Austrian Expressionism & Otto Kallir: Jane Kallir, Nathan Timpano, Timothy Benson, & Sabine Eckmann

Why It Matters

The Kallir donation reshapes LACMA’s narrative of early 20th‑century art, positioning Los Angeles as a pivotal site for Austrian modernism scholarship and public engagement.

Key Takeaways

• Otto Kallir donated 130 Austrian/German expressionist works to LACMA.
• Gift includes first U.S. holdings of Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.
• Kallir pioneered American awareness of Austrian modernism and Nazi restitution.
• LACMA plans major 2030 exhibition and scholarly catalog on Austrian modernism.
• Donation strengthens Los Angeles as a hub for expressionist research.

Summary

The evening program at LACMA celebrated a landmark donation from the Otto Kallir family, comprising 130 Austrian and German expressionist works—including 27 paintings, watercolors and drawings by Egon Schiele and nine by Gustav Klimt. The gift, announced last fall, fills a long‑standing gap in LACMA’s collection, which has been strong in German expressionism but thin on its Austrian counterpart. Key data points highlighted the breadth of the donation: rare pieces by Richard Gerstl, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin and other Vienna Secession figures, as well as works linked to the Vina Birketa circle. Speakers traced Kallir’s career from his 1919 Ferlagno press and the Nea Gallery in Vienna, through exile in Paris and New York, to his role in introducing Austrian modernists to American museums and facilitating restitution of Nazi‑looted art. Jane Kallir recounted her grandfather’s early ambition to become an aeronautical engineer, his pivot to art publishing, and his strategic emergency fund that enabled his family’s escape after the 1938 Anschluss. She emphasized Kallir’s 1957 Sheila exhibition that secured a partnership with Thomas Messer, leading to the 1965 Guggenheim show that finally placed Schiele and Klimt on the U.S. map. The panel also contrasted Austrian modernism’s distinct identity from German expressionism, noting that artists like Klimt were repeatedly rejected by German institutions. Looking ahead, LACMA will mount a major 2030 exhibition accompanied by a scholarly catalog, while the Rifkine Center will sponsor a research program on Austrian modernism. The donation not only enriches LACMA’s holdings but also cements Los Angeles as a leading center for expressionist scholarship, linking historic émigré networks to contemporary curatorial practice.

Original Description

Discover the bold spirit of Austrian Expressionism and the remarkable legacy of Otto Kallir, the visionary dealer who helped bring artists like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt to global attention. Join Jane Kallir, Nathan J. Timpano, and Timothy O. Benson for a lively illustrated talk introduced by LACMA curator Stephanie Barron and moderated by Sabine Eckmann. Together, they’ll explore how Kallir’s passion for art and innovation shaped the course of modern art.

Jane Kallir is an American art dealer, curator and author. She is co-director of the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which specializes in Austrian and German Expressionism as well as self-taught and “outsider” art. In 2020, the gallery ceased commercial operations and became an art advisory. Its archives and library were transferred to the Kallir Research Institute, a foundation established in 2017. Kallir serves as President of the KRI. She has curated exhibitions for many American and international museums and is the author of the catalogue raisonné of Egon Schiele’s work in all mediums.

Nathan J. Timpano is Associate Professor & Head of Art History at the University of Miami (UM), where he focuses on modern art and visual culture in Europe and the Americas, with a specialty in German and Austrian expressionism. He is the author of Constructing the Viennese Modern Body: Art, Hysteria, and the Puppet (Routledge, 2017), several book chapters and exhibition catalogues, and has additionally published essays in journals such as Art History, Oxford Art Journal, Journal of Art Historiography, and caa.reviews. Before joining the faculty at UM, he held professional positions at Harvard University’s Busch-Reisinger Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. He presently serves as a faculty guest curator at the Lowe Art Museum at UM.

Sabine Eckmann is a German art historian based in St. Louis, her research interests are focused on twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, with an emphasis on German and European art as well as art and politics, medium aesthetics, and critical theory. Her projects are regularly supported by such national and international organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Andy Warhol Foundation. She has curated numerous award-winning projects, including Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany (2007), for which she received the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation award for curatorial innovation. She co-edited and contributed to Art of Two Germanys / Cold War Cultures (2009) and its predecessor, Exiles and Emigrés (1997). In 2015 she co-edited New Objectivity: Modern German Art in the Weimar Republic, which won the College Art Association Alfred Barr Jr. Award and the Association of Art Museum Curators’ Award for excellence. In addition, she has curated exhibitions about new media and video art ([Grid Matrix], Window|Interface, and In the Aftermath of Trauma: Contemporary Video Installations) as well as many monographic exhibitions (on Eleanor Antin, Christian Jankowski, Sharon Lockhart, Elizabeth Peyton, and Sam Durant among others). Her most recent exhibitions are Ai Weiwei: Bare Life (2019) and Katharina Grosse: Studio Paintings (2022). Eckmann has lectured widely including at Harvard Art Museums, New York University Graduate Center, University of Munich, Freie Universität Berlin, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the German Historical Museum and the Getty Research Institute.

This recording is presented as part of LACMA’s educational programming. Images of artworks are included solely for scholarly discussion and educational purposes