Self-expression and profession: female photographers’ self-portraits in Berlin 1929-1933

Rycroft, Sophie (2014). Self-expression and profession: female photographers’ self-portraits in Berlin 1929-1933. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

This thesis is the first in-depth study of female photographers’ images of themselves, with their cameras, working in Weimar Berlin. A focus on three self-portraits by women at the heart of the so‐called ‘New Photography’, will allow insight into the importance of the self- portrait genre for female photographers, who sought to establish themselves in this rapidly developing field. The photographers Lotte Jacobi (1896-1990), Eva Besnyo (1910‐2003) and Marianne Breslauer (1909-2001) have diverse photographic oeuvres yet each produced an occupational self-portrait whilst in Berlin between 1929 and 1933. It is argued in this thesis that Jacobi, Besnyo and Breslauer asserted their professionalism in these foci self-portraits, which was particularly important due to the restrictions that still existed regarding working women. A professional image was even more significant due to the illustrated press associating photography with leisure when the camera was in the hand of a woman. It is also argued in this thesis that whilst photography still maintained an association with perceived reality for many in Weimar Germany, the self-portraits in this study do not present an objective and realistic representation of the photographer, but rather a complex construction of identity that is performed rather than revealed.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Phil.

Supervisor(s):