Galka Emmy Scheyer

Jawlensky impressed her very much. She painted only rarely, for example in Ascona in Italian-speaking Switzerland. There she met the painter Arthur Segal and other dropouts who lived on Monte Verità. They noticed that Jawlensky called her Galka, the Russian word for jackdaw, and copied him. Emmy Scheyer decided to promote Jawlensky with exhibitions and lectures. Through him she met Paul Klee, and later Lyonel Feininger and Wassily Kandinsky too. She made plans to make these four painters more popular in the United States than they were at that point.

Emmy E. Scheyer, Ascona, circa 1918
Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection Archives, Pasadena, California

She founded the group The Blue Four with these four painters and moved to New York in 1924, a year later to California. She organized many exhibitions of The Blue Four and other artists, but saw herself not as an art dealer but more as an art mediator. Gradually she built up a large art collection. In 1931, Galka Emmy Scheyer was given American citizenship. In hardship, both politically and financially, it became increasingly important for her to encourage children and young people to paint in a free style. She died in Hollywood on December 13, 1945.

Galka Scheyer, Hollywood, circa 1930
Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection Archives, Pasadena, California