13 Facts About Fritz Nathan

Fritz Nathan was a German-Swiss gallery owner and art dealer.

Fritz Nathan was born as a son from the second marriage of Alexander Nathan; from his father's first marriage he had four much older half-siblings.

Fritz Nathan's mother was Irene Helbing, the sister of the Munich auctioneer Hugo Helbing, whose father was already an antique dealer.

When Nathan was 13 years old, his father died and Helbing acted as his guardian.

Fritz Nathan joined the art shop of his half-brother Otto H Nathan, which he continued to run alone after his death in 1930.

Fritz Nathan was particularly interested in paintings from the German Romantic period, an era for which he was considered a specialist.

Fritz Nathan brokered works by Caspar David Friedrich to collectors and museums, including the 1930 painting Chalk Cliffs on Rugen from the Julius Freund Collection in Berlin to the Swiss collector and patron Oskar Reinhart from Winterthur, with whom Nathan had an increasingly close business relationship and friendship.

Fritz Nathan was able to establish himself quickly and in 1937 became a member of the Swiss Art Trade Association.

Fritz Nathan's defenders assert that he was helping the Jewish refugees, of which he was one.

Fritz Nathan was listed by the Art Looting Investigation Unit in its Red Flag List of Names and is frequently cited as an important member of art selling networks both during and after the war.

In 1948 Fritz Nathan received Swiss citizenship, in 1951 he moved with his family to Zurich, where he continued to build up Emil Georg Buhrle's private collection.

Fritz Nathan remained active for Oskar Reinhart, for whom he was able to negotiate several purchases from the estate of Otto Gerstenberg's collection, for example the painting Au Cafe by Edouard Manet.

Fritz Nathan's activities expanded in Zurich, he brokered works to museums in Switzerland, Germany, England and the USA as well as to a number of Swiss and foreign private collectors.