Grace, Poise, Strength

A DigitalNZ Story by Courtney Johnston

Our very own slice of Leni Riefenstahl emerges in Auckland photographer Herman John Schmidt's images of gymnasts, dancers and other bodies beautiful from the 1930s. The soft, painterly effect of the bromoil process used in many of these images was popular amongst the Pictorialist photographers like Schmidt: it begins with making a normally developed gelatin print on silver bromide paper, sponge-drying the print, and applying lithographic ink. The process requires great skill, and no two prints are the same. (And sure, 'La Cigarette' is the odd one out here. But irresistible, don't you think?)