Florence Hochschild Austrian

Austrian was born in Baltimore in 1889, the daughter of department store founder Max Hochschild. She graduated in 1910 from Goucher College and later studied at the Maryland Institute (now the Maryland Institute College of Art), under Leon Kroll and John Sloan, a member of the New York artist group known as “The Eight.”

Austrian’s paintings largely focused on the architecture and street scenes of Baltimore. She had success exhibiting her work, including one-person shows at the Baltimore Museum of Art and at Goucher College. She also exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

A lifelong resident of Baltimore, Austrian was committed to historic preservation and the revitalization of neighborhoods. She served on the boards of the Mount Royal Improvement Association and the Maryland Society for the Preservation of Maryland Antiquities, and as a trustee of the Peabody Institute.

Austrian was married to Charles R. Austrian, an internist and associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who also served as chief of medicine at Sinai Hospital. Their son Robert Austrian was an expert on the prevention of pneumococcal diseases whose research at the University of Pennsylvania led to the development of a pneumonia vaccine.  Their daughter Janet Fisher taught economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.