Marianne (Ari) Lahs (nee Matthiae), was born in 1910 in Dessau, Germany. She was the daughter of Curt Matthiae, cellist and concertmaster at the Dessau Theatre. She began painting and drawing at an early age, having been inspired by the Dessau Bauhaus artists like Paul Klee and Wassily Kandsky, who encouraged her to attend art school in Berlin. In her teen years, Dessau was home to the Bauhaus and Lahs was inspired by the rich theatre, art and music offerings. When she graduated from high school, she traveled to Berlin to become a student at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, where she met Curt Lahs, who would become one of her professors. She and Curt Lahs married in 1934 after they were both expelled from the school by the Nazis in 1933, because they were anti-Nazi and their work had been declared by them to be "degenerate.” They spent the next 12 years moving around Europe--living in Southern France, Yugoslavia, and Italy-- before returning to Germany in 1945. Ari Lahs continued to make her art while she was mother to two children, Angela and Christian. She rarely exhibited and most of her early work was lost in air raids during World War II, but after the war ended, she devoted herself full time to making art and produced a stunning body of work in tempera and later colored ballpoint pen. Ari Lahs passed away in Berlin in 1998.

Known Exhibitions:

December 8, 1946 January 31, 1947 Malerei, Graphik, Plastik der Gegenwart Ausstellung im Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig (Both Curt and Marianne Lahs exhibited. Marianne Lahs, Halle, Pastell 111 Disteln, Pastell 112 Ebene und Bäume, Pastell 113 Waldbach, Pastell 114 Waldwinkel.

May 9 - June 29, 1947 Kunstaustellung der Provinz Sachsen - Malerei - Plastik - Grafik, Stadtmuseum in der Moritzburg, Halle - 86 artists incl: Aussteller: Amicus, Bachmann, Bachmann-Ruffert, Barheine, Bartels, Baust, Behrendt, Beye, Biedermann, Blaschke, Bruse, Budde, Büttner, Bunge, Butter, Crodel, Deisenroth, Dötsch, Dohndorf, Fielietz-Kremer, Fischer-Lamberg, Erik Freitag, Frey, Freytag-Schrauth, Gohlke, Griepentrog, Mareile Grimm, Grothe, Grzimek, Gutjahr, Hahn, Hahs,Hahs-Hofstetter, Heinze, Heise, Heller, Höpfner, Horn, Homann-Webau, Johl, Kieser-Maruhn,Kindling, Knispel, Curt und Marianne Lahs, Lenné, Leonhard, Lewecke, Lewecke-Weyde, Maas,Mallwitz, Marholz, Mayer-Günther, Margarete und Oskar Moll, Karl Müller, Otto Müller, Neufahrt,Neymeyer, Paul, Propf, Prüstel, Reinmann-Hübner, Rentsch, Roderich-Huch, Rödel Wörmlitz, Rotermund, Rübbert, Ruhmedr, Schleicher, von Schemm, Schmidt-Uphoff, Schröder, Splett,Friedrich und Brunhilde Stein, Stockmann, Tschaplewitz, Ullrich, Karl und Kurt Völker, Franziska Wagner, Wagner-Gebensleben, Weidanz, Werner, Zilling.

May - June 1, 1948 1 Jahr Galerie Henning – Malerei und Grafik, Incl.: Bachmann, Barlach, Crodel, Ehmsen, Hofer, Kaus, Lahs, Otto Müller, Orlowski, Partikel, Pechstein, Richter, Rödel, Ruthenberg, Rübbert,Saal and Winkler

May 2- July 5 1948 Grosse Kunstausstellung 1948 Sachsen-Anhalt: Halle (Saale) im Städt. Museum in der Moritzburg [Malerei, Plastik, Graphik] Städtischen Museum der Moritzburg, 86 painters including Curt and Marianne Lahs, (Works: LAHS, Ari, Halle, geb. 1910-148 Felsgruppe I (Querformat), Pastell 149 Felsgruppe II (Hochformat), Pastell 150 Blumen und Federn, Pastell 151 Baumwurzeln Pastell)..