In the USA and Mexico

Galka Emmy Scheyer’s work with German journalists, museum directors and gallery directors was marked by heated arguments. Her circle of acquaintances in America included the patrons Evelyn S. Mayer, Marjorie Eaton, Ruth McClymond’s Maitland, the young John Cage and the married couple Walter and Louise Arensberg. The fact that she was able to sell them numerous works by The Blue Four group was a great help to the painters.

Photo: Louise Arensberg, Walter Arensberg, Marcel Duchamp, Hollywood, 1936
Arensberg Archives, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

In the bohemian world of Los Angeles, Galka Scheyer was close friends with the film stars Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, the composer Ernest Bloch and the architects Rudolph M. Schindler and Richard J. Neutra. In order to persuade gallery owner Earl Stendahl to put on an exhibition, she stood around for five hours at a horse race. „But I really feel uneasy among these millionaires!“ she lamented, after also spending a lot of time with the „gangster actor“ Edward G. Robinson. She was, however, very enthusiastic about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Photo: Marlene Dietrich
Filmmuseum Berlin – Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek