n 2011 the Stendahl Galleries of Art will achieve a milestone: one hundred years of continuous operation.

Founder Earl L. Stendahl (1887-1966) came to Southern California from a small town in Wisconsin. Unschooled in the world of art or commerce, Stendahl began nurturing young Los Angeles artists by showing their work at his downtown restaurant, The Black Cat Café. Before long the still-young art dealer was putting on shows for Edgar Payne, Guy Rose, William Wendt, Nicolai Fechin, Joseph Kleitsch and other masters of the California Impressionist school at his gallery in The Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. His clients included Hollywood celebrities, museums, educators, European emigres, politicians, even royalty.

The Stendahl Galleries, today

Pioneer Stendahl next turned to the great names of European and revolutionary American and Latin American modern art: Matisse, Klee, Kandinsky, Chagall, Brancusi, Feitelson, Siqueiros, Rivera. Few remember that in 1939 Stendahl hosted one of only two non-museum exhibitions of Pablo Picasso's masterwork, Guernica, to benefit Spanish war orphans.

As early as 1935 Stendahl began promoting ancient artifacts from Mexico and Central America. Over time the Stendahl Galleries have become synonymous with Pre-Columbian art, nationally and internationally. Stendahl's first client for the material was noted collector Walter Arensberg, who lured Stendahl to his Hollywood neighborhood as a personal friend and dealer. The Stendahl Galleries expanded into the Arensberg estate in 1954. Stendahl had helped Walter and Louise amass what one art historian called "the most discriminating single group of twentieth century paintings and sculpture in existence."

Such was Stendahl's influence on the artistic landscape of Southern California and beyond. After his death in 1966, Stendahl's son, son-in-law (already veteran dealers) and grandsons continued the family business from the residential complex in the Hollywood Hills. President Ronald W. Dammann (Stendahl's grandson) and his wife April live there, presiding over the large art collection and enjoying the architectural contributions to their home of William Woollett, Richard Neutra, Gregory Ain, H. Palmer Sabin and John Lautner. The property has been granted historic monument status by the city of Los Angeles.

One hundred years, three generations, a legacy of unsurpassed connoisseurship.

STENDAHL GALLERIES

Fine Pre-Columbian and Ancient Art
California Impressionist paintings from the 1920s

7065 Hillside Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90068
By Appointment for Acquisitions and Appraisals
323-876-7740
323-876-2143 (Facsimile)
stendahlart@aol.com

Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
The Stendahl Galleries will participate in a collaboration of more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California—coming together for the first time to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. The celebration begins in October 2011 and runs to April 2012.

"Rising Mists" by Guy Rose
Carmel, 1918-19
Price upon request

Ronald W. Dammann, President
Member, Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles
Art Dealers Association of California (ADAC) President Emeritus
Los Angeles Tribal
Friends of Ethnic Art, San Francisco

NOW AVAILABLE from Angel City Press!

Exhibitionist: Earl Stendahl,
Art Dealer as Impresario by April Dammann
Order the book from Angel City Press or call 310-395-9982

Visit author April Dammann's website:


www.aprildammann.com

Seated female (clay), Jalisco, Mexico
Proto-classic period, 200 BC - 200 AD
24 inches

San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show, February 2011

Xipe-Totec figure, Vera Cruz, Mexico
Classic period, ca 500 AD
13 inches