Archive HBvR

The private Archive Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt, whose management was handled by Marian Stein-Steinfeld, Hanna Bekker’s youngest granddaughter,  is continually being expanded and supplemented. In addition to researching documents and records from the estate of Hanna Bekker vom Rath, new insights have been gained through exchanges with institutions and estates of other artists.

Between 1983 and 1984, after the discovery of the Regensburger Strasse guest book in the estate, firstly all identified and reachable guests of the time were written to and asked to share their memories.
In a second step, all letters found in the estate were sorted, transcribed and in part exchanged with the estates of the correspondents and, where possible, supplemented with the letters of Hanna Bekker.

In the context of three exhibitions that took place simultaneously in the fall/winter of 1984 – about the collector in Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, about the painter in Frankfurter Kunstkabinett, and about the host of the Blue House in the City Hall of Hofheim – a first overview of these topics could be documented in the respective catalogs.

Maximiliane Kraft (1927-2017), the youngest daughter of Hanna Bekker, with her phenomenal memory, was an invaluable contemporary witness.

Since 1987/88, when part of the Hanna Bekker vom Rath collection was turned over to Museum Wiesbaden, a close and continuous collaboration has taken place, which can be traced in many exhibition catalogs.

The results of the intensive cooperation with the Stadtmuseum Hofheim, which was founded in 1993 and regularly deals with the Blue House artists’ circle, are also recorded in numerous catalogs.

The current state of research was published in 2018, on the 125th birthday of Hanna Bekker vom Rath, in the first biography of the painter, patron, collector and mediator published by the Frankfurter Bürgerstiftung.

Topics that could not yet be dealt with in detail in this biography first require further research and processing before they can be presented to the interested public, including:

  • the artistic oeuvre of Hanna Bekker: 
    • Paintings, watercolors, drawings, graphics and sculpture
  • Written testimonies in the archive:
    • travelogues (e.g. Moscow, 1932 | Greece, 1934/34 | Yugoslavia, 1936 | Latvia, 1937 and 1939 | South America, 1952 | world trip, 1955/56 | and others until 1973
    • Poems and other records from 1911-1973
    • letters from artists, collectors et alt.
  • Frankfurter Kunstkabinett:
    • History and profile of the gallery during the active period of its foundress (1947-ca. 1978)