A PHOTOGRAPHER TO DISCOVER

Cathedral of Sucre. Bolivia. Circa 1944.

Loose vintage photograph on gelatin silver paper. Measurements: 24 x 14.5 cm / 9.44 x 5.7 in. On the back, with a wet stamp, the indication of authorship. Work in very good condition. It is displayed framed.

In the image, the Cathedral of Sucre in a shot from above that shows its heights. In the middle of the 16th century, the construction of this Main Church of Charcas (today Sucre) began, which underwent important transformations in the following two centuries. Advanced technologies were used in it, such as those applied in the vaults of some side chapels. The tower, together with that of the Jesuit complex, shows the potential of the work of Bolivian stonemasons that complements the ornamental display of the lateral portal and the open chapel-type balcony that was used for outdoor ceremonies.

Irene Brann (1912 - 2014) was born in Dresden (Germany) into a Jewish family. She studied photography in this city, while fascism advanced, until she was forced to emigrate to South America. She did so on the German ship Roda and she made port in Arica, Chile, to settle in Potosí in 1939, where she married the engineer Fritz Brann; both had traveled from the same city of Dresden. Her husband worked in the Potosí mines and Irene opened her photographic studio. In 1946 they moved to Lima due to the workers uprising that promoted the nationalization of the mining companies. In Peru, Irene Brann joined the recently founded art academy directed by the Viennese Adolf Winternitz in 1953, to dedicate herself to painting and drawing. At the end of the 1960s she returned to Europe together with her husband, they settled in Switzerland. She there she died at 102 years old.

We appreciate the information provided by Natasha Lara (Germany / Bolivia); Adriana Palomo (Argentina) and Pedro Querejazu Leyton (Bolivia).

Bibliography to consult:

Alejandra Uslenghi: Expanding the modern archive: the gaze of exiled German photographers. In Hilario. Newsletter N° 12 - February 2022. On the internet: HERE

S.O. XVI-27

GHM