Fritz Gurlitt

Friedrich "Fritz" Gurlitt (3 October 1854 – 8 February 1893), originally from Vienna, was a Berlin based art dealer and collector, specialising, in particular, in contemporary art. After his early death the art gallery he had established in central Berlin was taken on by his son, the dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt (1888–1965).

Life Friedrich Louis Moritz Anton Gurlitt was born in Vienna. His father, Louis Gurlitt 1812–1897, was a well regarded landscape artist. The Gurlitts were among the leading families in the nineteenth century arts establishment in the German speaking world, which provided Friedrich with a relatively trouble free admission ticket to the arts community.

In 1880 he founded the "Fritz Gurlitt Gallery" in Berlin. The gallery was located at Behrenstraße 29 (29 Behren Street), and specialised in contemporary art. Differences have arisen over the correct name of the business, which is identified sometimes as a "gallery" ("Galerie"), sometimes as an "art dealership" ("Kunsthandlung") and sometimes as an "art salon" ("Kunst-Salon"). Artists whom he backed included Arnold Böcklin and Anselm Feuerbach. In 1886, he was mandated to take charge of the "Jubilee Exhibition", described as the "first international art exhibition in Berlin". The well-regarded novelist Theodor Fontane probably owed much of his knowledge of Böcklin to Fritz Gurlitt. Other artists who in large measure owed their reputations to the Gurlitt Gallery include Wilhelm Leibl, Hans Thoma, Max Liebermann, Lesser Ury, Franz Skarbina and Clara Siewert. but in other respects continued to operate as before, apparently under the direction of Carl Steinbart, an art collector and banker who had been a friend of Gurlitt's.