{
"data": {
"id": 155373,
"accession_number": "1990.121",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "\"Women's Dance,\" Bauhaus Stage, 1929. Umbo (German, 1902\u20131980). Gelatin silver print; image: 15.3 x 11 cm (6 x 4 5/16 in.); matted: 30.6 x 25.4 cm (12 1/16 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1990.121",
"current_location": null,
"title": "\"Women's Dance,\" Bauhaus Stage",
"creation_date": "1929",
"creation_date_earliest": 1929,
"creation_date_latest": 1929,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Germany, 20th century"
],
"technique": "gelatin silver print",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "PH - German 20th Century",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 15.3 x 11 cm (6 x 4 5/16 in.); Matted: 30.6 x 25.4 cm (12 1/16 x 10 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.153,
"width": 0.11
},
"matted": {
"height": 0.306,
"width": 0.254
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Written in pencil on verso: \"lisbeth\"; \"Umbo II\"; in blue-green ink: \" N46 [46 boxed] / Oscar Schlammer / Barockdamen *) / Bauhausb\u00fchne 1926-30. / *) oder kurz '3 Damen' / Eigentum: W. Siedhoff / Frankfurt a. Main / Cornelius-str. 17\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 311875,
"title": "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).",
"opening_date": "1996-11-24T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: \"Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art.\"",
"opening_date": "1997-02-02T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "W. Siedhoff, Frankfurt am Main",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "An inventive and versatile photographer, in Umbo joined the newly formed Berlin photographic agency known as Dephot (Deutsche Photodienst) in 1929, working as a photojournalist and writing about avant-garde film, dance, and theater. From 1926\u201330, he photographed performances produced by a dance and theatrical company associated with the German Bauhaus, an avant-garde school of architecture and design. In this surreal image, three figures dressed in elaborate costumes and masks impersonate dolls. The distorted perspective and ominous shadows give the image a disconcerting mood.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79943343"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"1990 Photography Acquisitions.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991): 46-59.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 49",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161315"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 362",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.121",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 155373,
"creators": [
{
"id": 1040,
"description": "Umbo (German, 1902\u20131980)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Umbo (Otto Umbehr) German, 1902-1980\r\n\r\nBorn Otto Umbehr in D\u00fcsseldorf, Umbo was a pioneering photojournalist also known for his compelling portraiture. Following studies in painting and design at the Bauhaus (1921-23), Umbo moved to Berlin where he undertook various jobs, including camera assistant to Walter Ruttmann on the documentary film Berlin, Die Sinfonie einer Grosstadt (Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, completed 1927). In 1926 he began a career as a professional photographer, opening a portrait studio with the assistance of Paul Citro\u00ebn, a former Bauhaus colleague. He soon became known for his striking portraits produced using extreme closeups and dramatic lighting.\r\n\tIn 1928 Umbo joined Simon Guttmann's recently established Dephot (Deutsche Photodienst), the first cooperative photojournalist agency, managing the studio and contributing photographs until the agency was dissolved in 1933. During this time his work appeared in magazines such as the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, the M\u00fcnchner Illustrierte Presse, Die Dame, and Die Koralle. He also experimented with multiple exposure, unusual camera angles, photomontage, collage, and x-ray film, and in 1929 took part in Film und Foto, the important international exhibition of avant-garde photography and film held in Stuttgart.\r\n\tThroughout the 1930s and early 1940s, Umbo worked as a freelance photojournalist, traveling to North Africa and Italy on assignment. During World War II he served in the German army (1943-45), losing all his prints and negatives when his studio was destroyed. After the war Umbo moved to Hanover, where he continued freelance work. From 1957 until the early 1970s he also taught photography in Bad Pyrmont, Hildesheim, and Hanover. M.M.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1902",
"death_year": "1980",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1991-03-27T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1929,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1929",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:05:00.842000"
}
}