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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 historic home of Richard Neutra, Gregory Ain, H. Palmer Sabin, Lloyd Wright and John Lautner. One hundred years, three generations, a legacy of unsurpassed connoisseurship. 
STENDAHL GALLERIES
Fine Pre-Columbian and Ancient Art 7065 Hillside Avenue
Ronald W. Dammann, President
Coming from Angel City Press in 2010:
Visit author April Dammann's website:
Stendahl Galleries recently exhibited at the
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n 2011 the Stendahl Galleries of Art will achieve a milestone: one hundred years of continuous operation.
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