Florence Meyer
American photographer (1911–1962)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florence Meyer Homolka (January 22, 1911 – November 27, 1962) was an American portrait photographer and socialite. She was married to the actor Oscar Homolka.
January 22, 1911
Florence Meyer Homolka | |
|---|---|
Photo of Meyer by Man Ray | |
| Born | Florence Meyer January 22, 1911 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 27, 1962 (aged 51) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Portrait photographer and socialite |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Katharine Graham (sister) Marc Eugene Meyer (grandfather) Joseph Newmark (great-grandfather) |
Early life and education
She was born in New York City, the eldest daughter of Eugene Meyer (1875–1959), future publisher of the Washington Post, and Agnes Elizabeth (Ernst) Meyer (1887–1970).[1] Along with her four siblings, she was baptized as a Lutheran but attended an Episcopal church.[2]
She attended the Madeira School[3] and Bryn Mawr College,[1] graduated from Radcliffe College.[4]
Photography
Meyer photographed numerous artists, playwrights, actors, writers, composers, musicians, statesmen, film stars, and other celebrities of her day. Her work included portraits of Van Cliburn,[5] James Agee, Thomas Mann, Constantin Brâncuși, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Vladimir Horowitz, Lion Feuchtwanger, Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood and of fellow photographers Edward Steichen, Walker Evans, and Brassaï.[6]
Meyer was a close friend and protégée of Man Ray, and in 1946 took the photographs for the double wedding portraits of Man Ray and Juliet Browner, and Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning.[7] Meyer exhibited her photographs at the Palos Verdes Art Gallery in 1950[8] and at Los Angeles City Hall in 1952.[9]
Meyer played the Juggler and the Priestess of the Golden Calf in the original Broadway cast of Kurt Weill's The Eternal Road (1937).[4] She was the author of Focus on Art, published posthumously in 1962, with a foreword by Aldous Huxley.[10]
Personal life
In 1939, Meyer married the widowed Austrian character actor Oscar Homolka (1898–1978).[4][11] They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence. They divorced in 1946,[12] but the financial details of the divorce were contested as late as 1952.[13] She died from a respiratory attack in Santa Monica in 1962, at the age of 51.[14]
