The Gargoyle by Käsebier

Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934) ~ Gargouille / Gargoyle, Paris, France, 1901. Platinum print | src Alamy
Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934) ~ The Gargoyle, 1901. Gum bichromate print | src Princeton university art museum
Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934) ~ The Gargoyle, ca. 1900, platinum photograph | src NGV (National gallery of Victoria)

Maria Schreker by Frieda Riess

Frieda Riess (1890-1954) ~ Maria Schreker, née Binder, opera Singer, wife of the composer Franz Schreker. Portrait in the main role in the opera ‘Der Schatzgräber’ (The Treasure Hunter), 1923 | src getty images

Toni Freeden by Frieda Riess

Frieda Gertrud Riess (1890-1954) ~ German dancer Toni Freeden in a dancing pose, 1927 | src getty images
Atelier Riess ~ Toni Freeden-Belling [in Tanzpose]. Der Querschnitt, B.7, H.5, Mai 1927

Frohe Ostern · 1930

Frohe Ostern. Photo: Atelier Hanni Schwarz, Berlin. Die schöne Frau, Nr. 6, 1930 | src ÖNB
Atelier Hanni Schwarz ~ Frohe Ostern. Die schöne Frau, Nr. 6, 1930 | src ÖNB

Josefina Oliver · cross-dressing

Oliver family. Carnival at chacra Santa Ana. Pepe Salas with Josefina’s bathing suit, San Vicente, Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 1910. Photograph hand colored by Josefina Oliver | src YO Josefina Oliver
Siblings García Oliver, San Vicente, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1909. Photograph hand colored by Josefina Oliver | src Josefina Oliver
Carnival. Pepe Salas with Josefina’s bathing suit, San Vicente, Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 1910 [Detail]
Josefina Oliver and Pepe Salas cross dressed with niece, San Vicente, March 1908. Hand colored photograph by Josefina Oliver | src YO Josefina Oliver

‘(…) Sunday 8th- Very nice day. Carnival’s burial. (…) Pepe went hunting and I dressed up as a man having a succès d’estime. Pepe came a little later and I decked him out with a dress of mine, Porota wore her paper suit and after dressing up granddaddy ridiculously, we devoted ourselves to perpetuate the memory of our joke through photography. As the audience, all the people from the kitchen, Luis, his wife, his children and even the workman celebrating the scene (…)’. Diary 4, p. 257 and 258, March 1908

Postcard sent by Josefina to her sister Catalina, with her cross-dressed self-portrait, saying that it is a friend of Pepe, her husband.
Nephews García Oliver cross-dressed, San Vicente, February 1910. Photograph hand colored by Josefina Oliver | src Josefina Oliver
«Con los trajes trocados la Nena y Pedrito», San Vicente, February 1910
Hand colored photograph by Josefina Oliver | src YO Josefina Oliver

Josefina Oliver (1875-1956) began as a vocational photographer among her friends in 1897. Two years later, she takes the first one of her one hundred self-portraits and photographs her friends and relatives, houses’ interiors and landscapes in the family farm in San Vicente. Josefina, a common porteña, was almost invisible. Author of a luminous ouvre, hidden until 2006, as a consequence of a society that disregarded women’s inner self.

Josefina Oliver reflects this reality in her artistic work so far composed by 20 volumes of a personal diary, more than 2700 photographs, collages and postcards. Plenty of her shots are conceived with scenographies; she always develops them and paints the best copies with bright colors. She makes up twelve albums, four of them are wonderful and only have illuminated photographs. At the same time, a transversal humor appears behind her multiform ouvre.

quoted from Josefina Oliver

Ballets Russes Australian tour

Nanette Kuehn ~ Borislav Runanine and Tamara Grigorieva in Jeux d’Enfants, Ballets Russes Australian tour 1939-40 | src Arts Centre Melbourne

Fleischmann by Steffi Brandl

Steffi Brandl (1899–1966) ~ Trude Fleischmann, Austria, Vienna, ca. 1925 | src OstLicht Photo Auction

Rare portrait of the famous Viennese photographer, at whose studio Brandl worked. Fleischmann was what is now called a good networker and cultivated customer contacts like friendships with costume parties in her studio. The portrait most likely shows her dressed for such an occasion.

Steffi Brandl (1899–1966) ~ Trude Fleischmann, Austria, Vienna, ca. 1925 | src OstLicht Photo Auction

Seltenes Porträt der berühmten Wiener Fotografin, in deren Atelier Brandl arbeitete. Fleischmann war, wie man heute sagt, eine gute “Netzwerkerin”, die ihre Kundenkontakte und Freundschaften auch mit der Veranstaltung von Kostümfesten in ihrem Atelier pflegte. Es ist anzunehmen, dass sie dieses Porträt in einer Garderobe für einen solchen Anlass zeigt.

Portrait by Steffi Brandl

Steffi Brandl (1899–1966) ~ Portrait of a woman, Vienna, Austria, ca. 1924. Signed with her maiden name: Stefanie Katser
Steffi Brandl (1899–1966) ~ Portrait of a woman, Vienna, Austria, ca. 1924 | src Ostlicht Auktionen

Bodenwieser in Ausdruckspose

Beatrice Freyberger ~ Ausdruckspose. Rollenporträt von Gertrud Bodenwieser (1890 – 1959), um 1920 | src Theatermuseum Wien

Water Lily by Margrethe Mather

Margrethe Mather (1886 – 1952) ~ Water Lily, 1922. Palladium print. The Lane Collection. From the Exhibition: The Stillness of Things MFA Boston