Beckett in Hamburg - 13th November 1936

Friday, 13th November 1936

Hildebrand Gurlitt's Art Cabinet.
Ilse Lynn Schneider.

In Gurlitts Kunstkabinett (Gurlitt's Art Cabinet) Beckett views works by Max
Beckmann and etchings by Otto Dix. In the private rooms there are drawings by
Stegemann, paintings by Fiedler, Nolde and Spitzweg. Sculptures by Ruwoldt and
Gessner.Afterwards he hurries to Ilse Lynn Schneider*, Böttgerstraße 14, then 22 years old, with whom he attempts to flirt – ultimately without success.

*Ilse Lynn Schneider was born 1914 in London, her father, Hermann Schneider,
was a businessman from Hamburg, her mother was English. She became married
in 1940. Today one of her two daughters teaches at Emory University in Atlanta/Georgia, home to the project "The Correspondence of Samuel Beckett".
She was unaware of Beckett's "personal relationship" to her mother.

Hildebrand Gurlitt

Ilse Lynn Schneider

Mother and brother

Böttgerstrasse 14

The Schneiders' living room

Beckman (sic) strong & interesting, with excellent colour sense. Some admirable seascapes & a hilly wooded road... A nightmare talent, a George Grosz of mutilation.

About Ilse Lynn Schneider: »... Das Mädchen, dessen Schönheit wie ein Gärstoff sie mir in den Kopf eingeführt haben ... usw.« Ilse Lynn Schneider Fräulein charming & extremely goodlooking... She might easily become important, so defenceless am I now, defencelessly on the defence.
And on 20.11: She is a pleasant disappointment.