The Hidden Museum now at the Berlinische Galerie

His images shaped fashion photography and can often be found at art auctions: Helmut Newton, who died in 2004, is one of the world's most famous photographers. His ambivalent nude photographs, which show women between self-determination and submission, are unique. According to Newton's own statement, the photographer Yva was his idol. Yva was the most sought-after photographer in the art center of Berlin around 1930 and trained the young Newton in her studio. After her murder in 1942, it took 60 years before an exhibition honored her style-setting work.

Yva is by no means the only artist who caused a sensation in the 1920s and was forgotten after the Second World War: Lotte Laserstein, Eva Besnyö, Louise Stomps or Ilse Heller-Lazard are just a few names of female artists who have been rediscovered in recent years. The Hidden Museum set this development in motion.

The history of the museum began in 1986, when the artists Gisela Breitling and Evelyn Kuwertz initiated an exhibition that presented art by women from the collections of West Berlin museums. Fascinated by the vast amount of existing works by unknown women artists, Breitling and Kuwertz, together with several art historians, founded the Hidden Museum to run the project permanently.

They focus on women artists born around 1900, since they were part of the first generation to be allowed to study at art colleges. In the experimental 1920s, they participated in the lively art world, but only a few were still able to celebrate success after the cuts of World War II. Until the 1980s, art history held the view that there were hardly any women artists worth mentioning. This view must be countered with facts. One example of this is Yva.

In 2001, the Hidden Museum organized the exhibition Yva - Photographs. 1925 - 1938, triggering a small wave of scientific research on this pioneer photographer. Yva was born Else Ernestine Neuländer in 1900 and opened her own photo studio in Berlin at the age of 25. She quickly earned her reputation as an innovative artist with multiple exposures and surreal photo collages. Yva was adept at both fashion and experimental photography and was the most sought-after photographer of her time in the Berlin hotspot − recognized in trade journals like her Parisian colleague Man Ray. She received an offer to work for Life Magazine in New York, but stayed in her home country.

From today's perspective, her pictures seem quite unspectacular. This is because we are already used to her visual language in today's media age: Yva's experiments have become the worldwide standard by being passed on to Newton and other photographers. Only in direct comparison to contemporary photographs can we see how far ahead of her time Yva was.

Because of her Jewish background, she had to close her studio in 1938, which also ended Newton's two-year training. At her husband's request, Yva remained in Germany and worked as an X-ray assistant at the Jewish Hospital in Berlin. Newton, who was already living in Australia, finally convinced Yva to emigrate. While still preparing to escape, Yva was deported and murdered in the Sobibor death camp in 1942.

The goal of the Hidden Museum is to bring significant women artists into the spotlight of art history. Women artists who were demonstrably known during their lifetime and who created artistically valuable works. The staff of the Hidden Museum not only search archives and libraries, but also sift through unpublished letters and other records from fellow artists and circles of friends. They also closely examine attic finds from family members.

In some cases, years pass before they have collected enough material for an exhibition. »Feasibility, perseverance as well as the luck of the discoverers are decisive factors that determine whether a project is realized«, says Elisabeth Moortgat from the board of the Hidden Museum. »Feasibility is predominantly tied to the allocation of financial resources, and not all unknown women artists are worthy of support in the eyes of funders.«

There has been much recognition from the public, as Moortgat mentions. Exhibitions such as Lotte Laserstein − My Only Reality (2003), Eva Besnyö − Photographer (2011), and Women Artists in Dialogue − Paintings. Photographs. Sculptures (2013) were enthusiastic. Public attention to women artists − contemporary and deceased − is increasing. The Hidden Museum has been at the forefront of this development since the 1980s with its approximately 150 rediscovered biographies. According to Elisabeth Moortgat, there is still a lot of room for improvement: »The growing pressure of equal rights efforts in the last decade has led to greater attention, but not yet equality.« This is clear, for example, from the lower esteem in which women artists are held in the art market.

The ever-increasing demand for quality in the art business claims its victims. The Hidden Museum is one of them. High insurance premiums and expensive state-of-the-art air-conditioning technology exceed the financial means of the small museum, which has been housed in a residential building since its founding. In addition, no young art historians could be found who wanted to continue the project. Since January 1, 2022, the Berlinische Galerie, a long-time exhibition partner of the museum, has taken over. The gallery plans to further establish the project and increase its reach in the coming decades. To that end, it will also host exhibitions on contemporary women artists.

It is gratifying that the project, which is unique in the world, will not disappear but will pass into the hands of the Berlinische Galerie. It remains to be seen when a retrospective of Yva's work will be shown again among the numerous Newton exhibitions.