Trude Fleischmann
'A Self-Assured Eye'
27 January - 29 May 2011
Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienna

Society photos from the 1920s and 1930s

From 27 January to 27 May 2011, the historic museum of the city of Vienna 'Wien Museum Karlsplatz' throws a light on the photographic work of Trude Fleischmann under the title 'A Self-Assured Eye' with focus on the museum's own collection of images that were made between 1920 and 1938 in Vienna.

The images of Trude Fleischmann give an insight into the cultural life in Vienna before 1938. Her studio became a meeting point of artists from different fields. From this time, portraits of writer/journalist Karl Kraus, architect/designer Adolf Loos, or actress Sibylle Binder originate.

fig.: Actress Sibylle Binder photographed by Trude Fleischmann, Vienna, ca. 1935. (C) Albertina, Wien.

In the 1920s, Trude Fleischmann received attention with her movement-studies of naked dancers. She was one of the pioneering female artists in Vienna, who experimented with camera techniques, lighting, and the cropping of images to change the common esthetical view on women.

Trude Fleischmann produced the images for printed media, especially for the users of wellknown German language magazines (Moderne Welt, Wiener Mode, Wiener Magazin, Wiener Bilder, Die Bühne, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, Die Dame etc.). At the end of the 1920s with the beginning of a new political era, she turned from an avantgarde portraitist to a more conventional travel and landscape photographer.

On 3rd September 1938, Trude Fleischmann (1895–1990) had the chance to escape the political situation of Nationalsocialism in Austria. After stops in Paris and London, Trude Fleischmann arrived on 4 April 1939 in New York, where she continued her work with fashion shoots, street photography, travel images and portraits of prominent people like Albert Einstein.

fig.: Trude Fleischmann in her studio, photographed by Annie Schulz, Vienna, 1929. (C) Courtesy Fritsch Antiquariat, Wien.

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