Ruth und Lotte Jacobi

Photographs

Lotte Jacobi, Ruth Jacobi

The exhibition brings together the photographic work of the sisters Lotte (1896–1990) and Ruth (1899–1995) Jacobi. Born into a dynasty of photographers, from 1931 on they ran the Fotoatelier Jacobi, located in Berlin's ‘New West’ district around Kurfürstendamm, home to the city’s avant-garde.

Throughout the 1920s, Lotte Jacobi’s portraits of figures such as Albert Einstein, Käthe Kollwitz, Lotte Lenya, and Klaus and Erika Mann earned her fame as a member of the New Photography movement. To date, Ruth Jacobi’s work is largely unknown. It includes portraits, still lifes, photojournalism, and travel photos, as well as photographs of plants and experimental prints.

To augment the exhibition, letters, personal documents, and photographs of the Jacobi family from the periods in West Prussia and Berlin and following their emigration to the USA are on view. The result is a portrait of one of the oldest photographer families in pre-war Germany.

The exhibitions ‘Echo of War. Photographs from the Second World War – The Benita Suchodrev Collection’ and ‘NEW ERA? Warsaw 1939 – Ukraine 1941/42 – Berlin 1945’ run in parallel until October 25, 2020.