Kostüm-Studie

dancer Tilly Losch

gelatin silver print

blindstamp on recto; titled, annotated (No. 2754 / 3311) (pencil) and artis's stamp on recto

The Austrian-American photographer Trude Fleischmann is best known for her portraits of prominent figures in Vienna during the 1920s and 1930s. Her studies of movement—featuring dancers, some of whom were nude—caused quite a stir. She was among the first female photographers to focus on the female nude. At that time, it was still considered improper in some circles for a woman to engage artistically with nudity.
Due to her Jewish heritage, she was forced to emigrate to the United States in 1938, where she resumed photographing well-known artists and intellectuals in New York beginning in 1940.

This costume study of the famous dancer and actress Tilly Losch captivates with her unconventional posture, which is mirrored in her relaxed, melancholic facial expression. As a solo dancer at the Vienna State Opera and a pioneer of expressive dance, Tilly Losch (1903–1975) was one of Fleischmann’s most influential muses. Her fluid movements, her celebrated “dance of the hands,” and her expressive facial expressions made her a visual style icon of Vienna’s interwar period. The collaboration brought both artists great renown: Fleischmann established a new, dynamic style of dance photography with these images, while Losch prepared to take the international stage in Salzburg, London, and Hollywood.
(Christoph Fuchs, translated with Deepl)