Anna Hackel, also referred to as Anna Haskel, was born in August, 1864 in Wolfersdorf, Bohemia. She came from a humble farming background and experienced more than a fair share of death for such a young woman. Her parents died while she was still a girl and she was widowed after three years of marriage in 1887. Sadly, the deaths of her children at an early age added to this terrible hardship. Anna made a living making butter and had little time for recreational activities. However, the urge to create art intensified, and in her fiftieth year she felt her hand led by a higher power. The result of this force was the production of curious, and often symmetrical, floral designs in coloured crayons. A considerable amount of her extant works are dated in the early 1930s. At this time she was taking part in group exhibitions in Switzerland and France and was starting to gain recognition. It was reported in one exhibition review that she had completed several thousand works and they quoted the artist saying “I do not need to concentrate on my work, but can talk and otherwise occupy myself at the same time.” During these exhibitions Anna was showing her work alongside well known artists such as: Odilon Redon, Victor Hugo, William Blake and Heinrich Nusslein.
Works by Anna Hackel work can be found in the following collections: La Collection Saint-Anne, Paris, Museum of Everything, London and in CoMA, Germany.