Female Photographers of History

Panorama from Randers

date: ca. 1905

taken by: Nielsine Zehngraf

source: fotohistorie.com

A panoramic shot from the Danish town of Randers showing Rådhustorvet (the Town Hall Square). On the right you can see the Town Hall, in the middle a statue of Niels Ebbesen, and behind the statue a building that no longer stands - Blichfeldts Købmandsgård (Blichfeldt's Merchant’s House) which was torn down in 1905 and replaced by Handelsbanken (the Commerce Bank). Below you can se what the approximately same location looks like on Google Maps today:

The photograph was taken with an Al-Vista panoramic camera by the Danish photographer Nielsine Zehngraf née Brahl (1849-1932) as part of a collection of panoramic cityscapes taken by Zehngraf and her son in the years 1901-1906.

Topless woman by the coast

date: 1910's

taken by: Mary Willumsen

source: Politimuseet

Postcards of an anonymous woman at a beach in Denmark.

These photographs were taken by the Danish photographer Mary Willumsen (1884-1961), who is sometimes considered the world's first female erotic photographer.

She was born into a working-class family in Copenhagen and worked as a seamstress before marrying the photographer Harald Axel Larsen, from whom she learned the trade. After her husband's death in 1913, she started photographing women in varying degrees of undress, in public baths or at the beach, which she then sold as postcards. At one point she sold over a thousand postcards every month.

Woman at the public baths

date: 1910's

taken by: Mary Willumsen

source: Politimuseet

Postcard of an anonymous woman at the Helgoland public baths just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.

This photograph was taken by the Danish photographer Mary Willumsen (1884-1961), who is sometimes considered the world's first female erotic photographer.

She was born into a working-class family in Copenhagen and worked as a seamstress before marrying the photographer Harald Axel Larsen, from whom she learned the trade. After her husband's death in 1913, she started photographing women in varying degrees of undress, in public baths or at the beach, which she then sold as postcards. At one point she sold over a thousand postcards every month.

Jimmie Sequint

date: ca. 1897

taken by: Benedicte Wrensted

source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Jimmie Sequint was a member of the Northern Shoshone people in southern Idaho. His portrait was one of many photographs taken by the Danish-American photographer Benedicte Wrensted (1859-1949).

Wrensted had learned photography from her aunt, Charlotte Borgen, and opened her own studio in the Danish city of Horsens before immigrating to the United States in 1894. From her studio in Pocatello, Idaho she photographed many members of Northern Shoshone and Bannock tribes.

According to Smithsonian anthropologist Joanna Cohan Scherer, "What sets Wrensted's work apart is her skill in portraying the humanity—the individuality—of the people who posed for her. She captured their presence with a dignity and beauty that transcend time and place."

For more information see: "A Danish Photographer of Idaho Indians: Benedicte Wrensted" (2006) by Joanna Cohan Scherer.

Prince Alemayehu

date: 1868

taken by: Julia Margaret Cameron

source: Collection of JGS

Alemayehu Simyen Tewodoros (1861-1879) was the son of the Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II. As a consequence of The British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1868, his father committed suicide and Alemayehu was taken to Great Britain. Here, the prince lived a very lonely and unhappy life and died of pleurisy at only 19 years old. He was buried in the catacombs of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

While staying at the home of Captain Tristram Speedy on the Isle of Wight in 1868, Alemayehu had been photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). Cameron was the wife of a plantation owner, well-connected with the British cultural elite, and started her career as a photographer after being gifted a camera for Christmas in 1863. Originally meant as a hobby while her husband was away, Cameron started publishing her photographs and became renowned for her portraits.

Roses in color

date: 1907

taken by: Julie Laurberg

source: Det Kgl. Bibliotek

The autochrome process invented by the French Lumière brothers was one of the first kinds of color photography and the first to gain widespread commercial success.

This autochrome was taken by the Danish photographer Julie Laurberg (1856-1925), who was one of the very first people in Denmark to take photographs in color. She had opened a photography studio in Copenhagen in 1895, became a royal court photographer, a committee member of the Danish Photographers Association and was active in the fight for women's rights.

Queen Victoria and Princess Beatrice, Windsor Castle

date: 1895

taken by: Mary Steen

source: the Royal Collection

A private moment captured of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) knitting while her daughter Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) reads the newspaper.

The photograph was taken on the 21st of May 1895 in the Queen's Sitting Room in Windsor Castle. It was taken by the Danish photographer Mary Steen (1853-1939), who had been a royal court photographer to the Danish royal family since 1888, and in 1895 was invited to London by the Danish-born Princess of Wales.

Hans Christian Andersen

date: 1869

taken by: Thora Hallager

source: Det Kgl. Bibliotek

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in Odense, Denmark as the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman, and ended up becoming a world famous author of such fairy tales as The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Snow Queen.

This photograph was taken by Andersen's landlady Thora Hallager (1821-1884), who had opened a photography studio in Copenhagen in 1849 and was one of the first female photographers in Denmark.

Ptilota sericea

date: 1843

taken by: Anna Atkins

source: The Public Domain Review

This is a cyanotype, a photography technique invented in 1842 wherein you place an object on a paper coated with iron salts and then expose it to sunlight. This creates a white image on a blue background.

This cyanotype shows the plant "soft feather weed", the scientific name of which has today been changed to Plumaria plumosa. It was made by the English botanist Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and published in "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions" (1843), often regarded as the first book to ever be illustrated with photographs.

Marie Luplau & Emilie Mundt with their adopted daughter Carla Mundt-Luplau

date: ca. 1907

location: Copenhagen, Denmark

taken by: Julie Laurberg

source: Det Kgl. Bibliotek

Marie Luplau (1848-1925) and Emilie Mundt (1842-1922) were Danish painters who lived together for almost 50 years and who in 1891 adopted a daughter named Carla. See below for a painting of Marie and Carla made by Emilie in 1893.

This family photo was taken by the Danish photographer Julie Laurberg (1856-1925), who opened a photography studio in Copenhagen in 1895. She became a royal court photographer, a committee member of the Danish Photographers Association and was active in the fight for women's rights.