Photography: Marianne Breslauer

I stumbled upon Marianne Breslauer's photographs by accident when I was searching for some else entirely (I can't even remember what). I was fascinated by her portraits of 30s era women with their short hair and boyish clothes. I did a quick search and learned that she briefly studied photography under Man Ray before pursuing her own path as a photographic reporter. She eventually left her native Germany after being asked to publish her photographs under a pseudonym to hide the fact that she was Jewish.

In a strange, seven-degrees-of-separation sort of twist, I also learned that she traveled with and often photographed Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Annemarie was at one time an object of affection for Carson McCullers. McCullers even dedicated a book to her, Reflections in a Golden Eye. One of my goals for the year was to read more, and McCullers is an author that I included on that list. It's a small world! (sorry for getting that song stuck in your head)