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HART3236: BEYOND THE WALL: ART AND CULTURE IN EASTERN EUROPE, 1945 - THE PRESENT

TUTOR: SARAH JAMES

STUDENT: CHARLOTTE TASKER WORDS: 2998

How did issues of gender inform the work of female photographers in the GDR?

‘…there was far more to it than just black and white. There were far more shades of grey...’ 1

The fashion photographs of Ute Mahler and Sibylle Bergemann published during the 1980s

in the official fashion magazine Sibylle are most obviously to be read as visible

manifestations of the many shades of grey which characterised life in the German Democratic

Republic (GDR) for many East German women. However, if one reads between the lines as

Einhorn suggests East German citizens did, they also allude to the far from black and white

clarity which typified Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) party policies regarding

women and gender equality as well as fashion, photography and therefore fashion

photography.2 The lack of specific guidelines regarding official media censorship, for which

Stitziel blames the ambiguous ideology of Marxism-Leninism, enabled these two women to

subtly expose and critique reality in the GDR whilst blurring official and unofficial lines

using the medium of photography.3 The lack of coordination within the party which led to

various contradictory practices and policies, together with the state’s geographical status as

what Pachmanová terms the ‘grey zone of Europe’ particularly complicated issues of gender

in East Germany which will be explored in this essay.4

Fashion in the GDR? Unpacking some misconceptions

It may seem absurd that official women’s fashion and its consumption existed in the GDR.

However, whilst on the one hand the SED attempted to disassociate itself from western

capitalist consumerism and in doing so prevent its citizens from accessing fashion images and

1 Warnke, U. ‘Four Times Round The Block: Unlicensed Publications Of Photography In The Late GDR’. eds. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012., p. 3122 Einhorn, B. Cinderella goes to Market. Citizenship, Gender and Women’s Movements in East Central Europe. London; New York. 1993., p. 2173 Stitziel, J. Fashioning Socialism. Clothing, politics and consumer culture in East Germany, Oxford; New York. 2005., p. 74 Pachmanová, M. ‘In? Out? In between? Some notes on the invisibility of a nascent eastern European feminist and gender discourse in contemporary art theory.’ In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe. (exh. cat., The Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009., pp. 241-248, p. 241

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items, on the contrary, as Stitziel highlights, the state did not completely reject the idea of a

consumerist society but in fact strived to create its own attractive alternative consumerist

model which ultimately failed.5 Stitziel suggests that the very limited availability of women’s

clothing officially endorsed by the state resulted in many women impulse buying.6 If this

was the case, then by endeavouring to prevent it, the state not only made it possible for

women to practice capitalist consumer habits, but in fact fuelled them to do so. Stitziel

postulates that the regime simultaneously marginalized and acknowledged the importance of

consumer goods, fashion, and women, and in looking to the West as the vision of modernity

created one of the basic tensions in the politics of consumption in the GDR.7 Stitziel is

implicating that the state’s flawed ideology led women to behave as capitalist consumers in

line with official guidelines, so if this is the case it can be assumed that they certainly

behaved similarly and probably to a more extreme extent when making unofficial purchases.

It is hard to believe when thinking about East Germany and its close proximity to the West

that citizens, especially women, were unaware of capitalist consumer culture as practiced on

the other side of the Iron curtain. Citizens were able to gain knowledge of western fashion

products as there were always ways to consume western television and obtain western

publications, both of which would inform women as to fashion styles under capitalism and

make them desirable.8 It does not come as a surprise that East German women would be

unsatisfied with the SED’s ambiguous and failing policies on fashion, especially as many

experienced capitalist consumer culture before Germany was divided. Women were

frustrated when confronted with items they were unable to buy in official stores, and the

state’s lax enforcement on illegally imported goods, as Stitziel outlines, led to the infiltration

of many West German goods onto the black market to which most women had access.9 When

looking at the photography of Mahler and Bergemann it is important to bear in mind that

during the 1980s 20-30% of clothing worn by East German women came from the West. 10

These photographers presented women with styles which both resembled western trends but

could be reproduced at home either with the help of sewing patterns which accompanied the

publications, or by altering store bought apparel. As a result of this situation which came 5 Stitziel, p. 26 Stitziel, p. 1477 Stitziel, p. 48 Kowalczyk, I. ‘The ambivalent beauty’. In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe. (exh. cat., The Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009, pp. 38-45., p. 449 Stitziel, p. 14710 Stitziel, p. 153

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about due to the party’s inability to control the fashion market, buying, sewing and

consuming unofficial fashion became what Stitziel rightly terms ‘highly politicized’ acts.11

The state’s ambiguous policy regarding fashion styles and consumerism stemmed from

fundamental disagreements amongst party officials as to what constituted fashion and

clothing in the GDR and how it should look. Dörre over simplifies the situation by claiming

that the state considered clothes not as fashion, but instead put them into the category of

‘supplying consumer goods'.12 Stitziel on the other hand argues that although it was agreed

by all that socialism aimed to fulfil the basic needs of every individual, the definition of

‘basic needs’ and as a result whether clothing was a need, simply a basic good, or a luxury, in

other words fashionable items, was highly contested.13 Whilst some party officials rejected

the notion of fashion altogether, others rejected it as capitalist and celebrated the proletariat

as representative of the German nation, favouring traditional timeless clothing styles such as

Dirndls.14 Completely contradictorily to both these views, some functionaries even looked to

Paris in the West and sought to promote international haute couture styles within the GDR.15

This is a stance official political links fostered between the GDR and France as described by

Warnke certainly would have allowed party members to legitimise.16 Some officials

interpreted haute couture as in-line with Marxist ideals as exclusive models could be

transferred into inexpensive mass producible designs.17 It is no wonder that these diverse

understandings of Marxist-Leninism prevented the state completely standardising women’s

clothing.

As the state lacked any clear policy on fashion, official guidelines regarding fashion

photography were also ambiguous. Leaders of the SED viewed press photography as state

propaganda.18 Fashion photography however was an exception to the rule that all official

photography was to depict what the state understood as reality, as it was not considered to

11 Stitziel, p. 16412 Dörre, S. ‘About Strong Women, Home-Made Clothes and Fashion Punks: how fashion in the GDR could create freedom’. http:// www.goethe.de/kue/des/prj/mod/thm/en5254130.htm . (accessed 12 December 2012)13 Stitziel, p. 414 Stitziel, pp. 52-315 Stitziel, p. 416 Warnke, p. 31817 Stitziel, p. 5818 Linder. B. ‘Pictorial Contradictions: Press Photography In The GDR’. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012., p. 323

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express an authentic attitude to life.19 Fashion photographers, despite strict media censorship,

therefore experienced a lot of freedom; they were able to manipulate and work with what

Immisch terms the so called, and very ambiguous, ‘rules’.20 Riches claims that fashion

photography could tell the truth about women’s attitude towards the state and their status

within it, whilst pretending to adhere to party ideology.21 This is true to the extent that unlike

Socialist Realist art it was not required to be overtly political; Bergemann and Mahler were

able to endorse subversive images which as paintings would have fallen into the category of

unofficial art. Stitziel claims that the state intended publications such as Sibylle to encourage

women to form ‘socialist personalities’.22 It is unlikely that officials did not at times question

certain photograph’s devotion to the state’s unclear ideology, however it was impossible to

prove nonconformity as meaning was open to interpretation, as was the Marxist-Leninist

ideology. The cut of the suit style coat in figure 1 (Fig. 1.) which emphasises the shoulders is

reminiscent of power dressing, which could however be justified as promoting gender

equality in the workplace, despite the fact that this model is photographed outside, she could

be on her way to or from work. Bergemann and Mahler subversively filled Sybille’s pages

with hints as to trends throughout the world, the photographers often drawing their material

from western sources.23

Bergemann and Mahler appeared conformist as far as the state was concerned by legitimately

avoiding propagandistic imagery which they felt did not represent the true situation of

women in the GDR. It is for this reason that not only does the Berlin wall never feature in any

of their photography as this would have upset officials, but neither do any overt references to

socialism. Mahler did not allow her models to laugh as she believed this brought them too

close to the official propagandistic GDR image happy women, commenting that women in

East Germany were in-fact discontent with the regime.24 (Fig. 1.) Bergemann’s models rarely

smile either and she chose to shoot women in the street ‘the way they behave and the way

they dress, observed quite normally’.25 Bergemann’s model therefore sits on a bench hunched

over smoking in a manly fashion (Fig. 2.) This intention is problematic though, as not only

19 Immisch, T.O. ‘Montage, Experiment, Form’. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012., p. 305 and pp. 308-920 Immisch, p. 30921 Riches, H. ‘Exact seeing’ in Afterimage 36, 6 (2009): 31-3222 Stitziel, p. 55-5623 Dörre, np24 Dörre, np25 Linder, p. 324

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was normality in the GDR a contentious issue as Fulbrook addresses, but real East German

women in public were likely to be performing as good citizens for the state, just as fashion

models are in reality also staged as opposed to being caught unawares.26

The ‘working mother’: Women as both producers and consumers in the GDR

The state simultaneously strove to officially promote gender equality in the world of work,

but also undermined it by driving women to employ their officially learnt sewing skills

unofficially. On the one hand, women were valued as employees and were often well

qualified.27 Most of them however worked in the heavily female dominated textile industry as

opposed to taking on traditionally male dominated roles.28 So whilst East German women

were consumers of fashion they were also its producers, just as Bergemann and Mahler as

female photographers produced images of women for women. The model in figure 3 (fig. 3)

wears high heels and a simple, tightly fit dress, therefore suitable for mass production, which

at the same time emphasises her female figure. In being set against the backdrop of a factory,

the image suggests that she is not only consuming these garments but is also their producer,

thus enabling readers of Sibylle to identify with her as a typical East German woman. Low

living costs in the GDR made it possible for these photographers to work for their own goals

without having to think in commercial terms, just as women working in textile factories

acquired the skills to produce their own unofficial clothing at home, and avoiding

standardized state fashions as far as possible.29

The truth about gender equality in the GDR

It is a misconception to assume that the state considered women as equal to other women, let

alone men, in the GDR. Not every woman in East Germany did work, and those who did, did

not earn equal wages.30 As Einhorn rightly states, the situation of women in the GDR was

ambiguous.31 Despite the fact that women in the GDR as both producers and consumers were

to a certain extent emancipated and did not have to choose between domestic and

professional commitments, to be successful in both realms was tiresome and rendered the 26 Fulbrook, M. Behind the Wall: ‘Perfectly Normal Lives’ in the GDR? [DVD] 200727 Einhorn, p.11728 Einhorn, p. 270 highlights that in the years 1985-90 66.9% of workers in the textile industry were female, whereas in traditionally ‘male’ jobs such as construction women only made 17.2% of the workforce29 Stitziel, p. 149 states that only 33% of women’s clothing in the GDR was store bought as women preferred having clothes made individually which were more fashionable30 Stitziel, p. 15131 Einhorn, p. 1

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lives of women more strenuous than those of men who were only expected to work. The

SED’s policies on gender equality were contradictory. Women enjoyed fully paid pregnancy

and maternity leave, free contraception, abortion, paid leave and cheap childcare services.32

However, despite these rights they remained subservient to men and the patriarchal state; as

Kowalczyk, Łagodzka and Zierkiewicz discuss, the gender model of socialism was based on

the heterosexual family for which only women were responsible; women were only equal to

men ‘in front of the law’.33 In figure 4 (Fig. 4) such pseudo equality is highlighted; the white

casual domestic clothing of the single model in the foreground is juxtaposed against the

black, smart work suits of several portraits of male figures in the background. She appears

incongruous to the street setting, as if she and her outfit which resembles a nightgown have

been pulled right out of the private domestic realm, more specifically, the bedroom, and

placed physically into a male dominated public sphere.

‘Feminism’ in the GDR

In the 1980s women in the GDR began to think of themselves for the first time as feminists

and questioned this pseudo gender equality.34 As party policies became increasingly

incongruous women became increasingly critical of the state, criticism which manifest itself

visually in the fashion photography of Bergemann and Mahler. The models in their images

are portrayed as attractive objects of desire which appeal to the male gaze. The party’s

paradoxical understanding of women’s role in society complicates how these models perform

their gender. In figure 3 (Fig. 3) the model’s posture suggests confidence and independent

and her smart clothes imply she is ready to commence work. In figure 5 (Fig. 5) however, by

wearing tight clothing which exposes lots of flesh, the contour of the model’s body is

emphasised and eroticised by her passive position on the bed. Such images officially

highlight gender differences, but were not banned by the state, probably for the simple reason

that they did overtly criticise the political regime. This image proves that women were not

considered only as working mothers by the party, but also objects of the male gaze and

therefore subservient to men.

Female beauty in the GDR

32 Einhorn, p. 11333 ‘Anger of Bojana Pejić. An interview by the occasion of Gender Check Exhibition at the Warsaw's Zacheta Gallery. Izabela Kowalczyk, Dorota Łagodzka, Edyta Zierkiewicz’. http :// www.obieg.pl/artmix/18402 . (accessed 12 December 2012), np34 Pachmanová, p. 243

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Official notion of ‘beauty’ in the GDR were ambiguous as the state offered no archetypal

female models to which East German women should aspire. On the one hand being a thin

‘working mother’ was undesirable as it meant the body was not of optimal use for the

collective socialist cause.35 However, as the official model in Bergemann’s image proves

(Fig. 6), the state did not have an aversion to officially promoting unnatural slimness as the

norm and the infrequence of images of larger, stronger women, actually marginalized them.

As women in the GDR were aware of global fashions they themselves strived to be ‘as pretty

and chic’ as their western counterparts.36 State policy allowed for very diverse interpretations

of acceptable notions of socialist beauty, as the only requirement was that women were not to

become ‘Americanised, cheap, very sexual or extremely fashionable’.37 As a result,

Bergemann and Mahler were able to depict their models not as ‘working mothers’ in either

the world of work or the domestic sphere but instead as desirable muses in apolitical settings,

for example in a fairground (Fig. 7). Despite the simple manly cut of this model’s apparel,

this model’s is slim body hiding beneath is obvious, she also wears make-up and has had her

hair styled. Simultaneously endorsing western ideals of female beauty in an official context,

this photograph proves that ideas of beauty in the East and West were very similar and not

just as a result of the state’s inability to enforce any strict policy.

WAS ANYTHING BLACK OR WHITE IN THE GDR?

In terms of the images themselves, Bergemann and Maher’s fashion photographs certainly

did contain clear instances of black and white as well as shades of grey. The same cannot be

said in a metaphorical sense for the SED’s policies on women, fashion and gender in the

GDR, which were very contradictory. Points of contention within the party which led to

ambiguous policies did, however, allowed women such as Bergemann and Mahler as well as

East German readers of Sibylle to take advantage of loopholes in the system whilst criticising

the system itself. As a result women were able to access and produce images of western

fashion, emulate certain styles, and in many cases even enjoy authentic items themselves. In

beautifying themselves and rendering themselves to a certain extent objects of desire, women

also prevented men from viewing them as equals. Considering, however, that state policy

prevented genuine gender equality ever being realised anyway, this can be interpreted more

as an embrace of western fashion culture and in turn a criticism of the socialist regime. That 35 Kowalczyk, p. 3936 Kix, M. ‘INTERVIEW with Sybille Bergemann’. http ://www.vice.com/read/berlin-the-fashion- queen-of-the-gdr. (accessed 12 December 2012), np37 Stitziel, p. 58

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‘the idea of state patriarchy survived despite the intentions of communist ideology’ does,

however, remain clear.38

Bibliography:

‘Anger of Bojana Pejić. An interview by the occasion of Gender Check Exhibition at the Warsaw's Zacheta Gallery. Izabela Kowalczyk, Dorota Łagodzka, Edyta Zierkiewicz’. http :// www.obieg.pl/artmix/18402 . (accessed 12 December 2012).

38 Böhler, C. ‘Gender Matters’. In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe. (exh. cat., The Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009., pp.13-18, p.22

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Bergemann, S. Sibylle Bergemann: "Fashion, GDR 1972-1988". http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/283?fp=3&photographer=2&fi=22. (accessed 12 December 2012).

Böhler, C. ‘Gender Matters’. In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe.  (exh. cat., The Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009, pp.13-18.

Dörre, S. ‘About Strong Women, Home-Made Clothes and Fashion Punks: how fashion in the GDR could create freedom’. http:// www.goethe.de/kue/des/prj/mod/thm/en5254130.htm . (accessed 12 December 2012).

Einhorn, B. Cinderella goes to Market. Citizenship, Gender and Women’s Movements in East Central Europe. London; New York. 1993.

Fulbrook, M. Behind the Wall: ‘Perfectly Normal Lives’ in the GDR? [DVD] 2007.

Immisch, T.O. ‘Montage, Experiment, Form’. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012.

Kix, M. ‘INTERVIEW with Sybille Bergemann’. http ://www.vice.com/read/berlin-the- fashion-queen-of-the-gdr. (accessed 12 December 2012).

Kowalczyk, I. ‘The ambivalent beauty’. In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe.  (exh. cat., Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009, pp. 38-45.

Linder. B. ‘Pictorial Contradictions: Press Photography In The GDR’. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012.

Mahler, U. Ute Mahler: "Fashion in the GDR". http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29 (accessed 12 December 2012).

Pachmanová, M. ‘In? Out? In between? Some notes on the invisibility of a nascent eastern European feminist and gender discourse in contemporary art theory.’ In: Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe.  (exh. cat., Museum moderne Kunst Stiftung Wien) Vienna. 2009, pp. 241-248.

Riches, H. ‘Exact seeing’ in Afterimage 36, 6 (2009): 31-32.

Stitziel, J. Fashioning Socialism. Clothing, politics and consumer culture in East Germany, Oxford; New York. 2005.

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Warnke, U. ‘Four Times Round The Block: Unlicensed Publications Of Photography In The Late GDR’. eds. In: Geschlossene Gesellschaft. Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949-1989. eds. Berlinische Galerie (exh. cat., Berlinische Gallerie) Berlin. 2012.

Images:

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Fig. 1. Mahler, U. Fashion photo for the women's magazine "Sibylle", Berlin-Marzahn, GDR. 1982. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29 (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 2. Bergemann, S. Fashion, GDR. 1984. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/283?fp=3&photographer=2&fi=22. (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 3 Mahler, U. Birgit Karbjinski, fashion photography, East Berlin, GDR. 1984. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29 (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 4. Mahler, U. Fashion photo for "Sibylle" (fashion periodical of the GDR), Berlin, GDR. 1982. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29 (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 5 Mahler, U. Fashion photo for the fashion magazine "Sibylle", Lehnitz, Brandenburg, GDR. 1987. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29 (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 6. Bergemann, S. Julia Koberstein (left), model, Berlin, GDR. 1984. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/283?fp=3&photographer=2&fi=22. (accessed 12 December 2012).

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Fig. 7. Mahler, U. Fashion photo for "Sibylle" (fashion periodical of the GDR), Berlin, GDR. 1988. Photograph. http://www.ostkreuz.de/feature/64?fp=4&photographer=8&fi=29. (accessed 12 December 2012).