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The images are famous, but the women who took them are often forgotten. An inspiring exhibition focuses on the pioneering ‘new vision’ of Marianne Brandt, Lucia Moholy and more
‘Unusual perspectives’ … Marianne Brandt, Self-Portrait in the Studio in the Sphere, c 1928-1929. Photograph: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026Tue 31 Mar 2026 08.00 CEST
Gertrud Arndt, Mask Photo No 16, 1930
The female photographers of the Bauhaus probed the boundaries of a new medium. They observed the world around them through the lens of a camera and often captured subjects from unconventional perspectives. Their artistic output includes abstract experiments, architectural photography and figurative portraits. This show is the first to examine their wide-ranging influence. New Woman, New Vision: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus is at Museum of Photography, Berlin, from 17 April to 4 October. Text by Christiane Caldari-WinklerPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Marianne Brandt, Self-Portrait With Lilies, c 1923
The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) was a time of social and cultural upheaval in Germany. The young democracy was confronted not only with the consequences of the first world war, but also a rapid succession of technical advances. Women’s role in society was also changing. As voting rights were granted to women for the first time, many aspired to financial independence and professional self-realisation. Photography offered an opportunity: it promised artistic freedom and an income. The camera became the tool of female self-empowermentPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin
Lotte Gerson-Collein, Sea Urchin and Shadow of a Crab Claw, 1928
By the late 19th century, photography had become a significant occupational field for women. Because it was relatively new, regarded as a handcraft and not yet academically anchored, photography offered women career opportunities at an early stage. Women were believed to have skills that were well-suited to certain photographic activities, such as portrait photography or retouching. Consequently, a growing number of women began learning the trade in photo studiosPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Ursula Kirsten-Collein
Irene Hoffmann, Still Life With Oranges, 1932
In 1890, the Berlin Lette Association started a photography course for women, and, in 1905, the Teaching and Research Institute for Photography in Munich followed suit, with institutional training for female photographers. The number of female photographers rose steadily in the Weimar Republic, as an increasing number of higher education institutions began offering training courses in photography. The Bauhaus Dessau established a photography course in 1929. Many students – almost half of them women – received professional training therePhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin
Etel Mittag-Fodor, Albert Mentzel and Lotte Rothschild, c 1930
Yet female photographers had been playing a central role at the Bauhaus years before. In the early 1920s, photography was used to advertise the products and works created by the influential school of art, design and architecture – and many of those photos were taken by professional female photographers, such as Paula Stockmar, the female-managed Atelier Hüttich-Oemler and Lucia MoholyPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin
Elsa Thiemann, Berlin, Children at the Subway Entrance in Neukölln, 1950s
The increasing prevalence of the small-format camera after 1925 sparked a surge of interest in the medium among the students. Some female students began observing their surroundings through the camera lens and captured new and unusual perspectives. While many of these photos have since become world famous, the women who took them have often been forgottenPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Margot Schmidt
Grit Kallin-Fischer, Self-Portrait With Cigarette, c 1928
This show examines how the photographers presented themselves against the backdrop of society’s evolving image of women. Often they referred to the ideal of the ‘new woman’, which had become ubiquitous in the Weimar Republic, and translated it into the modern imagery of the new vision movement. In portraits, landscapes, nature studies and still lifes, the students experimented with and selectively integrated photographic design elements – textures, materiality, directed lighting and image sharpness – into their worksPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin
Elsa Thiemann, Radio Tower, Berlin, 1930s
Unusual perspectives, extreme high- and low-angle shots, and closeups helped architectural photography break away from its original documentary function and transform it into artistic – and sometimes abstract – visual compositionPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Margot Schmidt
Edith Tudor-Hart, Wife and Child, Vienna, c 1930
The photos capture everyday life, social inequality and moments of political upheaval. They also show how the photographers, who were often forced into exile, safeguarded their work under changing political circumstancesPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Peter Suschitzky
Lucia Moholy, Portrait of Eva Weininger on the Steps to the Veranda of a Master Craftsman’s House in Dessau, 1927
When reflecting on female photographers and their life stories, the first question we encounter is: what do we mean by the term ‘woman’? We do not mean a clearly defined or homogenous group, but rather a historical attribution that mirrors the social norms of the timePhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Elsa Thiemann, Berlin, Ruins, c 1945
The biographies of these photographers are as varied as their personal convictions, predilections and relationships. What they all have in common, however, is the traditional gender roles they were assigned, which limited their career opportunities and worsened them under Nazism and in postwar western Europe. In that male-dominated art world, their works were marginalised and driven from art-historical memory – a structurally induced invisibility, the effects of which are still felt todayPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Margot Schmidt
Elsa Thiemann, Berlin, the Grand Staircase in the Wannsee Open-Air Swimming Pool, 1950s
Recent studies, such as one conducted by the Berlin initiative Fair Share!, show that works by female-perceived artists, and especially mothers, are presented and collected less often, and obtain lower market prices and less fundingPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/Margot Schmidt
Lucia Moholy, Girl With Camera Taking Photographs (Lucia, daughter of Yella and Hans Curjel), c 1929
As long as gender equality in the art world remains elusive, visibility in the form of such exhibitions will remain necessary – not to emphasise distinction, but as a means to combat structural forgettingPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive Berlin/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Marianne Brandt, Self-Portrait in the Studio in the Sphere, c 1928-1929
These works show how the female photographers of the Bauhaus used the camera as an artistic and social instrument: for achieving greater self-determination, conducting artistic experimentation and documenting social and political realities. Its relevance today is evident in how integral these methods have become in contemporary artPhotograph: Bauhaus Archive BerlinExplore more on these topics
