Dora Kallmus

Dora Philippine Kallmus (20 March 1881 – 28 October 1963), also known as Madame D'Ora or Madame d'Ora, was an Austrian fashion and portrait photographer.[1]

Dora Kallmus
Born
Dora Philippine Kallmus

20 March 1881
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died28 October 1963 (1963-10-29) (aged 82)
Frohnleiten (near Steiermark), Austria
NationalityAustrian
Other namesMadame D'Ora
Madame d'Ora
OccupationPhotographer
Known forSociety and fashion photography

Early life

Dora Philippine Kallmus was born in Vienna in 1881 to a Jewish family. Her father was a lawyer.[2] Her sister, Anna, was born in 1878 and deported in 1941 during the Holocaust. Although her mother, Malvine (née Sonnenberg), died when she was young, her family remained an important source of emotional and financial support throughout her career.[3]

She became interested in the photography field while assisting the son of the painter Hans Makart, and in 1905 she was the first woman to be admitted to theory courses at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt (Graphic Training Institute).[4] That same year she became a member of the Association of Austrian photographers.[1] At that time she was also the first woman allowed to study theory at the Graphischen Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, which in 1908 granted women access to other courses in photography.

Career

In 1907, she established her own studio with Arthur Benda in Vienna called the Atelier d’Ora or Madame D'Ora-Benda. The name was based on the pseudonym "Madame d'Ora", which she used professionally. D'ora and Benda operated a summer studio from 1921 to 1926 in Karlsbad, Germany, and opened another gallery in Paris in 1925.[5] She was represented by Schostal Photo Agency (Agentur Schostal)[6] and it was her intervention that saved the agency's owner after his arrest by the Nazis, enabling him to flee to Paris from Vienna.[7]

Her subjects included Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, Tamara de Lempicka, Alban Berg, Maurice Chevalier, Colette, and other dancers, actors, painters, and writers.

Personal life

In 1919, d’Ora converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. She died on 28 October 1963.[1] Four years prior, she had sustained injuries after being hit by a motorcycle in Paris, resulting in her returning to Vienna.[8]

Exhibits
  • 2012/13: Vienna's Shooting Girls – Jüdische Fotografinnen aus Wien, Jewish Museum Vienna, Austria[9]
  • 2018: Madame d’Ora. Machen Sie mich schön!, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria[10]
  • 2019/20: Der große Bruch: d'Oras Spätwerk, GrazMuseum, Graz, Austria[11]

References
  1. "Madame d'Ora | Jewish Women's Archive". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=aD8OAQAAIAAJ&q=Dora+Philippine+Kallmus&dq=Dora+Philippine+Kallmus&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXuuHXo47tAhUFa60KHVm0CeY4ChDoATAGegQIBRAC
  3. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/madame-dora
  4. Lothar Schirmer (2001). Women Seeing Women, A Pictorial History of Women's Photography. NY: Norton. p. 218.
  5. "Madame D'ora - Pictures, Photography, Photo Art Online at LUMAS". LUMAS. Avenso. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  6. Rebecca Madamba (2008) The Schostal Agency: A Finding Aid for the Schostal Agency Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Thesis of the Honours Bachelors of Arts, Studies in Arts and Culture, Concentration in Curatorial Studies, Brock University.
  7. Milena Grief, "Agentur Schostal: Mit den Fotos Kehrt die Erinnerung zurück." Rundbrief Fotografie 9, no. 2. (June 2002), 30 - 33
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=buVTAAAAMAAJ&q=Dora+Philippine+Kallmus&dq=Dora+Philippine+Kallmus&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP4PCio47tAhVhxFkKHYVwBzoQ6AEwBHoECAEQAg
  9. "Vienna's Shooting Girls. Jewish Women Photographers from Vienna | Jüdisches Museum Wien". www.jmw.at. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  10. "MAKE ME LOOK BEAUTIFUL, MADAME D'ORA! | Archive | EXHIBITIONS | Leopold Museum". www.leopoldmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  11. "Der große Bruch". Grazmuseum (in German). Retrieved 2020-03-08.

Sources
  • The History of European Photography 1900-1938, FOTOFO., 2011. ISBN 978-80-85739-55-8

Further reading
  • Faber, Monica. (1987) Madame d'Ora: Vienna and Paris, 1907-1957, the Photography of Dora Kallmus. Vassar College. ISBN 978-0-916663-02-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.