Lisbeth Ey (seated), ca 1930 -by Robert Pudlich

Johanna (Lisbeth) Ey started life as a baker, owning a bakery opposite the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts. She soon became an art collector by default as she began accepting paintings as payment for food. Within 6 years she had closed her bakery and opened an art gallery on the Hindenburg wall and was to become one of the most important art dealers in Germany during the 1920s. She became known as Mutter Ey (Mother Ey) for her nurturing support she provided to her artists, who included Max Ernst and Otto Dix. She was the main patron to Dix and was the subject of many of his paintings. She died in 1947 at the age of 83. (text from the PdP catalog)