German Female Photographers

Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director and actress best remembered for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. She made her directorial debut in 1932, becoming one of the few women to direct a movie during the Weimar Period. Riefenstahl is credited with directing two of the most technically innovative propaganda films of all time, Olympia and Triumph des Willens.

Gerda Taro was a German Jewish war photographer who was active during the Spanish Civil War. As a young woman, she became interested in Leftist politics. She then became involved with photographer Robert Capa and began her own career in photojournalism. She died in 1937 while covering the frontline during the Spanish Civil War.  

Astrid Kirchherr was a German photographer and artist who was famous for the photographs she took of the original band members of the Beatles. She wanted to study fashion designing as a young woman but shifted to photography at the recommendation of a teacher. She later became acquainted with the Beatles and took several iconic photographs of them. 

German photographer Gisela Getty is known as an icon of the ’68 movement. She; her boyfriend, J. Paul Getty III; and her sister, Jutta, had once shared a bed, as a "threesome." She made headlines when she got married to Paul after he was released following a scandalous abduction.

Apart from being the only female member of the Berlin Dada group, German artist Hannah Höch was also the pioneer of the photomontage form of art. Her works explored the sexually and financially independent New Woman and challenged gender stereotypes. She also experimented with textiles and patterns.

Margret Nissen is a German photographer and daughter of German architect Albert Speer. Best known for her architectural photography skills, Nissen's works have been widely exhibited in Berlin since 1980. Margret Nissen is also a writer; in 2004, she wrote a book about her father titled Sind Sie die Tochter Speer?

Ellen von Unwerth is a German photographer best known for her feminist approach to photography. A former fashion model, Von Unwerth makes fashion, advertising, and editorial photographs. She is Renowned for portraying women's sexuality without objectifying her models. Apart from publishing her photographs in popular magazines, Von Unwerth also directs short films for fashion designers and commercials for famous brands.

Kristina Söderbaum was a Swedish-born German actress, photographer, and producer. She is best remembered for playing important roles in films that were made by the state-controlled production companies in Nazi Germany. Regarded as the quintessential Nazi star, Söderbaum portrayed the ideal Aryan woman. She later expressed regret for playing such roles. After her acting career, Söderbaum became a fashion photographer.

Marianne Brandt was a German painter, photographer, sculptor, designer, and metalsmith. She is credited with designing several household objects like ashtrays, teapots, and lamps that are regarded as a paradigm of modern industrial design. After studying at the Bauhaus art school in Weimar, Marianne Brandt went on to serve as the head of the school's Metal Workshop in Dessau.

Ruth Bernhard was a photographer who had solo exhibitions at popular art galleries like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Regarded as one of the greatest photographers of the nude, Ruth Bernhard was inducted into the Women's Caucus for Art in 1981. Ruth Bernhard was also honored with several prestigious awards, such as the Cyril Magnin Award.

Elsbeth Juda was a British photographer best remembered for her pioneering fashion photographs. Juda is also remembered for her work as photographer and associate editor for The Ambassador magazine, where she worked between 1940 and 1965. A portraitist, Elsbeth Juda is also credited with photographing several British artists like Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Sir Peter Thomas Blake, and Kenneth Armitage.

Ilse Bing was a German photographer best remembered for producing pioneering monochrome images. Many of her photographs have been displayed in popular museums like the Museum of Modern Art. In 1990, she was honored with the Women’s Caucus for Art Award. In 1993, Ilse Bing received the First Gold Medal Award for Photography.

Hailed as the cofounder of the Düsseldorf School of Photography, German conceptual photographer, Hilla Becher is also credited for her efforts to start the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf's Photography department. Travelling in a Volkswagen with her husband and collaborator Bernhard Becher, she took photographs of industrial buildings and structures, often organizing them in grids and thus capturing the post-war Germany through her lenses.

Ellen Auerbach was a photographer best remembered for her work with the ringl+pit studio in Berlin, which she co-founded with Argentine photographer Grete Stern. The studio, which specialized in fashion, advertising, and portrait photography, was one of the first female-run photographic businesses in the world.