SHEROES OF PHOTOGRAPHY
EXHIBITION Apr 28 — Oct 20, 2023















SIBYLLE BERGEMANN (1941–2010)
Ghana, 2000
c-print, printed 2000-2010
120 x 90,5 cm
© Nachlass Sibylle Bergemann; Ostkreuz

SIBYLLE BERGEMANN (1941–2010)
Ghana, 2000
c-print, printed 2000-2010
92,5 x 97 cm
© Nachlass Sibylle Bergemann; Ostkreuz

SIBYLLE BERGEMANN (1941–2010)
Cheick und Mustafah, Dakar, Senegal, Design: Oumou Sy, 2001
c-print, printed 2000-2010
92 x 124 cm
© Nachlass Sibylle Bergemann; Ostkreuz

EDITH BUCH (1933–2020)
Puppenaugen / Dolls' Eyes, 1950
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1950-195
18,3 x 24,1 cm
© Estate Edith Buch-Duttlinger

MARTA HOEPFFNER (1912–2000)
Afrikanische Kunst / African Art, 1935
tempera on board with vintage gelatin silver print collage, nailed to original stepped, black wood mount
49,2 x 38,1 cm
© Estate Marta Hoepffner

ALICE LEX-NERLINGER (1893–1975)
Autorennfahrer, Berlin / Race-Driver, Berlin, 1926
gelatin silver print of a photogram, printed ca. 1926
24 x 17,9 cm
© Estate Alice Lex-Nerlinger

MONIKA DIETZ (*1932)
Helga auf der Leiter / Helga on the ladder, 1950
gelatin silver print, solarized, printed ca. 1950
30 x 23,9 cm
© Monika Dietz

LOTTE JACOBI (1896–1990)
Lotte Lenya, ca. 1928
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978
17,3 x 22 cm
© Lotte Jacobi Collection, University of New Hampshire

SIBYLLE BERGEMANN (1941–2010)
Heike, Allerleirauh, 1988
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1988
39,9 x 27,4 cm
© Nachlass Sibylle Bergemann; Ostkreuz

URSULA ARNOLD (1929–2012)
Leipzig, 1956
gelatin silver print, early print
34,5 x 25,6 cm
© Ursula Arnold Archiv der Ostdeutschen Sparkassenstiftung im Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

GERTRUDE KÄSEBIER (1852–1934)
Happy Days, 1903
photogravure, printed ca. 1905
20,2 x 15,9 cm
© Public Domain

BARBARA KLEMM (*1939)
Belfast, Nordirland, 1986
28,3 X 38,6 cm
© Barbara Klemm

RUTH HALLENSLEBEN (1898–1977)
Firma Stinnes, Essen, Kokereianlage / Stinnes Company Essen, Coking Plant, 1957
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1957
21,3 x 17 cm
© Estate of the Artist

ANNELIESE HAGER (1904–1997)
Fotogramm, 1947
unique photogram on gelatin silver paper, ca. 1947-1949
23,6 x 17,7 cm
© Estate Anneliese Hager

ELFRIEDE STEGEMEYER (1908–1988)
Fotogramm / Photogram, 1932
unique photogram on gelatin silver paper, 1932
15,4 x 23,5 cm
© Estate of the Artist

MARIANNE BRESLAUER (1909–2001)
Sommer / Summer, 1929
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1929
28,6 x 21,9 cm
© Estate Marianne Breslauer

GRIT KALLIN-FISCHER (1897–1973)
Untitled (Design for Gebrauchsgraphik Magazine), 1929
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1929-1930
17,9 x 22,9 cm
© Estate of the Artist

MARTA HOEPFFNER (1912–2000)
Komposition mit Archipenko-Skulptur / Composition with Archipenko Sculpture, 1943
gelatin silver print, printed later
29,8 x 23,3 cm
© Estate Marta Hoepffner

FLORENCE HENRI (1893–1982)
Komposition / Composition, 1928
photoemulsion on canvas, mounted on stretcher, printed 1974
53,8 x 74,8 cm
© Estate of the Artist and ICP

LUCIA MOHOLY (1894–1989)
Untitled (Study by Thoma Grote, Preliminary Course László Moholy-Nagy (Bauhaus Weimar), 1924
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1924
15,7 x 11 cm
© Estate of the Artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2023

JAROSLAVA HATLÁKOVÁ (1904–1989)
Teleso v prostoru / Body in Space, 1936
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1950s-1960s
23,7 x 18,1 cm
© Estate of the Artist

CHARLOTTE RUDOLPH (1896–1983)
Untitled (Dancer Mary Wigman in 'Feierliche Gestalt'), 1928
gelatin silver print, mounted on original board, printed ca. 1928
17,2 x 22,9 cm
© Estate of the Artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

AENNE BIERMANN (1898–1933)
Sohn Gerd / Son Gerd, ca. 1930
gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930
22,9 x 17,5 cm
© Biermann Family

ELFRIEDE STEGEMEYER (1908–1988)
Fotogramm (mit Spiegel) / Photogram (with mirror), 1934
unique photogram on gelatin silver paper, 1934
23,8 x 17,8 cm
© Estate of the Artist

LISETTE MODEL (1901–1983)
Untitled (Jumper), ca. 1940
unique gelatin silver print, mounted on cardboard, this between two sheets of plexiglas, printed 1980
101,2 x 79,6 cm
© 2023 Estate of Lisette Model
Exhibition Text
On the occasion of Gallery Weekend 2023, Kicken Berlin will be opening a further installment of the exhibition series SHEROES OF PHOTOGRAPHY, which was successfully initiated in 2021. The neologism shero expresses explicit appreciation of the achievements of women artists in photography. The sheroes of photography unite the self-assured practice of a modern medium with diverse perspectives on reality.
Following the opening group show and the individual presentations of the work of Tata Ronkholz, Jitka Hanzlová, and Sibylle Bergemann in 2021–22, part five of this series focuses on various artists from the nineteenth century to the present in a dialogical survey.
One focus is the photography avant-garde in the interwar period with Bauhaus artists such as Gertrud Arndt, Grit Kallin-Fischer, and Lucia Moholy. Like no other, Moholy influenced the contemporary view of the Bauhaus, immortalizing works, objects, and buildings in her objective and precise photographs.
The women masters of studio photography created staged works that are equally subtle and surreal—from Gertrud Käsebier, the pioneer of Pictorialism, and Lotte Jacobi, who made portraits of Berlin’s avant-garde artists and icons of her time including actress Lotte Lenya, to Charlotte Rudolph, who produced vivid portraits of dancers and is especially known for her ingenious portraits of the Expressionist dancer Mary Wigman.
The methods of Neues Sehen (New Vision) are presented with photographs by Aenne Biermann, Marianne Breslauer, and Elfriede Stegemeyer. Marta Hoepffner, who studied with Willi Baumeister at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, used techniques of collage and montage to establish photography self-evidently in the canon of the modern arts. In this spirit, Alice Lex-Nerlinger also merged abstraction and collage. The European avant-garde of the interwar period is likewise manifested in photographs by Czech artist Jaroslava Hatlaková. Finally, Florence Henri, who was rooted both in the Bauhaus and Parisian modernism, reinterpreted her own iconic shots.
The transition to mid-century modernism is represented by the experimental photograms of Anneliese Hager. Otto Steinert not only curated exhibitions on subjective photography in Saarbrücken; he also deeply influenced a great number of women photographers. Monika Dietz and Edith Buch, two creators of surreal imagery who take up the thread of the avant-garde, both come from Steinert’s class at the School of Arts and Crafts in Saarbrücken.
Women photographers in West and East Germany have repeatedly followed and personally articulated documentary traditions. Ruth Hallensleben, one of the few women industrial photographers, documented factory buildings in objective images starting in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s Barbara Klemm and Sibylle Bergemann established very personal narrative perspectives.
The Sheroes of Photography made extraordinarily innovative achievements for many decades, and their works continually engaged in productive dialogs with artistic ways of seeing. Their diverse perspectives on reality are united in their self-evident practice of one of the most important media of modernism.
Carolin Förster
Installation photographs: Ludger Paffrath
Newsletters
Artists
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Gertrud Arndt
1903–2000
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Ursula Arnold
1929–2012
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Sibylle Bergemann
1941–2010
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Aenne Biermann
1898–1933
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Marianne Breslauer
1909-2001
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Anneliese Hager
1904-1997
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Ruth Hallensleben
1898–1977
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Jaroslava Hatláková
1904–1989
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Florence Henri
1893–1982
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Marta Hoepffner
1912–2000
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Lotte Jacobi
1896–1990
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Gertrude Käsebier
1852–1934
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Grit Kallin-Fischer
1897–1973
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Barbara Klemm
*1939
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Lisette Model
1901–1983
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Lucia Moholy
1894–1989
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Elfriede Stegemeyer
1908-1988