Archive
Hanna Bekker vom Rath. A Rebel for Modern Art
16. June 2024
The exhibition Hanna Bekker vom Rath. A Rebel for modern art honours an important pioneer of modernism.
Born and raised in a time when women did not have the right to vote and were only allowed to work with their husbands’ permission, Hanna Bekker vom Rath (1893-1983) led a self-determined and emancipated life. As a passionate collector, courageous exhibition organiser and enthusiastic mediator and dealer, she was tirelessly committed to modern art and artists.
With some of them - above all the artist and initiator of the Brücke Museum Karl Schmidt-Rottluff - she shares a lifelong friendship. Bekker vom Rath supported him and other artist friends, such as Alexej von Jawlensky, Ida Kerkovius and Emy Roeder, by acquiring and selling their works. She also offered them space to work and shelter in the Blue House, her home in Hofheim im Taunus. This illustrates her fearless commitment, especially during National Socialism.
During this difficult time, her exceptional courage was also evident in a series of “secret exhibitions” of artists discredited by the National Socialists, which she organised in her private flat in Berlin.
After the Second World War, she continued her engagement for art and modern artists. For example, in her gallery Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, founded in 1947, which quickly became a meeting place for the artistic avant-garde; or on her numerous international exhibition tours, some of which lasted several months, which she undertook from 1952 onwards.
The exhibition and an accompanying catalogue are being created in cooperation with the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, where the exhibition will be presented from 7 July to 20 October 2024.

Even though Hanna Bekker vom Rath lived in a very different world from ours there are strikingly many connections that feminists can draw on today. After all, she was emancipated before the term made waves in the New Women’s Movement. The exhibition is accompanied by an intersectional, discursive programme. Empowerment workshops, readings, and feminist salons will take place under the title Feminist Perspectives. This programme is curated by Sonja Eismann (editor of Missy Magazine) and Josephine Papke (author and journalist).
With works from: Alexander Archipenko, Alexej von Jawlensky, August Macke, Christian Rohlfs, Emil Nolde, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Ida Kerkovius, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Käthe Kollwitz, Kurt Schwitters, Lyonel Feininger, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Willi Baumeister, a.o.
Programme
- Exhibition opening23 Feb 2024
- Public Guided Tour in German25 Feb 2024
- Museum Sunday3 Mar 2024
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Body Awareness
Empowerment Workshop for BIPoC* 9 Mar 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German10 Mar 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English10 Mar 2024
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A Critical Tour of the Exhibition
Viewing Art from an Anti-Colonial Perspective
10 Mar 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German17 Mar 2024
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Stretching Sessions
Drawing Course for Adults23 Mar 2024 - Connecting People – Weaving Threads. Hanna Bekker vom Rath and Her Networks23 Mar 2024
- Public Guided Tour in German24 Mar 2024
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Collect & Collage (cancelled)
Inspiration and drawing games to collect and create24 Mar 2024 -
Thinking with Space (cancelled)
Installation Art, Empowerment, Storytelling 25 – 28 Mar 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German31 Mar 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English31 Mar 2024
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Art in the Forest
Creating Outdoors with Natural Materials 2 – 5 Apr 2024 -
Wut & Böse
Reading and Discussion4 Apr 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German4 Apr 2024
- Museum Sunday7 Apr 2024
- Curators Tour with Magdalena Syen (DE)12 Apr 2024
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Body Language and Presence
Empowerment Workshop for FLINTA* 13 Apr 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German14 Apr 2024
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Open Printing Workshop: The Woodcut
For Youths and Adults 14 Apr 2024 -
Against the Grain. Power-Critical Perspectives
Workshop for Multipliers in Education and Social Work18 Apr 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German21 Apr 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English21 Apr 2024
- Brücke in Berlin: A Walking Tour through Friedenau (DE & EN)21 Apr 2024
- Public Guided Tour in German28 Apr 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English28 Apr 2024
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"You Should Be Girlfriends"
Reading and Music in the Garden
5 May 2024 - Museum Sunday5 May 2024
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Stretching Sessions
Drawing Course for Adults11 May 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German12 May 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English12 May 2024
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Collect & Collage
Inspiration and drawing games to collect and create12 May 2024 -
Feminist Salon
Resistant History16 May 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German16 May 2024
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Mourning as a Feminist Practice
Zine Workshop18 May 2024 - Public Guided Tour in German19 May 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English19 May 2024
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Open Printing Workshop: The Woodcut
For Youths and Adults 19 May 2024 - Curators Tour with Magdalena Syen (DE)24 May 2024
- Public Guided Tour in German26 May 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English26 May 2024
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Feminist Salon
Running a Gallery Today – As a Woman
30 May 2024 - Public Guided Tour in English30 May 2024
- Museum Sunday2 Jun 2024
- Public Guided Tour in German9 Jun 2024
- Public Guided Tour in English9 Jun 2024
- Curator's tour with Marian Stein-Steinfeld14 Jun 2024
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Stretching Sessions
Drawing Course for Adults15 Jun 2024 - SUMMER PARTY16 Jun 2024
- Frauen machen Druck16 Jun 2024
Publications

Hanna Bekker vom Rath
A Rebel for Modern Art
Catalogue
Edited by: Lisa Marei Schmidt, Sabine Maria Schimdt und Florence Thumes
Texts: Noor van Rooijen, Sabine Maria Schmidt, Marian Stein-Steinfeld, Magdalena Syen, Roman Zieglgänsberger
Hirmer Verlag
256 pages
German / English
ISBN 978-3-7774-4354-6
€ 29,90
On sale at the museum
Staff
Lisa Marei Schmidt, Curator
Marian Stein-Steinfeld, Co-Curator
Magdalena Syen, Assistant Curator
Daniela Bystron, Curator of Outreach
Noor van Rooijen, Project Assistant