Life

Great Works From Galka Scheyer’s Art Collection On Display In Pasadena

Untitled c. 1945, Lionel Feininger Image by Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy April 4, 2017

On April 7th, a new exhibition is opening at the Norton Simon Museum in sunny (I’m assuming) Pasadena that has Sisterhood written all over it. “Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California”, curated by Gloria Williams Sander, will showcase European modernist art in the context of the Jewish “trailblazing impresario” who brought their works to Californian viewers. According to the exhibition press release, “Scheyer was born Emilie Esther Scheyer in Braunschweig, Germany, in 1889, to a middle-class Jewish family,” and in her work as an art dealer was “responsible for the art phenomenon the ‘Blue Four’ — Lyonel Feininger, Alexei Jawlensky, Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky.” Impressive! Seems like a compelling art exhibit, and Scheyer herself sounds like a fascinating woman.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at [email protected]. She is the author of “The Perils Of ‘Privilege’”, from St. Martin’s Press. Follow her on Twitter, @tweetertation

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.