Ylla

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Ylla (real name Camilla Koffler ; born August 16, 1911 in Vienna ; † March 30, 1955 in Bharatpur ) was a Hungarian photographer who specialized in animal photography. At the time of her death, she was, according to the New York Times, "the most competent animal photographer in the world".

Life

Camilla Koffler was born in Vienna to a Serbian mother and a Romanian father, both of whom were of Hungarian nationality. From the age of eight she attended a German boarding school in Budapest . In 1925 she moved to Belgrade to live with her mother , where she studied sculpture with the Italian - Yugoslav sculptor Petar Pallavicini at the Art Academy . When she found out that her first name Camilla means camel in Serbian , she changed it to Ylla .

In 1929 Ylla received an order for a bas-relief for a cinema in Belgrade. In 1931 she moved to Paris , where she studied sculpture at the Académie Colarossi , and she worked as a photo retoucher and assistant to the Franco-Hungarian photographer Ergy Landau . The following year she began taking photos of animals. Her work was exhibited at the Galerie de La Pléiade , and she opened her own animal photography studio. In 1933 she was recommended to the head of the renowned Rado photo agency , Charles Rado , who was also Hungarian. In 1938 she made the photographs for Julian Huxley's book Animal Language .

As a Jew, she fled to the USA in 1941 ; This was made possible for her by the New York Museum of Modern Art , which got her a visa . Her photos have appeared in Life , Look and Sports Illustrated , among others . In 1952 she traveled to Africa for the first time and in 1954 to India. Between 1944 and 1954 she published ten books, including some for children (best known are The Sleepy Little Lion and Two Little Bears , which have been translated into several languages). At the end of 1954 she traveled to India at the invitation of the Maharaja of Mysore . There she fell from a jeep while photographing an ox race in Bathapur and succumbed to her injuries shortly afterwards. The books The Little Elephant and I'll Show You Cats , which were illustrated posthumously in 1956 and 1964 with their photos, were chosen by the New York Times as one of the best illustrated children's books.

The English biologist Julian Huxley said of Ylla:

“She is, I think, the outstanding animal photographer. She is outstanding in being able to seize in her pictures some essential quality of her subjects, which more orthodox photographers are apt to miss in their desire for so-called realistic and complete representation. "

“I think she's the terrific wildlife photographer. She is excellent in her ability to give the subjects of her images a substantial quality, which more conventional photographers lack in their desire for so-called reality and complete reproduction. "

- Animals . New York 1950

Charles Rado wrote:

“[Ylla was] one of the most skilled and dedicated photographers of animals. They were her life, she loved them all. […] She was wonderfully alive, amusing, fund of travel and people, and she loved her work because she loved and understood animals. Her books, in particular, gave her much satisfaction. She worked on them with infinite patience, supervising their design and printing. Animals (1951) won a prize as one of the most beautiful books of the year. [...] She contributed to practically every illustrated magazine here and in Europe. […] The thrill of observing and photographing wild animals in their natural habitat was a new and exciting experience to Ylla; she would never again be content with photographing zoo animals. "

“[Ylla was] one of the most talented and dedicated photographers of animals. They were her life, she loved them all. [...] She was wonderfully lively, entertaining, loved traveling and people, and she loved her work because she loved and understood animals. Her books in particular gave her a lot of satisfaction. She finished them with infinite patience, supervising their design and printing. Animals (1951) won an award for one of the most beautiful books of the year. […] She actually worked for every illustrated magazine here and in Europe. […] The thrill of observing and photographing wild animals in their natural environment was a new and exciting experience for Ylla; she would never have been satisfied with taking photos of zoo animals. "

Ylla and Hatari!

Ylla's life as a wildlife photographer inspired director Howard Hawks to hire screenwriter Leigh Brackett in his 1962 film Hatari! to include a role based on Ylla's persona. Hawks said: “We took that part of the story from a real character, a German girl. She was the best animal photographer in the world. ”The photographer's name in the film is Anna Maria“ Dallas ”D'Alessandro and works for zoos, she was played by Elsa Martinelli .

Publications (selection)

  • 1937 Chiens par Ylla / Ylla's Dog Fancies . Text: Jules Supervielle. Paris, Editions OET
  • 1937 Chats by Ylla . Text: Paul Léautaud, Paris, Editions OET. German: Katzen von Ylla . Text: Sven Fleuron. Hamburg 1960
  • 1938 Animal Language . Text: Julian Huxley (with recordings of animal calls). London, Country Life Press
  • 1944 They All Saw It . Text: Margaret Wise Brown. New York, Harper & Brothers
  • 1947 The Sleepy Little Lion . Text: Margaret Wise Brown. New York, Harper & Brothers
  • 1947 Le Petit Lion . Text: Jacques Prévert . Paris, Arts et Métiers Graphiques
  • 1950 The little lion . Text by Jacques Prévert. Translated into German by Hanno Helbling . Zurich, Fretz & Wasmuth
  • 1950 Tico-Tico , text: Niccolo Tucci. New York, Harper & Brothers
  • 1950 dogs. A picture book with 90 photographs . Text: Rudolf Riedtmann. Wegener
  • 1950 O Said the Squirrel . Text: Margaret Wise Brown. London, Harvill Press
  • 1950 Des Bêtes ... . Text: Jacques Prévert . Lausanne, Edition Jean Marguerat; Paris, Libraire Gallimard
  • 1950 Animals . Text: Julian Huxley . New York, Hastings House. Beasts , London, Harvill Press 1951
  • 1950 From the animals. A photo picture book . Introduction Gustav Renker . Lausanne, Marguerat 1950
  • 1952 The Duck . Text: Margaret Wise Brown. New York, Harper & Brothers; London, Harvill Press
  • 1953 Animals in Africa , text: LSB Leakey. New York, Harper & Brothers; London, Harvill Press; Paris: Delpire / Revue Neuf; German: Text: Christian Wegner. German: In the wild in Africa . Hamburg 1953
  • 1954 Two Little Bears . Text: Ylla. = Deux petits ours . Text: Paulette Falconnet. Brussels; Amsterdam, Elsevier. = Two little bears . Text: Hans-Georg Lenzen
  • 1958 Animals in India . Lausanne, La Guilde du Livre / Clairefontaine; New York, Harper & Brothers (posthumous)
  • 1959 animal mothers and animal children . Text: Anja Hegemann. Diederichs
  • 1961 The little elephant . Text: Johannes Piron

literature

  • Beaumont Newhall : Photography 1839-1937 . Museum of Modern Art. New York 1937
  • John Szarkowski : The Photographer's Eye. Museum of Modern Art. New York 1966
  • "Charles Rado, 71, of Photo Agency; Developed Popular Books from Ylla's Portfolio ". In: New York Times . 5th October 1970
  • Ylla . Nicéphore Niépce Museum. Chalon-sur-Saône 1983
  • The Animal in Photography 1843–1985 . Edited by Alexandra Noble. The Photographers' Gallery. London 1986
  • Les Femmes Photographes de la Nouvelle Vision en France 1920–1940 . Christian Bouqueret. Editions Marval. Paris 1998
  • 1000 dogs . Edited by Raymond Merritt and Miles Barth. Bags. Cologne 2002
  • Zlata Fuss Phillips: German Children's and Youth Literature in Exile, 1933–1950. Biographies and Bibliographies , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-598-11569-5 , pp. 277-281

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Fall Kills Ylla, Camera Artist," New York Times . March 31, 1955
  2. ↑ Michèle and Michel Auer :. Photographers Encyclopedia International, 1839 to the present . Camera Obscura Editions. Geneva 1985
  3. ^ A b Charles Rado: Ylla: One of the most skilled and dedicated photographer of animals. They were her life, she loved them all . In: US Camera (annually). Edited by Tom Maloney (1959)., Pp. 65-67
  4. ↑ a b c Zlata Fuss Phillips: German Children's and Youth Literature in Exile, 1933–1950. Biographies and Bibliographies , 2001, p. 277
  5. ^ Peter Bogdanovich, "The Cinema of Howard Hawks," Museum of Modern Art-Doubleday, 1962
  6. ↑ Scott Breivold, Peter Bogdanovich (interviewer): “Howard Hawks: interviews”, University Press of Mississippi 2006. p. 38, ISBN 1-57806-832-0
  7. ^ Todd McCarthy: Howard Hawks: the gray fox of Hollywood . New York. Grove Press 1997. p. 573, ISBN 0802115985
  8. ↑ Thomas McIntyre: “Fifty Years of HATARI! - The Story of Most Expensive Safari In the World ”. In: Sports Afield ., May / June 2012. p. 70
personal data
SURNAME Ylla
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koffler, Camilla (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian wildlife photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1955
Place of death Bharatpur