Frieda Gertrud Riess (1890 – c. 1955) was a German portrait photographer in the 1920s with a studio in central

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

."Berlinische Galerie widmet sich der einst hochgeschätzten und heute vergessenen Berliner Fotografin Frieda Riess: Bildniskunst zwischen Tradition und Moderne"
Kunstmarkt.com. Retrieved 7 March 2013.

Early life

Riess was born in Czarnikau in the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

where her Jewish parents Emil Reiss and Selma (née Schreyer) were shopkeepers. At the end of the 1890s, her widowed mother moved the family to Berlin where Frieda first studied sculpture under

Hugo Lederer Hugo Lederer (16 November 1871 – 1 August 1940) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German sculptor. Biography Lederer was born on 16 November 1871 in Znojmo. He studied in Dresden under sculptor John Schilling from 1890, then briefly ...

(c. 1907) and later (1913) photography at the Berlin "Photographischen Lehranstalt" of the

Lette-Verein Lette-Verein (Lette Association or Lette Society) is a German educational organization for applied arts. Founded in 1866 in Berlin, the idea of Dr. Wilhelm Adolf Lette, it was initially a technical school for girls. Its motto was "Dienen lerne bei ...

, receiving her diploma in the summer of 1915.

Career

In 1918, she opened a business on the

Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially , ; ) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevard can be considered the of Berlin and is lined with s ...

in Berlin; it became one of the most popular studios in the city. Partly as a result of her marriage to the journalist

Rudolf Leonhard Rudolf Leonhard (27 October 1889, in Lissa, German Empire (today Leszno, Poland) – 19 December 1953, in East Berlin) was a German author and communist activist. Life Leonhard came from a family of lawyers and studied law and Philology in Berlin ...

in the early 1920s, she extended her clientele to celebrities such as playwright

Walter Hasenclever Walter Georg Alfred Hasenclever (8 July 1890 – 22 June 1940) was a German Jewish Expressionist poet and playwright. His works were banned when the Nazis came to power and he went into exile in France. There he was imprisoned as a "foreign e ...

, novelist

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...

and actors and actresses including

Tilla Durieux Tilla Durieux (born Ottilie Godeffroy; 18 August 1880 – 21 February 1971) was an Austrian theatre and film actress of the 20th century. Early years Born Ottilie Helene Angela Godeffroy on 18 August 1880 in Vienna, she was the daughter of the ...

Asta Nielsen Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen (11 September 1881 – 24 May 1972) was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were ...

and

Emil Jannings Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz; 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss-born German actor who was popular in Hollywood films in the 1920s. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring in '' ...

. This group extended to include dancers, music-hall stars and fine artists:

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

Mistinguett Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois (5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956), known professionally as Mistinguett (), was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. Early life The daughter of Antoine Bo ...

, Lil Dagover,

Renée Sintenis Renée Sintenis, née Renate Alice Sintenis (20 March 1888 – 22 April 1965), also known as Frau Emil R. Weiss, was a German sculptor, medallist, and graphic artist who worked in Berlin. She created mainly small-sized animal sculptures, fe ...

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

and Xenia Boguslawskaja. Other clients included representatives of the old aristocracy, diplomats, politicians and bankers. Boxers (and nudes thereof) were a notable group in which she specialised, including Erich Brandl, Hermann Herse,

Max Schmeling Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (, ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005) was a German boxing, boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cul ...

, Ensor Fiermonte. Such was her renown that she became known simply as ''Die Reiss''. While on a trip to Italy in 1929, she was invited to photograph

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

. In addition, she contributed to the journals and magazines of the day including ''

Die Dame ''Die Dame'' (English: The Lady) was the first illustrated magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textua ...

'', '' Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung'', ''Der Weltspiegel'', ''Querschnit'' and '' Koralle''.Marc Peschke, "Wiederentdeckt: Die Fotografin Frieda Riess"
Photoscala. Retrieved 7 March 2013.

Move to Paris

In 1932, after falling in love with Pierre de Margerie, the French ambassador in Berlin(1922–31) she moved to Paris with him, and he died in 1942. She disappeared from the public eye during the Occupation. Even the date of her death cannot be clearly established and her place of burial remains unknown.

Exhibitions

*In 2008, a retrospective of her work was held in the

Berlinische Galerie The Berlinische Galerie is a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin. It is located in Kreuzberg, on Alte Jakobstraße, not far from the Jewish Museum. The Berlinische Galerie collects art created in Berlin since 1870 with a ...

.Nicola Kuhn, "Zum Tee ins Atelier"
''Der Tagesspiegel'', 5 June 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2013. She showed at the important touring photographic exhibition Fotografie der Gegenwart in 1929. There was a solo exhibition of 177 portraits in

Alfred Flechtheim Alfred Flechtheim (1 April 1878 – 9 March 1937) was a German Jewish art dealer, art collector, journalist and publisher persecuted by the Nazis. Early years Flechtheim was born into a Jewish merchant family; his father, Emil Flechtheim, was a ...

’s gallery in Berlin in 1925.

Early life

Career

Move to Paris

Exhibitions

References

Further reading