Neumann-Nierendorf was predominantly active from 1925 to 1933 in Berlin as a leading gallery which focused on contemporary German art. In 1933 the reorganization of the gallery to Galerie Nierendorf took place which continued exhibiting modern German artists.

Karl Nierendorf (1889–1947) was a banker before he embarked on a new career as an art dealer at the suggestion of the artist Paul Klee. Having opened his first gallery in Cologne in 1920 and then Düsseldorf with his brother Josef Nierendorf (1898–1949), Karl took over Jewish art dealer Israel Ber Neumann’s (1887–1961) Graphisches Kabinett in Berlin in October 1923 when Neumann emigrated to New York [FIG. 1, 2].

Following the closure of the Cologne and Düsseldorf galleries, Karl’s brother Josef joined him in Berlin. The interior of the gallery, renamed Neumann-Nierendorf in 1925, [FIG. 3,4] featured furniture by Marcel Breuer. Art historian Malcolm Gee noted that ‘[w]orks were hung well-spaced out on plain walls with diffuse lighting. The general effect was sober, reflective and discreetly aligned with modern German design concepts.’

Through a very active exhibition schedule, Karl promoted the work of young German artists [FIG. 5], above all artists affiliated with German Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and the Bauhaus. His close connections to Otto Dix earned him the nickname ‘Nierendix’. An interior photograph of the gallery includes Dix’s striking portrait of the provocative dancer and actor Anita Berber (1899–1928), who rose to fame in Weimar-era Berlin. [FIG. 6-9]

In 1933, Karl was not directly threatened because he was neither politically left nor, like his business partner I. B. Neumann, of Jewish background. Yet, on 1 April 1933, when Jewish businesses were boycotted, SA guards stood outside his gallery. Karl Nierendorf took over Neumann's shares in the business that very day ‘by mutual agreement’. However, Nierendorf was under observation as a prominent dealer of modernism which was now considered ‘degenerate art’.