04 Photographs, The Art Of The Nude, Evelyn Kalka, with footnotes # 101

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983)

Series: Portraits of Marie

Marie nude with pearls and heels against floral backdrop, looks to viewer, c. 1940s

Gelatin-silver print

4.5 x 2.75 inches, 11.4 x 7 cm

Private collection

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983)

Series: Portraits of Marie

Marie standing nude with pearls and heels, hand on hip, c. 1940s

Gelatin-silver print

4 x 2.75 inches, 10.2 x 7 cm

Private collection

In 1939 Eugene met the woman who would become his future wife and muse – Evelyn Kalka. She was 19, he was 29. In 1943 they married and Evelyn came to be known as “Marie,” a name she took on in honor of one of Eugene’s favorite aunts. 

In the early 1940s, after setting up a darkroom in his bathroom, he started to photograph his wife, Marie, at home. In Von Bruenchenhein’s pictures, she often sits against a floral backdrop, her breasts bared or her legs bent behind her in a schoolgirl posture. However Von Bruenchenhein was more interested in fantasy and play than in using the camera to capture any truth or nuance of his wife’s personality. More on Evelyn Kalka

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983)

Series: Portraits of Marie

Marie nude with pearls, legs to left, c. 1940s

Gelatin-silver print

7 x 5 inches, 17.8 x 12.7 cm

Private collection

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the course of fifty years, from the 1930s until his death in 1983, Von Bruenchenhein produced an expansive oeuvre of poetry, photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. His body of work includes over one thousand colorful, apocalyptic landscape paintings; hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones, ceramic and cast cement; pin-up style photos of his wife, Marie; plus dozens of notebooks filled with poetic and scientific musings. Never confined to one particular method or medium, Von Bruenchenhein continually used everyday, discarded objects to visually explore imagined past and future realities.

Von Bruenchenhein remained anonymous to the larger artistic community for the duration of his career. He had produced thousands of pieces of art within the confines of his home-turned-studio. Although Von Bruenchenhein's pieces remained out of sight, it is not for want of trying. In an effort to sell and exhibit his work, Von Bruenchenhein repeatedly approached local galleries, but to no avail. More on Eugene Von Bruenchenhein

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983)

Series: Portraits of Marie

Marie nude with pearls and heels against floral backdrop, looks to viewer, c. 1940s

Gelatin-silver print

4.5 x 2.75 inches, 11.4 x 7 cm

Private collection

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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