Margarete Lauter

Margarete Lauter (née Vetter) (9 September 1925 in Büchenbronn/Pforzheim; 2 October 2004 in Mannheim) was a German art dealer with the first Art Gallery for international contemporary art established in 1963 in Mannheim (Germany) after the Second World War 1945 mainly presenting works by German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Belgian, Hungarian, Israeli, Slovenian, Austrian and US artists.

Life

Margarete Vetter grew up as the daughter of a farming family with 4 siblings. Her mother promoted her early on with cultural activities. In the late years of the Second World War she met the young architect Harro Lauter (October 17, 1919 – October 5, 1996), whom she married in 1948. After spending 3 years in her father-in-law's parental home in Hoffenheim / Sinsheim (Germany), her husband was appointed architect in 1952 to the Mannheim Building Authority. In 1963, in collaboration with the Mannheim and Paris based artist Rudi Baerwind and the Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, she opened the first gallery for international contemporary art after the Second World War in Mannheim. The couple had three children. The youngest son, Rolf Lauter, grew up in his mother's gallery in the 1960s, became assistant curator and curator at the gallery and has been appointed later as museum director.

Galerie Lauter

Galerie Margarete Lauter 1963–1967

The first gallery space was located in Mannheim, Bismarckstrasse at the square L 15, 7–9, near the main train station, from 1963 to 1967. Galerie Margarete Lauter opened on November 21, 1963, with an exhibition that took place in close collaboration with the Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, presenting works of the artists Ger Lataster, Ung-No Lee, Georges Noël, Rudi Baerwind, and Zoltan Kemeny, and objects of traditional African art.