Born in West-Prussia in 1896, Lotte Jacobi is the fourth generation of a family of photographers whose work has been equated with excellence on two continents. Her great-grandfather met Louis Daguerre. In 1935 she fled Nazi Germany and for the next two decades maintained her own studio in New York City before moving to the rural community of Deering, New Hampshire, to live. In 1963 she opened a gallery there.
Although widely known for her naturalistic portraits of many of those who shaped twentieth century western culture-artists, philosophers, scientists, statesmen, and particularly a unique series of Albert Einstein which are now considered historical documents-Jacobi's camera focused on the world of dance almost from the beginning when she was torn between a career in the theater or photography.
She first began experimenting with a pin-hole camera under her father's guidance seventy years ago, but her photographic career began in 1927 when she assumed the responsibility for the family's Berlin studio after graduation from the Bavarian Academy of Photography.
Lotte Jacobi has had numerous one-woman shows in this country and abroad. Her photographs and articles have appeared in countless magazines and her life and career have been the subject of a filmed documentary. While active in politics, environmental concerns, and art, her main interests have always been photography and humanity.
Jacobi prints are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; the Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany, among others, and in many private and university collections. The first monograph of her work was published by Addison House in 1979.
Although widely known for her naturalistic portraits of many of those who shaped twentieth century western culture-artists, philosophers, scientists, statesmen, and particularly a unique series of Albert Einstein which are now considered historical documents-Jacobi's camera focused on the world of dance almost from the beginning when she was torn between a career in the theater or photography.
She first began experimenting with a pin-hole camera under her father's guidance seventy years ago, but her photographic career began in 1927 when she assumed the responsibility for the family's Berlin studio after graduation from the Bavarian Academy of Photography.
Lotte Jacobi has had numerous one-woman shows in this country and abroad. Her photographs and articles have appeared in countless magazines and her life and career have been the subject of a filmed documentary. While active in politics, environmental concerns, and art, her main interests have always been photography and humanity.
Jacobi prints are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; the Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany, among others, and in many private and university collections. The first monograph of her work was published by Addison House in 1979.