Galka Scheyer (b. Germany, 1889–d. Los Angeles, 1945) was a collector, dealer, curator and, above all, dedicated champion of European modernism. As the founder and representative of the group of artists known as the Blue Four, Scheyer was instrumental in bringing examples of their innovative, avant-garde work to California. For close to 30 years, she collected and promoted early 20th-century art, first in San Francisco and then in Los Angeles, where she lived from 1925 until her death.

Scheyer’s charismatic presence and personal relationships with artists inspired dozens of portraits, including this drawing by Edward Hagedorn. Scheyer offered support and encouragement to the young Bay Area artist, and he in turn was deeply shaped by the exhibitions of abstract art that she organized. This affectionate homage to the impresario highlights Hagedorn’s gift for caricature. Perched atop a wooden crate, Scheyer admires a drawing presented by a gentle giant—an invented figure bearing no resemblance to the artist himself. The number 4 on the drawing, along with its linear abstractions, alludes to her Blue Four artists.