Nelly Dresden, Athens, New York : From the Photographic Archive of the Benaki Museum, Athens - Photography S.

Nelly was the pseudonym under which photographer Elli Souyoulzoglou-Seraidari (1899-1998) achieved fame for her work in Dresden, Athens and New York. This volume unites a selection of her finest portraits, nudes, dance stills, architecture photography and images of rural Greece. In the 1920s Nelly learned special techniques of photographic reproduction while working in Dresden with leading German photographers of the day, Hugo Erfurth and Franz Fiedler. Using these techniques, in particular the bromoil method, she was able to make photographs which closely resemble painted works. At this time she began making nudes and dance stills. On her return to Greece she opened a photo studio in Athens and created portraits of intellectuals, the rich and the beautiful in the Greek metropolis. She became the official national photographer of her country and her works were exhibited in the Greek booth at the world exhibition in New York in 1939. On the outbreak of World War II, Nelly remained in New York where her work developed a stronger urban, photo-journalistic character. In 1966, her creative activity having come to an end, she returned to Greece.