2024-03-29T12:01:41Z
https://keydocuments.net/oai
oai:jgo:source-163.en
2017-10-16T00:00:00Z
en
Ida Ehre acting Hekuba in Euripides' Trojan Women
https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-163.en.v1
Rosemarie Clausen
Institute for the History of the German Jews
Online Ressource
This 1947 photograph shows a grieving woman whose figure fills out the
entire picture. She wears a frock made of burlap, the preferred
substitute cloth for theater costumes during the postwar period, which
also used to be worn by penitents; her hairstyle meanwhile alludes to
ancient times. Her body is tilted sideways, her gaze lowered, yet her
extended arms give this figure a quiet strength and create a dynamic
in the image where resignation and resistance keep a balance.
This enlarged photo in delicate gray shades, a silver gelatin print
measuring 28.7 x 21.5 cm, is signed by its creator, theater
photographer Rosemarie Clausen, at the bottom right. The back of the
photograph is stamped with her name and address and a note written by
an unknown author that reads: “Euripides’ Trojan Women – Werfel
/ director Ulrich Erfurt.” The remains of a photo mount that had
once been used for the picture and a note in Clausen’s handwriting
that reads: “exhibition images reproduction only by permission”
indicate its original use. Most likely it was part of an exhibition in
the lobby of Hamburg’s Kammerspiele Kammerspiele = intimate
theatertheater, which is also supported by the photograph’s
provenance. The address given on the stamp allows for an approximate
dating; in conjunction with the signature it authenticates this image
as a vintage print, made by the photographer shortly after the
exposure of the negative during a photo rehearsal in September 1947.
The image shows Austrian-German Jewish actress Ida Ehre, who founded
the second Kammerspiele theater company in 1945, leading it to become
one of the major stages in postwar West Germany. Despite all the
challenges arising with currency reform, she led the theater for more
than four decades until her death.
2017-10-16