Gertrude Fehr


Gertrude Fehr was a German photographer. She was born in Mainz on Tuesday, March 5, 1895, and died in 1996 at the age of 101. She was part of the first generation of professional female photographers.

Biography

After an apprenticeship in the Munich studio of Eduard Wasow she opened her own studio in 1918. She employed six people. In 1933 the political climate forced her to flee Germany with her future Swiss husband Jules Fehr. They fled to Paris and in 1934 opened the Publiphot school. In the end of the 30's she and her husband moved to Switzerland. Where they opened a photography school in Lausanne. In 1945 the school was transferred to Vevey to become part of the Ecole des Arts et Métiers. She proposed color photography in 1950. Until 1960 she gave classes in portrait, fashion, advertising and journalistic photography. Monique Jacot, Luc Chessex, Jean-Loup Sieff, Yvan Dalain and Francis Reusser can be counted among her many students. She died in 1996.