Lendvai-Dircksen, Erna (1883-1962), German photographer. Brought up in rural Hesse, Erna Dircksen studied painting at the Cassel Art School. After her first divorce she studied photography in Berlin and settled in 1913 in Dresden-Hellerau, where she married Erwin Lendvai, a Hungarian composer. In 1916 she opened a portrait studio in Berlin. After her second divorce she became interested in racism and embarked on a long series of rural portraits published in book form (Das deutsche Volksgesicht, 1930, continued from 1942 as Das germanische Volksgesicht). Her work attracted Nazi approval as early as 1930, and during the Third Reich she received state commissions, including one for a book on autobahn construction workers. After 1945 she worked in northern Bavaria, from 1951 concentrating on landscape photography in colour.
— Rolf Sachsse
Bibliography
- Philipp, C. G., ‘Erna Lendvai-Dircksen (1883-1962). Verschiedene Möglichkeiten, eine Fotografin zu rezipieren’,
Fotogeschichte , 3 (1983)
