Bertha Beckmann
Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann was a German photographer. She appears to have been Germany's first professional female photographer, and was possibly also the first professional female photographer in the world, being active a few years prior to Brita Sofia Hesselius and Geneviève Élisabeth Disdéri. Together with her husband, she opened a studio in Leipzig in 1843 and ran the business herself from his death in 1847.
Biography
Born in Cottbus, in the Province of Brandenburg of the Kingdom of Prussia, Wehrnert-Beckmann first worked as a hairdresser in Dresden in 1839. There, in 1840, she met her future husband, Eduard Wehnert a photographer, who introduced her to the daguerrotype process and to the recently introduced color-tinting process based on glass-plate negatives which allowed an unlimited number of prints.In 1843, together with her husband, she opened a studio in Leipzig, becoming Germany's first known professional female photographer. After her husband's death in 1847, she continued to run the business herself. In 1849, she went to the United States where she opened studios in New York, first at 62 White Street and later at 385 Broadway. While in America, she received a diploma for special services to portrait photography. She returned to Leipzig in 1851 after transferring her New York business to her brother. In 1866, she moved her place of business to Leipzig's Elsterstraße where she had several employees. Her studio became one of the most notable addresses in the city. She retired in 1883 at the age of 68.
Beckmann worked in the daguerreotype photographic process. The exhibit representing her work, which resides at , could be one of the most valuable contributions to early history of photography. She kept up with the most current trend of her craft, including diligently learning stereo-photography, upon its invention.