Edith Glogau (1898-1970)
Austrian-born American Photographer
Born in Vienna in 1898, Edith Glogau specialised in portrait and fashion photography.
Between 1913 and 1917 she studied at the Graphische Lehr und Veruchsanstaldt and then apprenticed with Studio D’Ora, the studio of Austrian fashion and portrait photographer Madame D’Ora (Dora Kallmus) and German photographer Arthur Benda.
She opened her own studio at 8 Singerstrasse in 1925, when Madame D’Ora went to Paris, and became one of the most glamorous portrait and fashion photographers of pre-war Vienna.
Edith’s black and white work bore the distinctive Glogau signature, making it easily identifiable. Her elegant styling and flattering lighting followed in the style of Madame D’Ora and she photographed many of the beauties of the day, such as Thea von Ujj, Louise Rainer, and the young Hedy Lamarr. Her fashion work was also published regularly in Die Buhne and Moderne Welt.
In 1929 she married press photographer Hans Strenitz with whom she ran a second studio called Strenitz-Kalmar, before emigrating to New York in 1938 when Hitler invaded Austria.
After working in the photography studios of Bachrach in Newton, Massachusetts and later at Harris and Ewing in Washington, Edith opened her own studio, Glogau Photographers, at 1803 Connecticut Avenue, North Washington. Although she died in Washington in 1970, the Glogau Studio still exists today.
Much of her work is held in the Granger Picture Archive and Ullstein Bild archive.
By Paula Vellet
