These are two of about fifty photographs taken by Hedda Hammer (Morrison) in 1931 at the annual folk festival in her home town of Stuttgart, Germany.
Most of the photographs in this series depict people dressed in regional costumes; there are also a couple of dramatic close-ups of mannequins wearing elaborate headdresses captured from unusual vantage points which would indicate Hedda’s interest in the ‘New Objectivity’ approach. It is not surprising – studying photography in Germany in the 1920s she would have been exposed to the ideas of Neue Sachlichkeit movement. Interestingly, while many photographers of that time were fascinated by industrial forms, Hedda seemed always drawn to people and their culture.
The Stuttgart Folk Festival photos are among the few known photographs taken by Hedda Hammer before she left Germany for China in 1933. They nicely complement the extensive collection of her much better known photographs from China and Hong Kong as they give us an interesting insight into the early stages of her photographic career and the origins of her unique style.
Photography by Hedda Hammer (Morrison)
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