Earl L. Stendahl

Earl L. Stendahl (born Earl Leopold Steendahl; December 11, 1888 - May 18, 1966) was a pioneering American art dealer known for promoting California Impressionism, modern and pre-Columbian art. The gallery celebrated its centennial in 2011.

Life and work

Earl L. Stendahl was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin of Norwegian descent to a large family of confectioners.[1] In San Diego, California, Stendahl began selling the works of local painters and opened his first gallery at the inauguration of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1921. Stendahl emerged as one of the most innovative and influential art dealers in Southern California. By the 1930s, the gallerist had established his reputation as the premier dealer in painters of the California Impressionist School. William Wendt, Guy Rose, Edgar Payne, Joseph Kleitsch and Nicolai Fechin were part of the early Stendahl stable of artists. Moving to larger quarters on Wilshire Boulevard, Stendahl introduced Modern art to the West Coast with works by Matisse, Chagall, Klee, Feitelson, Siqueiros, Cantú, Kandinsky, Braque and Picasso. In 1939 his gallery was one of only two non-museum venues in the U.S. to exhibit Pablo Picasso's masterwork, Guernica as a fundraiser for Spanish war orphans.

As early as 1935, Stendahl began promoting ancient artifacts from Mexico and Central America before branching out to become a significant dealer of the Pre-Columbian art of his day.[2] Stendahl's son, Alfred E. Stendahl and son-in-law, Joseph Dammann, joined the family business. The gallery's archives were donated to the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art in 1976.[2] The Stendahl Gallery continues to operate, celebrating its centennial in 2011, with Earl Stendahl's grandson, Ronald W. Dammann, presiding.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ April Dammann (2011). Exhibitionist: Earl Stendahl, Art Dealer as Impresario. Angel City Press. ISBN 978-1-883318-86-4.
  2. 1 2 https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/stendahl-art-galleries-records-5550
  3. ↑ "Q&A: April Dammann on Earl Stendahl and the early LA art scene". Native Intelligence.
  4. ↑ Rachel Rivenc (1 April 2016). Made in Los Angeles: Materials, Processes, and the Birth of West Coast Minimalism. Getty Publications. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-60606-465-8.
  • Kaufman, Louis. A Fiddler's Tale, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
  • Goodwin, George M., interviewer, "Los Angeles Community: Group Portrait, Alfred Stendahl." Oral History Program, UCLA, 1977.
  • Anderson, Antony; Cook, Alma May; Hogue, Fred S.; Millier, Arthur. William Wendt and His Work, Los Angeles: Stendahl Art Galleries, 1926.
  • Trenton, Patricia and Gerdts, William. California Light 1900-1930, Laguna Beach: laguna Art Museum, 1990.
  • Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall. Dictionary of Art and Artists n Southern California Before 1930, Los Angeles: privately printed, 1975.
  • Farmer, Edward M., editor. Native Arts of the Pacific Northwest from the Rasmussen Collection of the Portland Art Museum, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1949.
  • Dailey, Victoria; Shivers, Natalie; Dawson, Michael. L.A.'s Early Moderns, Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2003.
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