Category: 1930s

Drtikol · Cut-outs · early 1930s

František Drtikol (1883-1961) ~ Composition, 1931 | src Gitterman Gallery ~ Czech Avant-Garde 2023
František Drtikol (1883-1961) ~ Soul, 1930 | src Gitterman Gallery ~ Czech Avant-Garde 2023

Czech Avant-Garde at Gitterman Gallery ~ Nov 14 – Dec 22, 2023

Gitterman Gallery presents a selection of avant-garde Czech photography with a focus on rare vintage works by two seminal figures, František Drtikol and Josef Sudek. Each created exquisite prints that added dimension to their innovative visions.

František Drtikol’s (1883-1961) photographs are distinctly emblematic of the Art Deco period (1920s and 30s) by merging styles of Symbolism, Pictorialism, and Modernism. Though most known for his Pictorial images of nudes in Modernist stagings, we highlight a series from the early 1930s he referred to as “photopurism.” In this series, he photographed paper cut-outs and carved wood figures, as Mannerist silhouettes of the human form, in geometric abstract environments, to explore themes of Buddhism. He gave up photography in 1935 to concentrate on painting.

František Drtikol (1883-1961) ~ Composition, ca. 1930 | src Gitterman Gallery ~ Czech Avant-Garde 2023
František Drtikol (1883-1961) ~ Composition, 1930 | src Gitterman Gallery ~ Czech Avant-Garde 2023

Gerdago by Atelier Manassé

Atelier Manassé ~ Gerda Gottschlich [Gerda Gottstein, Gerda Irro], genannt Gerdago, 1920s | src Lempertz
Atelier Manassé ~ Costume-design by Austrian costume-designer Gerdago (Gerda Gottschlich), 1932 | src getty images
Atelier Manassé ~ Costume-design by Austrian costume-designer Gerdago (Gerda Gottschlich), 1932 | src getty images
Atelier Manassé ~ Austrian costume-designer Gerdago [Gerda Gottstein (1906-2004)], Vienna, ca. 1930 | src getty images

Dora Maar in Autochrome

Dora Maar (1907-1997) ~ Autoportrait, vers 1935 (Autochrome) (detail) | src Centre Pompidou
Dora Maar (1907-1997) ~ Autoportrait, vers 1935 (Autochrome) (detail) | src Centre Pompidou
Dora Maar (1907-1997) ~ Autoportrait, vers 1935 (Autochrome) | src Centre Pompidou

Slavenska in Triumphant David

Mia Slavenska in ‘Triumphant David’. Paris, theatre Cite Universitaire, December 1936. (Detail) | src getty images
Mia Slavenska in ‘Triumphant David’. Paris, theatre Cite Universitaire, December 1936. (Roger-Viollet) | src getty images
Mia Slavenska in ‘Triumphant David’. Paris, theatre Cite Universitaire, December 1936. (Roger-Viollet) | src getty images

Mia Slavenska bending back

Mia Čorak Slavenska (1916-2002): one of the greatest ballerinas of all time who was also called a masterpiece of human mechanics Photographer’s blindstamp on right bottom (G. Reputin?) Zagreb | src Zadovoljna

La Jana in the film Truxa · 1937

La Jana. Tanzszene aus dem Film ‘Truxa‘ mit Tamburin. Regie: Hans H. Zerlett, nach dem Roman von Heinrich Seiler. Deutschland, 1936 (23.01.1936) | src getty images
Truxa (1937) Illustrierter Film-Kurier (IFK) Filmprogramm Nr. 2564 (BFK : Berliner Film-Kurier) | src eBay
La Jana (aka Jenny Hiebel) in a dance scene with a tambourine from the movie 'Truxa' (Hans H. Zerlett, 1937). Published by 'Die Dame' 04/1937 | src getty images
La Jana (aka Jenny Hiebel) in a dance scene with a tambourine from the movie ‘Truxa’ (Hans H. Zerlett, 1937). Published by ‘Die Dame’ 04/1937 | src getty images
La Jana [b. Henriette Margarethe Hiebel] in the film ‘Truxa‘ (Hans H. Zerlett, 1937) | src getty images
La Jana in a dance scene from the movie ‘Truxa’ (Hans H. Zerlett, 1936). Published by Berliner Morgenpost 18.01.1937 | src getty images
La Jana and Ernst Fritz Fürbringer in ‘Truxa‘ (Regie: Hans H. Zerlett). Published by ‘Hier Berlin’ 36/1936 | src getty images
La Jana in the film ‘Truxa’. Regie: Hans H. Zerlett (1937). Published by ‘B.Z.’ 14.08.1936 | src getty images

Fred Peel · Vase and maid · ca. 1935

Fred P. Peel (active ca. 1920s-1930s) ~ The Vase and the Maid, ca. 1935. The Royal Photographic Society Coll. | src getty images
Fred P. Peel (active ca. 1920s-1930s) ~ The Vase and the Maid, ca. 1935. The Royal Photographic Society coll. V&A museum

Volcano in eruption, New Zealand

A group of people watching the eruption of Mount Ngauruhoe. Likely taken by Charles Frederick Newham on 18 May 1926 from the Mangatepopo Track. | src Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22597471
Mount Ngauruhoe emitting smoke, with group in foreground watching. Likely taken by Charles Frederick Newham. Ref: 1/2-057225-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22822662
Alternative rendition of photograph on top of this post
Carl Risberg ~ Mount Ngauruhoe in eruption, 9 December 1934, Chateau Tongariro. Tongariro National Park
src Museum of New Zealand /Te Papa Tongarewa

the smokers · 1930s

Alexander Khlebnikov ~ Cigarette advertisement, 1931. Matte photographic paper, hand-printed. | src Museum of the Russian Photography
Georges-Louis Arlaud ~ La fumeuse, vers 1930 @ Paris photo fair 2023 | src galerie lumiere des roses on IG
La fumeuse, vers 1930 (photographe non identifié) @ Paris photo fair 2023 | src galerie lumiere des roses website
although the photographer is non identified on the gallery website the signature is clear on bottom right of the image
Advertising poster for cigarettes Gitanes Vizir, 1939. Photograph by Laure Albin-Guillot. | Bibliothèque Forney Ville de Paris
Advertising poster for Gitanes Vizir cigarettes, 1939. Photograph by Laure Albin-Guillot. | src Galerie 123