter''. In: Ernst Fischer: ''Verleger, Buchhändler & Antiquare aus Deutschland und Österreich in der Emigration nach 1933: Ein biographisches Handbuch''. Elbingen: Verband Deutscher Antiquare, 2011, S. 67f.

External links

FAZ.net: ''Aus dem Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels: 1937 – Schicksalsjahr des Berliner Kunsthandels'' (retrieved 7 October 2008)

* ttp://www.walterfeilchenfeldt.ch Website von Walter Maria Feilchenfeldt, Zürich
NIMBUS Kunst und Bücher, Zürich: Geschichte des Berliner «Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer»

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feilchenfeldt, Walter 1894 births 1953 deaths German art dealers German people of Jewish descent Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Switzerland Emigrants from Nazi Germany People from Berlin German people of World War I 20th-century German publishers (people)