Tänzerin Maja Lex (1906 ─ 1986)

The dancer Maja Lex. Günther-Schule, 1920s | src Carl Orff Stiftung

In Munich, Maja Lex was first a student member but soon, together with Gunild Keetmann and the founders Dorothee Günther and Carl Orff, belonged to the leading teaching staff of the Günther-Schule, a forward-looking school with a trebly diversified training concept of integrative musical and movement education. War events disrupted this unique constellation of artistic and educational personalities.

Maja  Lex developed a new movement and dance education of a timeless pedagogic and artistic value. She liberated herself from the formalized practice/exercise/training and introduced instead the varied movements of rhythmic-dynamic, spatial and formal variation. Structured improvisation, similar to musical improvisation, was established as a definite component of the teaching lesson.

As a solo dancer and choreographer of Tanzgruppe Günther, Maja Lex was a pioneer of the New German Dance (Neuer Deutscher Tanz) in the 1930s. She created a specific dancing style of a ‘thrilling rhythmic intensity’, a definite feeling for form and a high technical dancing discipline. Music and dance became elements of equal value, not least because of the use of rhythm instruments for the dance and for the orchestra of Günther-Schule, where dancers and musicians changed roles. The director of the orchestra was Gunild Keetmann. Maja Lex’s dances belong to the absolute dance. / quoted from Elementarer Tanz

German dancer and choreographer Maja Lex, 1931 | src alamy
Maja Lex. Günther Schule, München, 1924 (Fotografer/in unbekannt) | src Bassenge Auktion 121
Portrait of Maja Lex (1906 ─ 1986), 1920s | src Elementarer Tanz

From 1927, Maja Lex performed her own choreographies. As a soloist and choreographer of the Tanzgruppe Günther-München (lead by Dorothee Günther), she made her decisive breakthrough in 1930 with the “Barbarian Suite” in collaboration with the musical director of the group, the composer Gunild Keetman. Numerous guest performances and awards at home and abroad followed until the school was forcibly closed in 1944 and finally destroyed in 1945.

Maja Lex, who had been very ill since the beginning of the 1940s, moved to Rome in 1948 and lived there together with Dorothee Günther in the house of her mutual friend Myriam Blanc. At the beginning of the 1950s Maja Lex resumed her artistic-pedagogical work and taught at the German Sport University Cologne at the invitation of Liselott Diem. From the mid-1950s until 1976, she taught the main training subject “Elementary Dance” as a senior lecturer. The concept of elementary dance was further developed by her and later in collaboration with her successor Graziela Padilla at the German Sports University Cologne. / quoted from queer places

Charlotte Rudolph (1896-1983) ~ The German dancer and choreographer Maja Lex, ca. 1930 | src alamy
Siegfried Enkelmann ~ Maja Lex. Günther-Schule, ca. 1930 | src alamy
Maja Lex. Ross Verlag Postcard 755 A (Foto: Siegfried Enkelmann, Berlin) | src eBay
Charlotte Rudolph (1896-1983) ~ The German dancer and choreographer Maja Lex, ca. 1930 | src alamy
Maja Lex (1906 ─ 1986) Günther-Schule, München, um 1924 | src Elementarer Tanz
Maja Lex (1906 – 1986) in the front cover of Der Tanz (photo by Umbo), Dez. 1935 | src alamy

Mädchen in Uniform · 1931

Umbo · Otto Umbehr ~ Scene from the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Film directed by Leontine Sagan and Carl Froelich, Germany, 1931) with Lore Schuetzendorf. Published by UHU 12/1931. | src getty images
Von der höheren Töchterschule zum Film. Uhu, Band 7, Heft 12, September 1931
Hedy Schlichter (1898-1984) as Hedwig, in a scene from Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Umbo · Otto Umbehr ~ Scene from the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan / Carl Frölich, 1931). Published by UHU 12/1931. | src getty images
Von der höheren Töchterschule zum Film. Uhu, Band 7, Heft 12, September 1931
Annemarie von Rochhausen in ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ (1931). Photo: Umbo. Published in Uhu 12/1931 | src getty images
Lore Schuetzendorf in Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931). Stamped: Trude Geiringer / Dora Horovitz / Wien. From the Taussig film stills collection
Umbo · Otto Umbehr ~ Scene from the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan / Carl Frölich, 1931). Published by UHU 12/1931. | src getty images
Ein Querschnitt durch fünfundzwanzig junge Mädchen von heute. Uhu, Band 7, Heft 12, September 1931
Marieluise Claudius during shootings of the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Umbo · Otto Umbehr ~ Scene from the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan / Carl Frölich, 1931). Published by UHU 12/1931. | src getty images
Heads of four girls lying on the grass. Scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’. Published in Uhu 12/1931. Photo: Umbo
Von der höheren Töchterschule zum Film. Uhu, Band 7, Heft 12, September 1931
Scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ (1931) with Hertha Thiele. Photo: Umbo. Published in Uhu 12/1931 | src getty images
Scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ (1931) with Dorothea Wieck (center). Photo: Umbo | src getty images
Hertha Thiele in a scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ (1931). Photo: Umbo (Otto Umbehr). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Ilse Winter in a scene from Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931 | src getty images
Preparing shootings of the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Ethel Reschke and Dora Thalmer in the film Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Von der höheren Töchterschule zum Film. Uhu, Band 7, Heft 12, September 1931
Hertha Thiele and Eva Pirk in a scene of the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). Published in Uhu 12/1931
Scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ (1931) with Hertha Thiele. Production still (?) | src getty images

Lore Schuetzendorf, 1931

Lore Schuetzendorf in Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931). Stamped: Trude Geiringer / Dora Horovitz / Wien. From the Taussig film stills collection
Lore Schuetzendorf in Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931). Stamped: Trude Geiringer / Dora Horovitz / Wien. From the Taussig film stills collection
Umbo · Otto Umbehr :: Scene from the movie 'Mädchen in Uniform' with Lore Schuetzendorf . Published in UHU magazine 12/1931. Film directed by Leontine Sagan and Carl Froelich, Germany, 1931. | src and hi-res Getty Images
Umbo · Otto Umbehr :: Scene from the movie ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ with Lore Schuetzendorf . Published in UHU magazine 12/1931. Film directed by Leontine Sagan and Carl Froelich, Germany, 1931. | src and hi-res Getty Images

Katze von Otto Umbehr

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) :: Katze | Cat, 1927. Silver gelatin print. | src Galerie Kicken Berlin

Grock by Otto Umbehr 1928-29

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Grock, aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Galerie Rudolf Kicken
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Untitled | Ohne Titel (Grock), 1928-29 | src l’œil de la photographie ~ ODLP
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Grock (14), aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Galerie Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Ohne Titel (Grock), aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Berlinische Galerie
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Grock (3), aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Galerie Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Grock (2), aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Galerie Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Ohne Titel; aus der Serie / from the Series ‘Grock’, 1928–1929 | src Galerie Kicken Berlin

Ruth Landshoff von Umbo

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Ruth Landshoff / Ruth Landshoff-Yorck (b. Ruth Levy), 1927 | src Galerie Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Untitled (Ruth. Sonne / Ruth. Sun), 1927 | src Galerie Rudolf Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Ruth mit Maske / Ruth with Mask, aus dem Portfolio / from the portfolio ‘UMBO’, 1927 | src l’œil de la photographie ODLP & Galerie Kicken Berlin
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Untitled (Ruth. Der Hut / Ruth. The Hat), 1927 | src Galerie Rudolf Kicken Berlin

Valeska Gert by Umbo

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) ~ Untitled / Ohne Titel (Valeska Gert), 1926-1927. | src Galerie Kicken Berlin via ODLP