Henri, Florence

1893-1982

Swiss

Born in New York to a French mother and a German father, Florence Henri was raised in Europe, where she studied music and painting before turning to photography. Her interest in photography was encouraged by Lucia Moholy, whose husband, László Moholy-Nagy (American, born Hungary, 1895–1946), taught Henri at the Bauhaus, an influential art school in Dessau, Germany. Following her studies, Henri opened her own studio in Paris, where she became a sought-after photographer and teacher in the years leading up to World War II.

The Two Sides of Reality: Negotiating Experience Through the Photographic Image: 1920s-1970s subject