He knows from Max Beckmann

So, one afternoon I ran into a friend, Jonathan, who had just come from the Max Beckmann exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I had a bad boyfriend who was a bad artist who pretended he was Max Beckmann, so I know from Beckmann.  I asked, “How was it?”  “Great,” he said, "and a little emotional.”  Jonathan too knows from Beckmann.   

Jonathan’s Great Grandfather, Ludwig Schames had a Beckmann hanging in his living room.  Ludwig, part of the thriving art community in Frankfurt before WWII, had owned an art gallery.  Ludwig represented many prominent artists of the time particularly those in the German Expressionist movement  – Max Beckmann, Ernest Ludwig Kirchner and Ludwig’s brother, Fritz Schames.  Until of course, the Nazis came to power.  

Ludwig and Fritz Schames, both Jews, escaped Germany in 1938, just in the nick of time. Ludwig had brought with him only a small amount of art from his collection. If you’ve ever seen the movie Woman In Gold, you know a little bit about the confiscation and destruction of art that was owned by Jews. Jonathan thinks Ludwig might have had an agent help sell off his large collection of art before escaping Nazi Germany.

Ten years ago Jonathan was on a business trip in Frankfurt and very spontaneously decided to visit the Frankfurt Jewish museum. He walked in to see a big banner that proclaimed a special exhibit on the art of Fritz Schames. He thought, isn’t he my uncle?  A quick call to his Aunt Harriet the family genealogist, and she said, “of course, he’s your great uncle.”

Fritz Schames died in the 1960s but his wife, Edith lived until the 1990s.  When she passed away the family noticed that she had no art left, apparently she had been selling it off bit by bit to survive.

So it seems as if a circuitous route took Jonathan back to his family legacy when he chanced upon the exhibit honoring his Great-Uncle in Frankfurt and later when he decided to visit the Beckmann exhibition at the Met. Emotional and great.