Untitled (Self-portrait on the Phone), ca. 1930

About the Work

After studying at the Art School for Free and Applied Art in Frankfurt (present-day Städel School), Elisabeth Hase worked as an assistant to Paul Wolff. In 1932, she went into business for herself with a focus on press and advertising photography. She and her children often served as models in her photographs on different subjects. The young woman talking on the phone, for example, is Hase herself. The slight haziness conveys the fast pace of the new age, of which the young woman is self-confident protagonist. The Erich Norberg printing house in Worms purchased the photo for use in an advertisement communicating its address and—prominently—its telephone number.