Lavinia Berta Schulz (23 June 1896 – 19 June 1924) was a German dancer and actress.
Life
Schulz was born in Lübben in 1896. She trained in Berlin after recovering from a major ear operation. She studied dance, music and painting and by 1913 she was involved with the group of
Expressionists
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...
Lothar Schreyer
Lothar Schreyer (1886 in Blasewitz – 1966 in Hamburg) was a German artist, writer, editor, stage designer and gallery owner. He was the first Master of the stagecraft workshop at the Bauhaus art school.
In April 1920, she married Walter Holdt, who also became her artistic partner. They rejected conventional religion and expressionism as a complete solution and they would have liked to have lived without money. They lived without a bed or furniture and they lived in dance tights so that could devote their days to creating new dances and accompanying costumes.
Schulz's costumes were photographed by
Minya Diez-Dührkoop
Minya Diez-Dührkoop or Dièz-Dührkoop (21 June 1873 – 17 November 1929) was a German photographer.
Biography
Diez-Dührkoop was born in Hamburg in 1873. Her mother was Maria Louise Caroline, née Matzen, and her father was Rudolf Dührkoop, ...
. Facing financial ruin, she died in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
in 1924, having shot her partner and then herself. Thirty costumes and photographs of her work were stored in a Hamburg museum. Retrieved 26 May 2016
Legacy
Schulz's costumes were rediscovered in a Hamburg museum in 1989.Walter Holdt and Lavinia Schulz UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982–2004, Retrieved 26 May 2016Berit Glanz' German novel ''Pixeltänzer'' is woven around the life and work of Lavinia and her husband and the question of how it relates to the present times.