Johanna Ey (4 March 1864 – 27 August 1947) was a German

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

during the 1920s. She became known as ''Mutter Ey'' (Mother Ey) for the nurturing support she provided to her artists, who included Max Ernst and Otto Dix.

Biography

Ey was born in humble circumstances in Wickrath (today a quarter of

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

). At the age of 19 she moved to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. She married and had twelve children, of whom eight died young. In 1910, middle aged and divorced, she opened a bakery in the proximity of the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts. This became a popular meeting place of actors, journalists, musicians and especially painters, who appreciated her policy of granting credit to artists and students. She displayed their works in her shop windows, and became a collector of art by accepting paintings as payment. In 1916 she closed her café and opened a gallery on the Hindenburgwall (today

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

avenue), where she showed works by academic painters. In the years following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, however, the gallery became the center of the artists of the "Junge Rheinland" (Young Rhineland) group. Ey initially decided to exhibit their art not for theoretical or economic reasons, but rather because of her personal friendships with the artists, although she quickly became an energetic proponent of

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. Her support for her artists extended even to darning their socks, and she defended Wollheim and

Dix DIX or Dix may refer to: Computing * Danish Internet Exchange Point, in Copenhagen * Data Integrity Extensions, data corruption error-handling field in data storage technology * Device Independent X, part of the 2D graphics device driver in ...

when they were hauled into court on charges that their paintings were immoral.Michalsky 1994, p. 126. During the 1920s, she was frequently painted by the artists in her circle, notably by Dix in 1924, and in 1925 by

Arthur Kaufmann Arthur Kaufmann (4 April 1872 in Iași, Romania – 25 July 1938 in Vienna) was an Austrian attorney, philosopher and chess master. Life Kaufmann was the second son of a wealthy, Jewish merchant family in Iaşi, Romania. In early childhood, he m ...

, who placed her at the center of his composition ''Contemporaries (Düsseldorf's Intellectual Scene)''. According to art historian Sergiusz Michalsky, "Johanna Ey's portrait was painted more often than that of any other woman in Germany." With the rise to power of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

in 1933, nearly all the artists associated with Ey were denounced as degenerate artists; most were also political opponents of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

. In April 1934 Johanna Ey gave up running her gallery. She died in Düsseldorf in 1947. Among the artists associated with Ey's gallery were Max Ernst, Otto Dix, Otto Pankok,

Gert Heinrich Wollheim Gert Heinrich Wollheim (11 September 1894 – 22 April 1974) was a German expressionist painter later associated with the New Objectivity, who fled nazi Germany and worked in the United States after 1947. Life and work Gert Heinrich Wollheim wa ...

Ulrich Leman Ulrich Leman (15 October 1885 – 22 April 1988) was a German painter. Born in Düsseldorf, he became interested in painting at an early age and in 1919 he co-founded the group "The Young Rheinland" with other young painters of the day, including ...

, ,

Adolf Uzarski Adolf Uzarski (April 14, 1885 – July 14, 1970) was a German writer, artist, and illustrator associated with the New Objectivity movement. He was born in Ruhrort bei Duisburg and studied at the Cologne School of Architecture before enrolling in 1 ...

, , , , Jankel Adler, , Franz Monjau, , and Curt Lahs.

Notes

References

*Karcher, Eva (1988). ''Otto Dix 1891-1969: His Life and Works''. Cologne: Benedikt

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

. *Michalski, Sergiusz (1994). ''New Objectivity''. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen. *Schmied, Wieland (1978). ''Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the Twenties''. London: Arts Council of Great Britain.

External links

* Michael Hausmann: ''Johanna Ey: a critical reappraisal.'' University of Birmingham, 2010: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/volltexte/2013/2351
Painting of Johanna by Otto Dix

* ttp://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.227053&lon=6.774489&zoom=18&layers=M Best seen from Andreasstrasse {{DEFAULTSORT:Ey, Johanna 1864 births 1947 deaths German art dealers German art collectors Women art collectors 19th-century art collectors 20th-century art collectors People from the Rhine Province People from Mönchengladbach