Edith (aged 10 1/2) and Adele (aged 13) Harms, 30th May 1903

This photograph, dated 30th May 1903, was created some ten years before the Harms sisters met the artist Egon Schiele (1890–1918). In the picture, Edith (1893–1918), who later became Schiele’s wife, is 10 ½ years old, while her older sister is 13, as was noted by a foreign hand on the back of the photograph. The shot was taken at the photographic studio of Wilhelm Elias, then situated at Praterstraße 40 in Vienna’s 2nd district. Both the front and the reverse side of the cardboard bear the studio’s logo. The design and print of this logo can be traced back to the Austrian lithographer Bernhard Wachtl. The photograph shows Edith to the left and Adele Harms (1890–1968) to the right, both dressed up in elegant identical outfits, much in keeping with the Gründerzeit style, with lace collars and matching hats. Edith’s outfit is complemented by a decorative umbrella.

LVD, 2024