Atelier Manassé

Atelier Manassé - Olga Spolarics and Adorjan Wlássics - My Little Bird, 1926

(Modernism in Central Europe - Exhibition at the Washington National Gallery)

Based on the married couple Olga Spolarics and Adorjan Wlássics, Atelier Manassé was active in Vienna between 1922 - 1938. Two words can characterize the photographic output of Manassé: glamor (some would say kitsch) and eroticism.

Here is the cover of Divas and Lovers: The Erotic Art at Studio Manassé: a story authored by D. H. Lawrence in dialog with photos made at Manassé - they used retouching techniques to create surreal and noir images that seethe with an erotic symbolism barely concealed beneath a mask of glorious styling, elegant poses, and extravagant costumes (Amazon: Book Description)


I selected two photos from the Manassé production: the image of Lil Dagover (Jane from Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Luise Millerin in Kabale und Liebe, Mercédès in a Monte Cristo made in 1929) and a head of a sleeping woman placed maybe in the universe of her dreams.





(Modernism in Central Europe)