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Ollendorf, Gustave

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Art critic; born at Paris March 4, 1850; died at Saint-Cloud Sept. 19, 1891. Both Gustave and his brother Paul, the present (1904) editor of "Gil Blas," received their Jewish education from the chief rabbi Zadoc Kahn. During the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) Ollendorf served in the Garde Nationale Mobile at Paris. In 1871 he entered the service of the ministry of public instruction and fine arts, where he was rapidly advanced. He was president of the Union Française de la Jeunesse, which he founded immediately after the close of the war. After receiving his degree in law he was appointed secretary of the Conférence des Avocats (1879), and seven years later was created chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was at the head of the bureau of museums, expositions, and art in the department of the fine arts until 1888. In that year Edouard Lockroy became minister of commerce and appointed Ollendorf, who had been for some time his private secretary, to the direction of his cabinet, in which position he was one of the most influential promoters of the exposition held at Paris in the following year. When Lockroy resigned Ollendorf succeeded to the direction of the staff of technical instruction, a position which he held until his death.

Ollendorf frequently acted as the representative of the ministers of commerce and public instruction at public functions. He wrote: "Traité de l'Administration des Beaux-Arts" (in collaboration with Paul Dupré; Paris, 1889); "Critique d'Art sur les Salons de Peinture de 1886 et 1887"; and "Etude d'Art" (in "Revue des Deux Mondes," 1889).