Ratkowski, Anne 1903-

Anne Ratkowsi-Wanger was born Anneliese Ratkowski on March 3, 1903 in Berlin.

From 1920-1938, she was married to the painter Nikolaus Braun (born January 17, 1900 in Berlin; died 1950 in New York City). Her son, Andreas (later Andy Duncan-Brown), was born on Nov. 12, 1930 in Berlin.

Anne Ratkowski and Nikolaus Braun were members of the November Group (Novembergruppe), a loose union of radical artists, which was created in December 1918 in Berlin under the impression of the November revolution (other members included the painters Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee). Both burned their works before escaping Nazi Germany in 1938.

Anne Ratkowski went to Belgium, where she survived in hiding, and where she married Paul Wangenheim. After World War II, the couple emigrated to the United States and changed their name to Wanger. Anne Ratkowski settled in New York City.

Arthur Segal was born in Iaşi, Bukovina Province, Romania in 1875. As a member of an older generation of avant-garde artists, he was a teacher and mentor to Braun and Ratkowski. With them and several other artists he founded the November Group (Novembergruppe) of politically radical artists in Berlin, but he already had a long history in the Avant-Garde. He had namely already exhibited with the groups Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke, and had been a founding member of the Neue Sezession in Berlin; during the 1920s he showed work at the Cabaret Voltaire. He was also active as a teacher and wrote several books. Because of his Jewish background, he was no longer permitted to exhibit in Germany under Nazi rule, so he fled first to Mallorca and then to London. In London he set up an art school, and died there in 1944.

From the guide to the Anne Ratkowski-Wanger Collection, 1920-1994, (Leo Baeck Institute Archives)