Hermann Wunderlich
Date of birth: 1839
Place of birth: Wurtemberg
Date of death: 1892
Category: print dealer
Identity:
Hermann Wunderlich was a New York dealer. His wife Julia (b. ca 1849) was like him from Wurtemberg; their son, Herman (b. 1876) and daughters Eugescia (b. 1878) and Julia (b. 1880) were born in New York.
Life:
The art dealer Edward Guthrie Kennedy worked for Wunderlich in New York. It was through Kennedy that contact was made with Whistler. A large number of Whistler paintings, watercolours, pastels and etchings passed through the hands of the New York firm, including Battersea Reach y045, Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony y056, The Artist in his Studio (Whistler in his Studio) y063, Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville y064, Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170, Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian y378, Rose et or: La Tulipe y418, Harmony in Black: Portrait of Miss Ethel Philip y419. In 1883 the company recreated in their galleries at 808 Broadway Arrangement in white & yellow, an exhibition of Whistler's Venice etchings and drypoints held by the Fine Art Society in London earlier that year. The decor and invitations, signed with a butterfly, were designed in imitation of the London show. In March 1889 they held an exhibition of sixty-two of Whistler's oils, pastels and drawings, 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes'. It formed an arrangement in pale pink, with pictures in plain frames against pale pink silk walls and with peach-pink painted furniture and similarly coloured velarium. A brown paper catalogue was issued.
Bibliography:
US 1880 census at http://www.familysearch.org (accessed 2004.03); Wunderlich, H., 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', New York, 1889; Wunderlich, H., Etchings, Dry points and Lithographs by Whistler: Catalogue, New York, 1898; Kennedy, Edward Guthrie, Catalogue of Etchings by J.McN. Whistler, Compiled by an Amateur, New York, 1902; Wunderlich, H., Catalogue of a Collection of Etchings and Dry Points by Whistler Recently Acquired, New York, 1903; Sheehan, Susan, Arrangement in White and Yellow: A Centennial Celebration, October 18 - November 30, 1983, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Herman Wunderlich's landmark exhibition of James McNeill Whistler's etchings and drypoints, New York, 1983; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 ; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 .
