Hilla von Rebay

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Hildegard Anna Augusta Elizabeth Freiin^[1] Rebay von Ehrenwiesen, Baroness Hilla von Rebay, or simply Hilla Rebay, was one of the few female abstract painters in the beginning of the 20th century.

She came from a German noble family (b. 31 May 1890, Strasbourg, Alsace - d. 27 September 1967 in Greens Farms, Connecticut, aged 77). She lived in Berlin for a while, before moving to the United States in 1927.

She was also an avid art-collector, and a long-time friend and confidante of Solomon R. Guggenheim, and helped him buy various artworks to establish the Guggenheim Museum in New York. She was also the one who chose architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design the museum.

Apart from her meticulous taste in modern art, and painting many pieces herself, she was rumoured to be difficult and bossy. She had a good rapport with Solomon Guggenheim, but not with the rest of the family, especially his niece Peggy. She was internally called "the B", (not for "baroness"), and when Guggenheim died, the family expelled her from the board of directors. When the museum was finally opened up, she was not even invited for the opening. She never set foot in the museum she essentially helped create. Embittered, she retreated from public life and spend many years at her estate in Westport, CT, where she continued to meet many artists, including Kandinsky, and Chagall. She died in 1967.

In 2005, nearly forty years after her death, the Guggenheim Museum honored von Rebay, featuring a special exhibition on her role in the foundation, as well as her artworks. Part of her exhibit demonstrates her amazingly intricate collages of people, as well as modern art images that she put together very carefully. The exhibit is scheduled to travel through Europe. The Hilla von Rebay Foundation is an artist foundation.

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↑ Note regarding personal names: Freiin is a title, translated as Baroness, not a first or middle name. The title is for the unmarried daughters of a Freiherr.