Charles Obach, 1841-1921
Nationality: Swiss
Date of Birth: February 1841
Place of Birth: Stuttgart
Place of Death: Streatham
Identity:
Charles Obach was a Swiss art dealer active in London.
Life:
Charles Obach was born as a Swiss citizen in Stuttgart in February 1841, son of the Swiss landscape painter Kaspar Obach. Early in life he entered the firm of Goupil & Co. in Paris. From the early 1860s he was working in the firm's London branch then managed by Hermann G. Gutekunst. When Gutekunst returned to Stuttgart in 1864, Obach succeeded him as manager. He retained that post until 1884 when he started his own business, Obach & Co. on Cockspur Street, with Hans Velten as his partner. They were listed as members of The Dealers in the Fine Arts' Provident Institution in 1887. Charles Obach retired in 1900. In 1901 the company moved premises to 168 Old Bond Street.
Charles Lang Freer obtained many of his Whistler etchings through Obach & Co. in London between 1903 and 1909. It was during this period, post Charles Obach's retirement, that a large number of Whistler etchings passed through the company's hands.
Bibliography:
H. W. B., 'Messrs. Obach and Co.'s New Galleries in London', Art Journal, October 1901, p. 317; Obituary, The Times, 24 December 1921, p. 4; http://www.exhibitionculture.arts.gla.ac.uk (accessed September 2009).