ArtistKallmus, Dora

Artist Years1881-1963

Artist NationalityAustrian

TitleDie Tanzerin Rigmor Rasmussen

Year1925

MediumPrint > Photogravure

DimensionsImage: 8.4 X 6.1 inches
Sheet: 12 X 9.4 inches

Accession Number967105

NotesDora Kallmus, a.k.a. Madame d'Ora, the daughter of a prominent Jewish Viennese lawyer, first became interested in photography when she purchased a Kodak box camera for a trip to the Côte d'Azur in 1903, two years later she was the first woman accepted by the Association of Austrian Photographers. In 1907, she apprenticed with German portraitist Nicola Perscheid in Berlin, and there met Arthur Benda who was working as Perscheid's technical assistant. She persuaded Benda to join her, and set up a studio in Vienna under the name Atelier D'Ora;

"Since d'Ora, as a woman, was unable to receive technical training in photography, the move to open her own studio was unusual and risky. However, Benda completed all technical work, while d'Ora obtained clients, set the lighting and poses, and worked on sales and public relations. Her studio achieved rapid popularity among the Viennese élite" (Silverman, "Madame D'Ora", ( The Encyclopaedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive)

Kallmus was one of the first photographers to be drawn to the possibilities of the emerging areas of modern, expressive dance and fashion, developing close ties with the avant garde, taking portraits of such notables as designer Emilie Flöge and notorious dancers Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste. While her technique was not particularly radical, her choice of subjects was a risky one for a commercial studio. However, her work succeeded in capturing her clients' individuality in informal or artistically striking poses and quickly became popular. Over her career her portfolio represents a roll-call of the overlapping worlds of art, celebrity and fashion; Josephine Baker, Karl Kraus, Arthur Schnitzler, Gustav Klimt, Coco Chanel, Tamara de Lempicka, Foujita, Balenciaga, Colette, Cecil Beaton, and Picasso.

"Forging a path in a field that was dominated by men, d'Ora enjoyed an illustrious 50-year career... her work distinguished for its extreme elegance, and utter depth and darkness" (Madame D'Ora, exhibition, February-June 2020, Ronald S. Lauder's Neue Gallery, NY).

The portfolio gathers a series of expressive nude images of the popular dancer Rigmor Rasmussen, who influential Viennese journalist and "Sprechsteller" Anton Kuh captures in performance at the chic club Tabarin in 1925;

"She is tall, slim, young, half woman, half girl. Pitch black hair cut short at the fringe, but not a bob, on the contrary a young lad's crop... in the sweep of her acrobatic flights she possesses something both agile and reserved, both confident and fearful of touch... such an enchantingly restless and changeably natural grace..." (Kuh, Werke, p.267, cataloguer's translation).

Luminously printed, these gravures typify Kallmus's artful ability elegantly to encapsulate character.
(source: Peter Harrington, London)

Price $850.00

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