Von Beckerath was born in
Krefeld. His family was involved in the textile industry. They were friends of
Johannes Brahms, and Von Beckerath painted several portraits of the composer. Von Beckerath studied at the
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1885 to 1895, with
Heinrich Lauenstein,
Hugo Crola,
Adolf Schill and
Peter Janssen. Following his graduation, he went to Munich. In 1896, he was awarded a small gold medal at the . He initially focused on religious art, but soon turned to mythological themes, influenced by
Max Klinger. Von Beckerath made a charcoal drawing of Brahms at the piano with crossed hand in 1896, and a tempura painting of the motif in 1911. Brahms would often play his Rhapsody in G minor which features crossed hands. He married Luise Schultz (1872–1958), a pianist, in 1899. They had two sons, who became a cellist with the
Munich Philharmonic, and
Rudolf who became a master
organ builder. In 1902, Von Beckerath co-founded, together with the architect Karl Bertsch (1873–1933) and
Adelbert Niemeyer, the , a workshop for craftsmanship in Munich. Five years later, it merged with the , owned by the furniture manufacturer
Karl Schmidt-Hellerau, under the new name
Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau. Von Beckerath designed furniture and also furnishings for churches such as pews, confessionals, baptismal fonts, holy water basins and small sculptures. To optimise production, a
company town named
Hellerau was created outside of Dresden. It was conceived as a Catholic-social reform quarter. Around the same time, the sculpture hall at the
Kunsthalle Bremen was redesigned by the architects and Eduard Runge (?-1944) with decorative wall panels by the stage designer . Murals for the panels were provided by Von Beckerath, after whom the hall was ultimately named. His mural in three parts depicts naked persons in a landscape, who pick fruits, make music, play or bathe. The colours are light and cool, to represent enjoyment and rest. From 1907 to 1931, he was professor of at the in Hamburg (now
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg). Inspired by the reform movement, he tried to close the gap between "high" art and "low"
applied art. A new school building, designed by
Fritz Schumacher, was opened in 1913. From then until 1918, Beckerath worked on a large eight-part wall mural to decorate the Aula assembly hall. Titled ''
(The Eternal Wave
), it depicts the rise and fall of a human cultural era, rising and falling, in eight parts. The artwork forms a bond of architecture and painting, with the canvas mount in the wall. Considered to be his magnum opus, it was dedicated with a speech by the art historian and cultural theorist, Aby Warburg. Die ewige Welle'' was covered with monochrome plaster in the 1950s, but the whole Aula was restored over five years to its original appearance, for the centenary in 2013. Von Beckerath made two large biblical paintings, (
The Sermon of St. John, 1907) and (
Crucifixion, 1910). He donated them in 1931 to the village church of . They could not be installed immediately, and after the Nazis assumed power in 1933, their style was no longer welcome. Von Beckerath died in
Irschenhausen at age 69. ==References==