What’s hiding in front of you? And why aren’t you seeing it? I asked myself this. I purchased this painting from a dealer about 2 years ago while set up at Brimfield. He purchased it from a dealer who bought it out of an apartment in NYC. Both of these dealers know how to look for a signature. So when I was told by the seller that he couldn’t figure out who painted it, I took his words at face value and closed the book on any research.

When I returned home from Brimfield I hung it in my apartment and forgot about it. Forgot to be curious. Forgot to be someone who looks, who sees what is hiding in plain sight. And so last night while my daughters and I were watching TV, I glanced up at the painting and looked. Taking it off the wall and scanning the front for a signature, I saw nothing. And so I flipped it over to check the back.



There it was. ANNOT 96 5th AVE N.Y. I hung the painting back and grabbed my phone. In about 3 seconds I saw. Annot Jacobi nee Anna Ottillie Krigar-Menzel. Her life was full of passion. She was born in 1894 in Germany to a well to do family of artists, composers, professors and singers. Annot’s studies in art began in Berlin around 1914 and in 1916 she became part of the Berlin Succession, a group that admitted few, if any, women artists.



At 22 she fought against WWI by producing a series of pacifist articles and was jailed for 30 days. After her release, she moved to Oslo where she continued to work for peace. Four years later she returned to Berlin and joined several pacifist organizations. Her art was receiving attention and acclaim. There were gallery shows and her art was purchased by the National Gallery in Berlin.



She married and together she and her husband opened an art school. When the Nazis rose to power and demanded that they dismiss the Jewish students, they refused. Her art was confiscated, deemed degenerate and destroyed. They escaped to NYC and opened an art school in Rockefeller Center. More exhibitions. More accolades. She continued to work for peace as WWII raged. Their lives continued as does her story for anyone who cares to look. ;-) hkv