Alfred Flechtheim and the Flechtheim Galleries, 1913–1933

This chapter analyzes the role of Flechtheim as a dealer in modern German and French art in Germany. It focuses on his success in the promotion of artists from the Rhineland and, after 1918, elsewhere in Germany, including George Grosz, in conjunction with artists from Paris including Picasso. It highlights the important role played in his career by his fellow German dealers Paul Cassirer and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and by the network of German artists and writers he met in Paris before the war, including Wilhelm Uhde, Rudolf Levy and Hermann von Wedderkop. It emphasizes his appreciation of the importance of the print media in art promotion, which led to his creation of the ground-breaking periodical Der Querschnitt. It recounts his efforts to continue his career in Paris and London after emigrating. The concluding section addresses the role that his identity as a German Jew played in his life and career.