With the exhibition “Vanishing Point: Paris. Gisèle Freund, Rogi André, Madame d’Ora,” the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn is dedicating a joint exhibition to three pioneering female photographers of the modern era. From October 1, 2026, through January 24, 2027, the exhibition focuses on Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Paris was a metropolis that, after World War I, attracted artists, intellectuals, and exiles from all over Europe. Gisèle Freund, Rogi André, and Dora Kallmus—known as Madame d’Ora—captured the city’s cultural life in striking photographs and portrayed influential figures such as Marcel Duchamp, Henri Matisse, Colette, and Simone de Beauvoir. The exhibition in Bonn highlights how closely photography, the avant-garde, portraiture, and fashion photography were intertwined in Paris.
At the same time, “Vanishing Point: Paris” tells the story of Jewish heritage, persecution, exile, and female self-assertion during politically turbulent times. In the early 1940s, Freund, André, and Kallmus were forced to leave Paris because of their Jewish heritage; their works therefore reflect not only artistic innovation but also upheaval, flight, and strategies for survival.
In addition to the elegance of Madame d’Oras’s fashion photography and the spirit of experimentation shared by all three artists, the exhibition casts a humanistic and socially critical gaze on modernity: Photo essays on political extremes, social hardship, and societal upheavals make the exhibition an important contribution to the history of photography, to art in exile, and to the visibility of significant female photographers in the 20th century.
Services
- Admission to the special exhibition “Vanishing Point Paris: Gisèle Freund, Rogi André, Madame d’Ora”
- Admission to the permanent exhibition at the LVR State Museum in Bonn
