Ellen Thorbecke

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Ellen Thorbecke , née Ellen Kolban, for a time Ellen Catleen (born May 26, 1902 in Deutsch Wilmersdorf , German Reich ; † September 11, 1973 in The Hague , Netherlands ) was a Dutch newspaper reporter, writer and photographer . During her stay in the Republic of China , she produced a unique series of photos of portraits and street scenes in the Chinese countryside and the cities of Beijing , Shanghai and Hong Kong to illustrate her newspaper articleson. The photos were published in books, for which she also wrote the texts. With her reports on China in a modern way, Ellen Thorbecke occupies a unique place in the genre of ethnographic photography .

Career

Ellen Kolban was born on May 26, 1902 as the eldest of two daughters of the entrepreneur and landowner Rudolf Kolban and the Austrian opera singer Hermine Grundmann in the then still independent municipality of Deutsch Wilmersdorf. Today Deutsch Wilmersdorf is a district of Berlin . Until 1918 Ellen Kolban spent her youth alternately in Berlin and on her father's estate in Nieder-Domaslowitz in Austrian Silesia . The last few years were overshadowed by the First World War . After the divorce of her parents in 1918, she lived with her father in Berlin. From 1918 to 1922 she took a grammar course and studied piano at the Stern Conservatory , a private conservatory in Berlin.

In the following years she married the German lawyer E. Catleen. Both studied classical economics at a university in Berlin. In 1924 their daughter Anita was born. From 1928 to 1930 she worked as a freelance journalist and wrote about theater and music for the Berliner Tageblatt and the Neue Freie Presse .

At a reception in the Dutch embassy in Berlin in 1930, Ellen Catleen met the first secretary Willem JR Thorbecke , a grandson of the Dutch politician Johan Rudolph Thorbecke . The two fell in love, and two lengthy divorce proceedings ensued. In 1931 their daughter Evelyn was born, who already came from the relationship with Thorbecke. As a member of the Society for Organization (gfo), she helped reorganize the Yva Photographie company from June 1 to October 15, 1931 . During this time she bought a Rolleiflex camera and took her first photos.

Willem Thorbecke was appointed Dutch envoy to the Republic of China in 1931 and then took up his post in Beijing. At the end of October 1931, Ellen followed him. At that time she was working for the Rudolf Mosse publishing house and was supposed to supply the Berlin newspapers with texts and photos from the Far East . She stayed alternately in Shanghai and with Thorbecke in Beijing. Your contributions from the Far East were a success. As a result, she commissioned the Berliner Tageblatt in 1932 to write articles as a special correspondent on the economic and financial conditions in the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan . By 1933 she also published a series of articles under the title Chinareise all alone in the German-Chinese news newspaper .

In February 1934, Ellen Thorbecke was commissioned by the English publisher Kelly & Walsh to create a photo book entitled Peking Studies . Her texts and photos were supplemented by illustrations by the Austrian artist Friedrich Schiff - a friend she met during her stay in the Republic of China. In the summer of 1934 she published her first children's book Three in one with the Peiyang Press in Tianjin . The illustrations were again by Friedrich Schiff. In the following years the two published four children's books together.

Her second book People in China was published in 1935 by the English publisher Harper & Brothers . The two divorce proceedings of Ellen and Willem and their intended marriage caused diplomatic problems. As a result, Willem resigned from his post as envoy and the two traveled together to The Hague. While she was on the boat, Ellen took photos that were published in 1937, along with illustrations by Friedrich Schiff, in the book Hetkretzinnige China: Mysterious China . It dealt with the Java-China-Japan-Lijn (JCJL) liner service .

Ellen and Willem JR Thorbecke were married in Prague ( Czechoslovakia ). Willem Thorbecke then got a job as a management consultant at Philips and traveled back to China with his family in 1936. The two daughters Anita and Evelyn came with me. Ellen wrote children's books and in 1941 informative publications about Hong Kong and Shanghai, illustrated with her own photos and supplementary illustrations by Friedrich Schiff. The Second Sino-Japanese War overshadowed her stay there.

In 1941 the Thorbecke family left the Republic of China and settled in South Africa . Willem took up a position there as a political advisor to the South African Army, and Ellen worked for the China Relief Organization until 1944 . The Thorbecke family moved to Jerusalem ( Palestine ) in 1944 . Ellen took up a job there at the publishing house Harper & Brothers and in 1947 published the book Promised Land with her own texts and photos of Jewish immigrants. In 1945 the Thorbecke family lived in Lebanon , where Ellen was working on a book about Beirut that was never published.

The Thorbecke family emigrated to the United States via Paris ( France ) in 1946 . Willem took up a position there as a political advisor for Radio Free Europe and until 1960 was Professor of Political Science at Emory University in Atlanta ( Georgia ). Ellen Thorbecke's photographic activities came to an end during this time. However, she continued to write articles and give lectures on the Far East in educational institutions and Rotary clubs .

In 1960 Ellen and Willem Thorbecke returned to the Netherlands. They spent half of the year in The Hague and the other half of the year in Florida .

Ellen Thorbecke died in The Hague in September 1973 at the age of 71.

Works (selection)

  • 1934: Peking Studies
  • 1934: Three in one
  • 1935: People in China
  • 1937: Het Secret Pewter China: Mysterious China
  • 1939: Hong Kong
  • 1941: Shanghai
  • 1947: Promised Land
  • In Beetleland
  • Raggie's Adventures in China
  • King Henry
  • Williams trip to Asia

legacy

The copyright to the photographic works by Ellen Thorbecke lies with the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography Portal of the Netherlands - Ellen Thorbecke
  2. ↑ Ellen Catleen and Friedrich Schiff: Peking Studies , Compilation and Translation Press, 2011
  3. ^ Ellen Catleen and Friedrich Schiff: Three in one , Peiyang Press, Ltd., 1934
  4. ^ Thorbecke, Ellen: People in China: Thirty-two Photographic Studies from Life , GG Harrap, 1935
  5. ↑ Thorbecke, Ellen: Hetkretzinnige China: Mysterious China , Leopold, 1937
  6. ↑ Ellen Thorbecke and Friedrich Schiff: Hong Kong. Photographed and Depicted by Ellen Thorbecke. With Sketches by Schiff , Kelly & Walsh, 1939
  7. ↑ Ellen Thorbecke and Friedrich Schiff: Hong Kong , Kelly & Walsh, 1939
  8. ^ Thorbecke, Ellen: Shanghai , North-China Daily News & Herald Ltd., 1940
  9. ↑ Thorbecke, Ellen: Promised Land , Harper & Brothers, 1947
  10. ↑ Ellen Catleen and Friedrich Schiff: In Beetleland , Peiyang Press, Ltd.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thorbecke, Ellen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kolban, Ellen (maiden name); Catleen, Ellen (name during first marriage)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch newspaper reporter, writer and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH German Wilmersdorf , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 1973
Place of death The Hague , Netherlands