A(R)TALK 10: From Trude Fleischmann to Helen Levitt – Childhood Depicted by Female Photographers of the Early 20th Century
Image: Trude Fleischmann, Sandra and Barbara with Golden Heart Necklaces, 1951, gelatin silver print. Courtesy of Barbara Rosenberg Loss. © Trude Fleischmann
JUNE 4 | 5.30 PM
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
The Austrian Cultural Forum New York is pleased to present the 10th edition of its ongoing A(R)Talk series, which delves into the intersections of art, research, and social inquiry. This edition will explore how pioneering female photographers of the early 20th century captured and redefined the experience of childhood during a period of profound cultural and political transformation.
At the center of the conversation is Trude Fleischmann (1895–1990), a trailblazing Viennese photographer whose portraits and documentary works reveal an unusually sensitive and progressive approach to children as subjects. Her images resist sentimentality, instead emphasizing the agency, individuality, and emotional complexity of youth. Fleischmann’s work offers a compelling visual counterpoint to the more didactic or idealized representations of childhood that dominated her era. This event is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Famous & Family. Through the Lens of Trude Fleischmann at the Fairfield University Art Museum, Bellarmine Hall Galleries, in Fairfield, Connecticut, on view through July 26, 2025.
In addition to Fleischmann, the panel will spotlight the contributions of several other groundbreaking women photographers, including Edith Tudor-Hart (AT), Dora Horovitz (AT), Hedda Walther, Aenne Biermann, Toni Frissell, and Helen Levitt. Active in Austria, Germany, Britain, and the United States, these artists captured children across social classes, geographies, and emotional states – expanding the visual vocabulary of childhood to encompass a sense of curiosity, independence, resilience, and joy.
The evening will feature a presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Cronin, Robert B. Menschel Curator of Photography at The New York Public Library. A discussion moderated by Dr. Stephanie Buhmann, Head of Visual Arts, Architecture, and Design at the ACFNY, examining the cultural, political, and aesthetic frameworks within which these photographers worked, will frame the evening. The event will conclude with an open Q&A session, inviting audience participation. A reception will follow. Admission is free.
About the Speakers
Dr. Elizabeth Cronin is the Robert B. Menschel Curator of Photography at The New York Public Library. She is the Curator of The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History and author of the accompanying catalog (2024). She is also the author of Heimat Photography in Austria: A Politicized Vision of Peasants and Skiers (Fotohof edition, 2015). She has curated and co-curated such exhibitions as Viewpoints: Latin America in Photographs, Anna Atkins Refracted and Public Eye: 175 Years of Sharing Photography. Cronin received her PhD in Art History from the CUNY Graduate Center. Image Credits: Stephanie Buhmann
Dr. Stephanie Buhmann (Moderator): Head of Visual Art, Architecture & Design at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is a historian of art, architecture and design. Besides curating dozens of exhibitions, she has conducted over ninety published interviews with contemporary artists. In 2013 she conceived of an ongoing Studio Conversations series, focused on women of different generations working in diverse media. Her latest monograph Frederick Kiesler: Galaxies was published in 2023 (The Green Box, Berlin). She is a contributing author and co-editor of Roma Artist Ceija Stojka: What Should I Be Afraid of? (Hirmer Publishers, 2024), Touch Nature: Art in the Age of the Climate Crisis (Böhlau Publishers, 2024). Image Credits: Marcin Muchalski & Sabrina Vertzman, New York