Photography has been a bit neglected on this site in favour of other topics, so let's dedicate today's post to artist Wanda Wulz.
Born in Trieste in 1903 (so this year it will also be her 110th birth anniversary) she is known for her experimental images.
In the 1900s Trieste was expanding and the photographic studio owned by the Wulz family - opened by Giuseppe Wulz in 1868 - was well known in the city.
Grand-daughters of Giuseppe and daughters of Carlo, Wanda and her sister Marion followed the family business, first working with their father as models and assistants, and, from 1928, managing the photographic studio themselves, perfectioning different types of photographic styles including portraiture, landscape and images commissioned by factories and building yards.
Wanda was the only one in her family who tried to find her own style in photography: fascinated by the Bragaglia brothers' photodynamism, she experimented with photomontages and created dynamic pictures of great quality.
In 1932 she took part in an exhibition of futurist art in Trieste with some of her works. Here she met Filippo Tommaso Marinetti who encouraged her to experiment further with photography.
It was around this time that she created one of her most famous pictures, “Io più gatto” (Cat + I) , an assemblage featuring her face merged with the image of a cat. Among her experimental images there are also Wunder bar, jazz-band, and futurist breakfast, all mixes of different techniques and avant-garde experimentations.
In the late '30s Wulz abandoned futurism and kept on working with her sister until 1981 when they retired donating their archive to the Alinari brothers in Florence.
The Wulz archive is currently stored at the Museo Nazionale della Fotografia Fratelli Alinari, but Wanda's phographs are part of many famous collections all over the world.
There are quite a few images of Wanda and Marion that look inspiring from a fashion point of view, but, rather than using them as style inspirations, it would be interesting to create something new moving from Wanda's avant-garde photodynamic experiments. They could indeed lead to interesting experiments also for what regards textiles and fabrics or for other purposes such as stage or set design.
Brazilian choreographer and performer Jean Abreu incorporated for example 25 images from Gilbert & George's "Fundamental Pictures" series (featuring images of bodily fluids) in his new show, "Blood", opening in May in the UK.
This is an interesting way to apply experimental images to a different art form - it's the first time Gilbert & George's images are used in a dance performance (and there is also a fashion connection with the show as designer Richard Nicoll created a white suit for the choreographer on which the images will be projected). Anybody interested in creating anything along these lines with Wanda Wulz's images?
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and PhotosMember of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments