Hanna Bekker vom Rath
Eine Aufständische für die Moderne
The exhibition presents one of the most dedicated art collectors and dealers of the post-war period. Hanna Bekker vom Rath started out as a painter, while also promoting numerous expressionist artists by purchasing their works.
One focus of the exhibition is the collection Hanna Bekker vom Rath built up from the 1920s onwards in the Blue House in Hofheim, her main place of residence. Artist-friends of hers found refuge and safety there – especially during the National Socialist period. Among her special protégés were Alexej von Jawlensky, Ida Kerkovius, Paul Klee and above all, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. She maintained a close life-long friendship with the latter. He visited her regularly as of 1932, particularly during the repressive years under National Socialism, to which countless of his paintings and watercolours testify. In 1954 Hanna Bekker vom Rath even made a studio available especially for him. In addition to works he created there, other major works from Hanna Bekker vom Rath’s collection provide an impression of the artistic charisma of the Blue House.
Immediately after the Second World War, Hanna Bekker vom Rath set up a gallery in Frankfurt am Main called the Frankfurter Kunstkabinett. In the 1950s she began travelling a lot, thereby becoming an important ambassador for modern art from Germany. The exhibition, with more than 50 works on loan, has been organised in close cooperation with the Brücke Museum in Berlin.
