The Galka Scheyer House, Richard Neutra, Architect, 1934

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First offering since 1978: The Galka Scheyer House, 1934. Richard Neutra, Architect. Second story addition in 1936 by Gregory Ain, Architect. Dubbed the "Maven of Modernism" and given the nickname "Galka" (inquisitive crow) by Alexej von Jawlenski, Scheyer broke the proverbial glass ceiling in the art world long before the term was used. Overwhelmed by Jawlensky's "hunchback" painting she first saw at a 1915 exhibition in Lausanne, Switzerland, the pair developed a close friendship that lasted until just before her death in 1945. That friendship led to Scheyer's formation and naming of the "Blue Four" artists that also included Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. A German emigre, Scheyer lived at Rudolph Schindler's Kings Road House in 1931 where she met former tenants Richard and Dione Neutra. She hired Neutra in 1933 to design and build (with Gregory Ain) a truly "modern house" to be used as a residence and gallery for the art she was promoting and collecting.