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Liselotte Grschebina (Grjebina), photographer, born 2.5.1908 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her parents were Rosa and Otto Billigheimer, a Jewish couple. Her father was killed in 1916 while serving in the German army. In 1939, together with fellow photographers of German origin gathered in Tel Aviv, establishes the Palestine Professional Photographers Association (PPPA), the first independent photographers organization in the country. In 1931 Grschebina is dismissed on the grounds that there is no demand for her subject; tries to open a private photography school, but the authorities turn down her request. In January 1932 Grschebina opens Bilfoto, her own studio, announcing her specialization in child photography, and takes on students. In 1933 Grschebina is forced to close her studio after the Nazis come to power. Before leaving Germany, she marries Dr. Jacob (Jasha) Grschebin, and the two reach Tel Aviv in March 1934. In 1934, Grschebina opens the Ishon studio on Allenby Road with her friend Ellen Rosenberg (Auerbach), previously a partner in the Berlin photographic studio ringl + pit. In 1936 the Ishon studio is closed when Rosenberg leaves the country; Grschebina continues to work from her home. In 1934-47 Grschebina is appointed the official photographer for the Zionist women’s organization WIZO. Between the 1930s to 1950s Grschebina takes photographs for Palestine Railways, the large dairy company Tnuva, kibbutzim, and various private businesses. Liselotte Grschebina dies in Petah Tikva at the age of 86, on 14 June 1994. The archive of Liselotte Grschebina’s photographs were gifted to the Israel Museum by her son, Beni Gjebin and his wife Rina, Shoham, with the assistance of Rachel and Dov Gottesmann, Tel Aviv and Geneva.

The photographs of Liselotte Grschebina, rediscovered casually, almost miraculously, in a cupboard in Tel Aviv, reveal a talent that might otherwise have remained forgotten. Grschebina immigrated to Palestine from Germany in 1934, a trained professional profoundly influenced by the revolutionary movements of the Weimer Republic: New Objectivity in painting and New Vision in photography. Unlike many of her colleagues here, who sought their identities in the collective Zionist endeavor by documenting and extolling it in their work, Grschebina did not use photography as a means of forming her identity. She came with a full-fledged style and remained committed to Weimar artistic ideals and principles in her new home, where she continued to apply and develop them. This exhibition premieres a major selection from among the 1,800 photographs that were gifted to the Israel Museum and unveils her life and work to the public for the first time. Grschebina’s artistic roots clearly lay in New Vision, which defined photography as an artistic field in its own right and called on camera artists to portray subjects in a new, different way in order to convey their unique qualities and their essence. She did this through striking vantage points and strong diagonals, making masterful use of mirrors, reflections, and plays of light and shadow to create geometric shapes and to endow her photographs with atmosphere, appeal, and meaning.

Education

1925–29 Painting and graphic design at the local Art Academy, the Badische Landeskunstschule Karlsruhe (BLK), Hamburg, GermanyIn
1929 Commercial photography at the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart, Germany

Teaching

1929 advertising photography- Badische Landeskunstschule Karlsruhe (BLK) School, Hamburg, Germany