Dora Kallmus


Dora Philippine Kallmus was an Austrian fashion and portrait photographer.

Early life

Dora Philippine Kallmus was born in Vienna, 1881. In 1905 she was the first woman to be admitted to theory courses at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt. That same year she became a member of the Association of Austrian photographers.

Career

In 1907, she established her own studio with Arthur Benda in Vienna called the Atelier d’Ora or Madame D'Ora-Benda. The name was based on the pseudonym "Madame d'Ora", which she used professionally. D'ora and Benda operated a summer studio from 1921 to 1926 in Karlsbad, Germany, and opened another gallery in Paris in 1925. She was represented by Schostal Photo Agency and it was her intervention that saved the agency's owner after his arrest by the Nazis, enabling him to flee to Paris from Vienna.
Her subjects included Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, Tamara de Lempicka, Alban Berg, Maurice Chevalier, Colette, and other dancers, actors, painters, and writers.

Personal life

In 1919, d’Ora converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. She died on 28 October 1963.

Exhibits