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EDITH TUDOR-HART: Beyond the Spy
with Stefanie Pirker
Generally known as “the spy with a camera,” this episode asks: What do we see when we stop looking for the spy and start looking at her photographs, collages, and publications?
Edith Tudor-Hart has too often been seen through a story that is not primarily about her work, but about secrecy, politics, and the men around her. Several publications have linked her to the Cambridge Five, the group of British men who spied for the Soviet Union. It is a dramatic story. But it can easily overshadow everything else.
Once we move past this stereotype, we see a remarkable photographer of social realities: poverty, housing, health, children’s welfare, women’s health, and the sharp inequalities of 1920s and 30s Austria and Britain. We see a Bauhaus student, a communist, a migrant, a mother, and an artist who understood photography as a tool of social critique and education.
SHOW NOTES
bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Support bauhaus faces on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bauhausfaces or via bauhausfaces.com
Interview with Wolfgang Suschitzky
ON SPY ACTIVITY
Secrete Service MI5: Soviet intelligence agents and suspected agents, 25 November 2002
Walter Ruttmann: Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, 1927
EPISODES ON bauhaus faces ABOUT
Hannes Meyerr with Dara Kiese and Thomas Flierl;
Etel & Ernst Mittag with Michael Mittag;
Tibor Weiner with Daniel Talesnik
LITERATURE ABOUT EDITH TUDOR-HART
CHAPTER IMAGES
01 Rudolf Bauer: Portrait of Edith Suschitzky, ca. 1928, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
02 Edith Tudor-Harts original negative boxes, © Dr. Stefanie Pirker
03 Bookshop Brüder Suschitzky, Vienna, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
04 Edith Tudor-Hart: Unemployed Workers’ Demonstration, Vienna, 1932, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
05 Edith Tudor-Hart: Edith Tudor-Hart, March for May Day, Landstrasse, Vienna, 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
06 Edith Tudor-Hart: no title, Vienna, ca. 1930, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
07 Edith Suschitzky (right) with her cousin Karla (left) at the Bauhaus in Dessau, 1929–30, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
08 Edith Tudor-Hart: Scrapbook, pp. 86-87, Photo collage „Die Neue Frau der Zukunft,“ ca. 1929, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
09 Edith Suschitzky (?): Photo collage „Die Großstadt,“ ca. 1928, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
10 Walter Ruttmann: Poster of „Berlin. Die Sinfonie der Grossstadt“, 1927, IMDb
11 Edith Tudor-Hart: Cover „The Listener,“ 10 January 1934, Vol XI, Nr 261, British Library
12 Edith Tudor-Hart: Ferris Wheel, Vienna, ca. 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
13 Edith Tudor-Hart, in: „Lilliput,“ April 1939, p. 426-427, British Library
14 Edith Suschitzky: „A University of Commercial Art,“ in: Commercial Art Magazine, March 1931, p. 113-114, British Library
15/16 Edith Tudor-Hart: Sausage Stall, Vienna, ca. 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
17/18/19 Edith Tudor-Hart: „Hakenkreuze im Schatten", Vienna, ca. 1932 © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
20/21 Edith Tudor-Hart: Isokon Flats Opening Party, 1934, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
22/24 Edith Tudor Hart & Grete Stern: The South London Hospital for Women and Children, 1934, p. 10, British Library
23 Grete Stern: Self-portrait, 1956, from: https://flashbak.com/grete-sterns-surreal-dreams-of-female-emancipation-384888/grete-stern-montage-photo-38/, in the public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73900080
25 Edith Tudor-Hart: Tommy on the Cover of Picture Post, 10th of August 1946, Getty Images
26 Edith Tudor-Hart: „A School Where Love is a Cure,“ in: Picture Post, 30th of April 1949, pp. 28-29, Getty Images
27 Edith Tudor-Hart, in: Amateur Photographer, 27 June 1956, pp. 612-613, British Library
28 Portrait of Edith Tudor-Hart, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
29 Wolfgang Suschitzky: Edith Tudor-Hart and Tommy, ca. 1936, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
30 Edith Tudor-Hart: Upton Country, Primary School, Kent, ca. 1950, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
31/32 Wolfgang Suschitzky: Edith Tudor-Hart and Tommy, ca. 1936, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
View all episodes
By Anja Guttenbergerwith Stefanie Pirker
Generally known as “the spy with a camera,” this episode asks: What do we see when we stop looking for the spy and start looking at her photographs, collages, and publications?
Edith Tudor-Hart has too often been seen through a story that is not primarily about her work, but about secrecy, politics, and the men around her. Several publications have linked her to the Cambridge Five, the group of British men who spied for the Soviet Union. It is a dramatic story. But it can easily overshadow everything else.
Once we move past this stereotype, we see a remarkable photographer of social realities: poverty, housing, health, children’s welfare, women’s health, and the sharp inequalities of 1920s and 30s Austria and Britain. We see a Bauhaus student, a communist, a migrant, a mother, and an artist who understood photography as a tool of social critique and education.
SHOW NOTES
bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Support bauhaus faces on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bauhausfaces or via bauhausfaces.com
Interview with Wolfgang Suschitzky
ON SPY ACTIVITY
Secrete Service MI5: Soviet intelligence agents and suspected agents, 25 November 2002
Walter Ruttmann: Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, 1927
EPISODES ON bauhaus faces ABOUT
Hannes Meyerr with Dara Kiese and Thomas Flierl;
Etel & Ernst Mittag with Michael Mittag;
Tibor Weiner with Daniel Talesnik
LITERATURE ABOUT EDITH TUDOR-HART
CHAPTER IMAGES
01 Rudolf Bauer: Portrait of Edith Suschitzky, ca. 1928, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
02 Edith Tudor-Harts original negative boxes, © Dr. Stefanie Pirker
03 Bookshop Brüder Suschitzky, Vienna, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
04 Edith Tudor-Hart: Unemployed Workers’ Demonstration, Vienna, 1932, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
05 Edith Tudor-Hart: Edith Tudor-Hart, March for May Day, Landstrasse, Vienna, 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
06 Edith Tudor-Hart: no title, Vienna, ca. 1930, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
07 Edith Suschitzky (right) with her cousin Karla (left) at the Bauhaus in Dessau, 1929–30, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
08 Edith Tudor-Hart: Scrapbook, pp. 86-87, Photo collage „Die Neue Frau der Zukunft,“ ca. 1929, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
09 Edith Suschitzky (?): Photo collage „Die Großstadt,“ ca. 1928, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
10 Walter Ruttmann: Poster of „Berlin. Die Sinfonie der Grossstadt“, 1927, IMDb
11 Edith Tudor-Hart: Cover „The Listener,“ 10 January 1934, Vol XI, Nr 261, British Library
12 Edith Tudor-Hart: Ferris Wheel, Vienna, ca. 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
13 Edith Tudor-Hart, in: „Lilliput,“ April 1939, p. 426-427, British Library
14 Edith Suschitzky: „A University of Commercial Art,“ in: Commercial Art Magazine, March 1931, p. 113-114, British Library
15/16 Edith Tudor-Hart: Sausage Stall, Vienna, ca. 1931, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
17/18/19 Edith Tudor-Hart: „Hakenkreuze im Schatten", Vienna, ca. 1932 © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
20/21 Edith Tudor-Hart: Isokon Flats Opening Party, 1934, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
22/24 Edith Tudor Hart & Grete Stern: The South London Hospital for Women and Children, 1934, p. 10, British Library
23 Grete Stern: Self-portrait, 1956, from: https://flashbak.com/grete-sterns-surreal-dreams-of-female-emancipation-384888/grete-stern-montage-photo-38/, in the public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73900080
25 Edith Tudor-Hart: Tommy on the Cover of Picture Post, 10th of August 1946, Getty Images
26 Edith Tudor-Hart: „A School Where Love is a Cure,“ in: Picture Post, 30th of April 1949, pp. 28-29, Getty Images
27 Edith Tudor-Hart, in: Amateur Photographer, 27 June 1956, pp. 612-613, British Library
28 Portrait of Edith Tudor-Hart, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
29 Wolfgang Suschitzky: Edith Tudor-Hart and Tommy, ca. 1936, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
30 Edith Tudor-Hart: Upton Country, Primary School, Kent, ca. 1950, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive
31/32 Wolfgang Suschitzky: Edith Tudor-Hart and Tommy, ca. 1936, © Wolf Suschitzky Estate, courtesy of FOTOHOF>Archive