First-ever survey of photographer Madame d'Ora's work on view in Hamburg
Anyone having their portrait done by Madame d’Ora (1881–1963) could be confident they were lending themselves a touch of French elegance. Her sitters included writers such as Arthur Schnitzler, the composer Alban Berg, and the cultural critic Hermann Bahr. And she also produced portraits of the Wiesenthal sisters and Anna Pavlova, action shots of the scandalous nude dancer Anita Berber, and likenesses of operetta star Fritzy Massary and of famous figures like Josephine Baker and Coco Chanel. From 1910 to the 1950s, Madame d’Ora was the portraitist of choice for Viennese and Parisian society as well as for Bohemian artists. People flocked to her studios in Vienna and Paris to take home aesthetically sophisticated and captivating portraits of themselves that exuded a contemporary look and underpinned their claim to a place in high society, the world of the beautiful, well-educated, and famous. The retrospective at the