The History of Wunderly Galleries |
Portrait of August Wunderly, Sr. by A.D. Braun & Cie., Paris
|
1887
|
In 1887 Robert F. Mayer opened his picture business at 404 Wood Street in Pittsburgh, PA. |
1890 |
In 1890 he moved the gallery to 18 Sixth Avenue, in downtown Pittsburgh. One of the employees is the young August Wunderly. |
1894 |
In 1894 Robert Mayer sells his gallery to August Wunderly and his brother Carl.
In the same year 1894 August Wunderly moves the gallery to 25 Sixth Avenue and renames it Wunderly Bros.
|
August and Carl Wunderly
Closeup of August and Carl Wunderly
|
1912 |
In 1912 Wunderly Bros moves to Oliver Avenue.
|
August Wunderly, left of the little girl, and Mary Josephine, August Wunderly's wife, right.
|
Oliver Avenue Front 1912
|
|
For the next 33 years, August Wunderly travels to France every other year and stays for two to three months, buying art for his Pittsburgh galleries from French and other European artists.
At home, the Wunderly Galleries handle thousands of works by American painters and among them by such prominent artists as William Meritt Chase (1849-1916), James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and Daniel Ridgway Knight (1839-1924).
Interior Views of Wunderly Bros. Gallery, Pittsburgh PA, 1912
|
Main Gallery
|
Aisle in the Main Gallery
|
A Corridor
|
|
In 1927, the son of August Wunderly, August II, takes over the art galleries and steers the business through the 10 difficult years of the Great Depression. Gone are the trips to Europe. |
1936 |
In 1936 Wunderly Galleries moves to 639 Liberty Avenue.
|
1955 |
Wunderly moves to 901 Liberty Avenue at the corner of Liberty and Seventh Avenue.
|
August II would continue to run the business from its galleries in Pittsburgh almost until 1980.
Today, Wunderly Galleries has adapted again to a different economy and added new ways of doing business with an active presence on the World Wide Web.
|
|
| |
| |
| |
