Lavinia Berta Schulz (23 June 1896 – 19 June 1924) was a German dancer and actress.

Lavinia Schulz
Born(1896-06-23)23 June 1896
Died19 June 1924(1924-06-19) (aged 27)
NationalityGerman

Life edit

Schulz was born in Lübben in 1896. She trained in Berlin after recovering from a major ear operation. She studied dance, music and painting and by 1913 she was involved with the group of Expressionists which included Herwarth Walden's Sturm. She was proclaimed Lothar Schreyer's "first student" and she moved with him to Hamburg where she was not only the costume creator but also a dancer. She danced in a robotic inspired costume in his production of Skirnismól.[1]

In April 1920, she married Walter Holdt, who also became her artistic partner. They rejected conventional religion and expressionism as a complete solution and they would have liked to have lived without money. They lived without a bed or furniture and they lived in dance tights so that could devote their days to creating new dances and accompanying costumes.[1]

Schulz's costumes were photographed by Minya Diez-Dührkoop. Facing financial ruin, she died in Hamburg in 1924, having shot her partner and then herself. Thirty costumes and photographs of her work were stored in a Hamburg museum.[2]

Legacy edit

Schulz's costumes were rediscovered in a Hamburg museum in 1989.[1] Berit Glanz' German novel Pixeltänzer is woven around the life and work of Lavinia and her husband and the question of how it relates to the present times.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Walter Holdt and Lavinia Schulz, UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982–2004, Retrieved 26 May 2016
  2. ^ Allison Meier (2015-10-29). "Avant-Garde 1920s Costumes Reemerge, Revealing Their Makers' Tragic Story". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 26 May 2016
  3. ^ Glanz, Berit 1982-. Pixeltänzer : Roman. Schöffling & Co. (1. Auflage ed.). Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 978-3-89561-192-6. OCLC 1119006806.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)