Baron Adolph de Meyer

Baron Aldoph de Meyer American, b. France, 1868 - 1949 Born Adolph Edward Sigismund Meyer-Watson in Paris to a Jewish father and a Scottish mother, de Meyer was educated in Dresden. The King of Saxony conferred the title of baron so that de Meyer and his wife, Donna Olga Alberta Caraccio, could attend the 1901 coronation of England's King Edward VII. Olga was Edward's goddaughter and was reputed also to have been his illegitimate child. De Meyer's work falls into two distinct phases. Until 1914 the photographer and his elegant wife led a privileged and stylish life, intimates of European royalty and of accomplished artists. De Meyer produced society portraits as well as photographs of the avant-garde -- including his famous images of Nijinsky and the Ballet Russe. A member of the Linked Ring (1898 - 1909), his work was shown at Stieglitz's gallery "291" and published in Camera Work (the subject of the entire October 1912 issue). Due to the stirrings of the First World War and de Meyer's ties to Germany, in 1914 he and Olga moved to the United States, where he put his familiarity with high society and expertise in photography and art to use for Condé Nast's publications. He was among the first professional photographers of fashion and is considered a preeminent practitioner. His work for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and later Harper's Bazaar pioneered a new and expanding field. De Meyer later returned to Europe, and then again to America, settling in Hollywood during World War II. The baroness died in Europe in 1929. De Meyer died in Hollywood after the war, when interest in his work had subsided substantially. T.W.F.