Charlotte Bara | La Petite Mélancolie

Riess was born in Czarnikau in the Prussian Province of Posen where her Jewish parents were shopkeepers. At the end of the 1890s, the family moved to Berlin where she first studied sculpture under Hugo Lederer (c. 1907) and later photography at the Berlin « Photographischen Lehranstalt », receiving her diploma in the summer of 1915.

In 1918, she opened a business on the prestigious Kurfürstendamm; it became one of the most popular studios in the city. Partly as a result of her marriage to the journalist Rudolf Leonhard in the early 1920s, she extended her clientele to celebrities such as playwright Walter Hasenclever, novelist Gerhart Hauptmann and actors and actresses including Tilla Durieux, Asta Nielsen and Emil Jannings. While on a trip to Italy in 1929, she was invited to photograph Benito Mussolini. In addition, she contributed to the journals and magazines of the day including Die Dame, Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, Der Weltspiegel, Querschnit and Koralle

Her success in Berlin was however short-lived. In 1932, after falling in love with the elderly French ambassador in Berlin, she moved to Paris with him, disappearing from the public eye. Even the date of her death cannot be clearly established and her place of burial remains unknown (source wilkipedia)

Frieda Riess- Toni Freeden – Dancer, Germany in a dancing pose – 1927 via getty images

Frieda Riess- The dancer Grit Helgesa Portrait in the role of a Harlekin Vintage,1920 via getty images

Frieda Riess- Ellen Petz Dancer, choreographer, Germany with a partner in the Petz Kainer Ballet ‘Scherzo’; costumes designed by Ludwig Kainer – 1920 via getty images

Frieda Riess- Portrait of Margo Lion, Cabaret Artist, Chansonniere, Actress, Germany, Portrait singing the couplet ‘Die Linie der Mode’ in the Wilde Bühne in Berlin 1924 via getty images