Frieda G. Riess

Biography of Frieda Gertrud Riess (1890–1954)

Early Life
Frieda Gertrud Riess was born on June 21, 1890, in Czarnikau, in the Province of Posen, into a Jewish merchant family. Her father, Emil Riess, passed away when she was eight years old, prompting her mother, Selma Riess (née Schreyer), to move with Frieda and her siblings, Alfred (1882) and Walter (1884), to Berlin in the 1890s. Initially studying sculpture under Hugo Lederer, Frieda later shifted her focus to photography. She attended the Lette-Verein, a pioneering institution dedicated to professional training for women, where she completed a two-year program in photography from 1913 to 1915. Despite her education, Frieda was not apprenticed to any established photographer, as noted by critic Kurt Pinthus.

Career in Photography
In 1917, Frieda opened her own photography studio at Kurfürstendamm 14/15 in Berlin, a prime location near the Romanisches Café and the Berlin Secession. Her studio—one of the first owned by a woman of her generation—quickly gained recognition for its modernity and exclusivity. Frieda's early marriage to journalist Rudolf Samuel Leonhard on May 20, 1920, introduced her to the artistic and intellectual elite of the Weimar Republic, enhancing her reputation. However, their marriage ended in divorce on November 10, 1922.

By 1922, she lived in the same building as her studio and was fully immersed in Berlin’s vibrant cultural life. Her clientele included prominent actors, dancers, singers, painters, and writers, such as Josephine Baker, Gottfried Benn, Marc Chagall, Paul von Hindenburg, Emil Jannings, Max Schmeling, and Anna Pavlova. Frieda also worked in film photography, contributing to productions such as Das indische Grabmal and Das Weib des Pharao. Her portraits appeared in leading publications, including Vogue, Die Dame, and Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.

Her photography blended classical portraiture with modern techniques, characterized by soft, impressionistic lighting and dynamic compositions. She experimented with nude and expressionist photography, though her primary focus remained society portraits.

Major Achievements
In 1925, Frieda achieved international acclaim with a solo exhibition at Alfred Flechtheim’s gallery in Berlin, featuring 177 portraits. She was affectionately referred to as "Die Riess," and her reputation extended beyond Berlin. In 1928, she visited the artists’ colony at Monte Verità and produced iconic portraits, such as that of editor Hermann von Wedderkop. The following year, she photographed Benito Mussolini in Rome, an event she regarded as a career highlight.

Later Life
In 1930, Frieda began a romantic relationship with Pierre de Margerie, the French ambassador to Berlin. When he retired to Paris in 1932, Frieda closed her Berlin studio and joined him. However, her health began to decline in the mid-1930s, and she suffered from paralysis. By 1938, she adopted the name Riess de Belsine.

During World War II, Frieda concealed her Jewish identity with Pierre’s assistance, narrowly escaping deportation during the Nazi occupation of France. After Pierre’s death in 1942, she continued to evade detection by using false identity papers and hosting Dominican nuns to create the impression she was Catholic.

Death and Legacy
After the war, Frieda lived a reclusive life in Paris. Her health and career never fully recovered, and she remained largely forgotten. Frieda passed away on March 20, 1954, in her apartment on Quai d’Orsay in the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, still using her assumed name. Her burial site remains unknown, and many of her later works, including portraits of Gottfried Benn from 1953, were lost after her death.

Frieda’s work bridged classical and modern photography, leaving an indelible mark on the Weimar-era art scene. Her contributions were rediscovered decades later, with a 2008 retrospective at the Berlinische Galerie celebrating her achievements. Frieda Gertrud Riess remains a symbol of artistic innovation and resilience in the face of adversity.

• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieda_Riess (more complete than English version)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieda_Gertrud_Riess

Frieda G. Riess (1890–1957) ran a prestigious photography studio on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin after the First World War. Her clients included not only theatre managers, actors and writers, but also major diplomats and politicians.

The press of the 1920s sang the praises of “The Riess”, as she was known at the time, highlighting her role in portraying high society. Her reputation spread far beyond Berlin thanks to her international clientele. This great esteem and commercial success ensured that her solo exhibition at Galerie Flechtheim in 1925, with 177 portraits on show, was a sensational event.

In 1932, after falling in love with Pierre de Margerie, the French ambassador in Berlin (1922–31) she moved to Paris with him. Following the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, Riess was interned a number of months at the Gurs concentration camp, released about the time the first large deportations from Germany arrive in the camp.
Pierre de Margerie died in Paris in 1942. A non-Jew himself, his death left Riess without legal protection. She disappeared from the public eye during the Occupation, surviving the Holocaust in her apartment with false papers. To add to the subterfuge, she received Dominican nuns as regular visitors, to create the idea she was Catholic. However, due to the severe rationing, Riess was found at the time of the liberation nearly starving to death in her Paris apartment.

After the war she continued to live in a somewhat secluded manner. Apparently she continued to live under her fake papers, and at the time of her death was listed as Frieda Béatrice Riess de Belsine, her false name. She never recovered her status as an important photographer, and only a few knew what had become of her.
Photo: Self-Portrait with Parrot by Frieda Riess, 1922. Ullstein Verlag.