Biography

From Enfant Terrible to Grande Dame 

1893

Born on September 7 as Johanna vom Rath in Frankfurt am Main.

1914

Painting and drawing lessons with Ottilie W. Roederstein in Hofheim.

1915-17

Winter months student of Ida Kerkovius and Adolf Hoelzel in Stuttgart.
First purchases of works by Ida Kerkovius.

1918

Encounter with the music writer and critic
Paul Bekker (1882-1937).
Speech for the emancipation of women at an SPD event in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.

1920

Marriage with Paul Bekker.
Purchase of the house in the Kapellenstraße in Hofheim.
Purchase of works by Archipenko, Heckel, Kirchner, Lehmbruck and Schmidt-Rottluff at the Kunstsalon Schames, Frankfurt.

1921

Birth of daughter Barbara († 2018).

1923

Birth of son Kilian († 1943).

1924-25

Encounters with Ludwig and Else Meidner and Oskar Kokoschka.
Renovation of the house in Hofheim, it gets the colors of the Blue House.
She follows Paul Bekker to Kassel.

1926

Becomes acquainted with Alexej Jawlensky in Wiesbaden.
Trip to Paris with Ida Kerkovius.

1927

Birth of daughter Maximiliane († 2017) in Kassel.
Family moves to Wiesbaden.

1928

Return to Hofheim and separation from Paul Bekker.
Studio extension at the Blue House.
Trip to Ticino with Ida Kerkovius.

1929

Foundation of the “Society of Friends of Art Alexei of Jawlensky”.
Participation in group exhibition at the Landesmuseum Wiesbaden.

1930/31

Becomes friends with Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff and Emy Roeder.

1932

First stay of Schmidt-Rottluff in the Blue House, until 1944 regular visits to the hostess.
Moscow trip at the invitation of the German ambassador Herbert Dirksen.
Hanna Bekker spends the winter months in Berlin (until 1943).

1933/34

Stay in Greece.

1934

In Hofheim first private mediations of works by ostracized artists in the Blue House.

1935

Car trip with Ottilie W. Roederstein to Italy.
Visit with Paul Klee in Bern.

1937 and 1939

Summer stays in Riga and trips through Latvia with Ida Kerkovius.

1939

Ernst Wilhelm Nay stays in Hofheim several times.

1940-43

Secret exhibitions of “degenerate” artists in her Berlin studio apartment.

1943

Visit with Käthe Kollwitz.

1945

Hanna Bekker vom Rath arranged for E. W. Nay to have the Roederstein studio in Hofheim, where he lived and worked until 1951.

1947

Opening of the Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, in Kaiserstraße 5 with a Käthe Kollwitz exhibition.
Schmidt-Rottluff recommences his regular spring visits to the Blue House (until 1974).

1949

Relocation of the Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath to the Börsenplatz (until 1993).

1952

North and South America exhibition trip.

1955

In the garden new building of a house with studio for Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.
She finds Ludwig Meidner a place to stay in Hofheim-Marxheim, where he lives and works until 1963.

1955/56

One-year exhibition “world trip” with stops in North and South America, South Africa, India and Brazil.

1957

Award of the Goethe Medal of the State of Hessen.

1962/63

Exhibition trip to Greece and Lebanon.

1963

Award of the Badge of Honour of the City of Frankfurt.
Siegfried Shalom Sebba regularly stays at the Blue House.

1964

Award of the Federal Cross of Merit.

1967

Exhibition trip to Maroc.

1968

Trip to Maroc with Emy Roeder and Maria Moriondo.

1972

Trip to the USA and Winnipeg, Canada.

1978

Exhibition of her own pictures in the city hall of Hofheim.

1983

On August 8, Hanna Bekker vom Rath dies in Bad Nauheim.