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Portrait of Lis Beyer-Volger

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

c. 1927

Artist:

Lotte Stam-Beese
German, 1903–1988

About this artwork

From 1926 to 1928 Lotte Stam–Beese studied textile design and architecture at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, a school founded in 1919 where painting and sculpture were taught alongside more practical art forms such as weaving, design, and architecture. Rather surprisingly, courses in photography were, not offered at the Bauhaus until 1929, but many students and faculty nevertheless spent time experimenting with the camera. Stam–Beese’s hazy portrait of fellow textile student Elizabeth (Lis) Beyer— who later married Hans Volger, another Bauhaus student—transforms a casual snapshot into a bold artistic composition. By dramatically cropping Beyer within a diagonal and abstracting most of her body behind a frosted windowpane, Stam–Beese lent an emphatic sense of lift and movement to the picture. Many at the Bauhaus adopted such an approach, which spread from the school and others to become broadly popular in central Europe and beyond during the 1930s.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Lotte Stam-Beese

Title

Portrait of Lis Beyer-Volger

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1922–1932

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Inscriptions

No markings recto or verso

Dimensions

Image/paper: 11.2 × 8.8 cm (4 7/16 × 3 1/2 in.); Mount: 35.6 × 27.9 cm (14 1/16 × 11 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Lucia Woods Lindley and Daniel A. Lindley, Jr.

Reference Number

1987.70

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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