Otto Fröhlich, born in Vienna on 12 February 1873, graduated in law in 1896 and in art history in 1907, opened the Dr. Otto Fröhlich Gallery at Josefstädter Strasse 30 in Vienna’s 8th district in 1912 and had it entered in the Vienna commercial register in 1913. In 1918, the company, which specialised in trading in works by old masters and sculptures, moved to new business premises on the first floor of Kärntnerstraße 26 / corner of Schwangasse 1 (renamed Marco-d’-Aviano-Gasse in 1935) in Vienna’s 1st district, where Fröhlich’s flat was also located. The gallery primarily supplied museums in Austria and abroad, particularly in Germany and the USA. Otto Fröhlich was the sole proprietor, his second wife Lili (Caroline / Karoline / Karolina), née Bum, born in Vienna on 14 May 1886, was the authorised signatory. In addition to her work in the art trade, the art historian with a doctorate researched and published on specialised topics, sometimes together with the art historian and museum official Alfred Stix. Otto Fröhlich also acted as an expert and appraiser for old master paintings.

After the "Anschluss", the Property Transaction Office appointed Walter Russel as provisional administrator of the Galerie Dr. Otto Fröhlich. Russel was followed on 10 February 1939 by the insurance expert Kommerzialrat Otto Faltis as liquidator. Faltis arranged for the business to be closed down and deleted from the commercial register on 17 April 1940. Otto Fröhlich and his wife, who was also of Jewish origin, were able to flee to England in 1938, where Otto Fröhlich fell seriously ill and died in Hertfordshire on 28 April 1947. Lili Fröhlich-Bum, who changed her name to Lily Frohlich-Bume and became a British citizen in 1948, worked in London as an art dealer specialising in old master paintings until her husband’s death, after which she worked as a journalist. From 1954, she wrote numerous exhibition and auction reports for the magazine Weltkunst. Lily Frohlich-Bume died in Camberwell (Greater London) in November 1981. Two of her brothers, Otto and Richard Bum, were victims of the Shoah. Her mother Leontine Bum died in Vienna in 1944. Lily Frohlich-Bume’s name can be found on the memorial to the marginalised, emigrated and murdered which was erected by the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna in 2008/2009.