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The German émigré photographer Elizabeth Coleman emigrated in 1941 to New York, where she photographed and published the photobook [I]Chinatown U.S.A.[/I].
Given name
Elizabeth
Last name
Coleman
Alternative names
Elisabeth Bertelsmann-Callmann
Date of Birth
18-02-1909
Place of Birth
München (DE)
Date of Death
31-12-2002
Place of Death
Dutchess County (US)
Profession
PhotographerWriterEditor
Introduction
The German émigré photographer Elizabeth Coleman emigrated in 1941 to New York, where she photographed and published the photobook Chinatown U.S.A..
Word Count: 22
Signature Image

Visa paper by Elizabeth Coleman. "Brasil, Cartões de Imigração, 1900-1965" (database with images, FamilySearch. © National Archives, Rio de Janeiro).
Content
Elizabeth Colman (1909–?) (née Elisabeth Bertelsmann-Callmann) was born and educated in Munich. Between 1929 and 1933 she studied modern languages and journalism at the Universities of Munich and Berlin. She married Heinz Bertelsmann with whom she emigrated in 1935 to Switzerland, then in 1940 to Portugal and finally, in 1941, to the U.S.
Adopting the name Elizabeth Colman, she lived and worked as a freelance photographer in New York City. During the 1940s she published two photobooks: the first was Portugal, Wharf of Europe (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944). It can be assumed that the images were taken by Coleman during her exile in Portugal. The structure of the photobook is similar to that of Chinatown, beginning with an introduction to Portugal's history and people, which is followed by black and white photographs. Chinatown U.S.A. is a photobook published in 1946 focusing on American-Chinese communities in New York and San Francisco.
Perhaps she travelled or emigrated in 1948 to Rio de Janeiro as a visa document is showing.
Word Count: 162
Bibliography (selected)
Coleman, Elizabeth. Chinatown U.S.A. The John Day Company, 1946.
Phillips, Zlata Fuss, editor. German Children’s and Youth Literature in Exile 1933–1950. K.G. Saur, 2001.
Word Count: 25
Author
Helene Roth
Exile
Schwitzerland (1935–1940); Portugal (1940–1941); New York, US (1941–1948?); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1948–?).
Known addresses in Metromod cities
The John Day Company, 2 West 45th Street, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Metropolis
New York
Helene Roth. "Elizabeth Coleman." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2948/object/5138-11260438, last modified: 19-05-2021.
Carola Gregor
PhotographerSculptor
New York
The German émigré photographer Carola Gregor was an animal and child photographer and published some of her work in magazines and books. Today her work and life are almost forgotten.
Word Count: 30
Henry Rox
PhotographerSculptor
New York
Henry Rox was a German émigré sculptor and photographer who, in 1938, arrived in New York with his wife, the journalist and art historian Lotte Rox (née Charlotte Fleck), after an initial exile in London. Besides his work as a sculptor, he began creating humorous anthropomorphised fruit and vegetable photographs.
Word Count: 50
Manhattan Magic. A collection of eighty-five photographs
Photobook
New York
Manhattan Magic is a photobook which was published in 1937 by the German émigré photographer Mario Bucovich in New York City.
Word Count: 20
New York
BookPhotobook
New York
In 1932, after her remigration to Vienna, the Austrian journalist Ann Tizia Leitich published New York, an account of her life and writing experiences started as an emigrant in New York in the 1920s.
Word Count: 33
Chinatown U.S.A.
Photobook
New York
Chinatown U.S.A. is a photobook published by the German émigré photographer Elizabeth Coleman in 1946 focusing on American-Chinese communities in New York and San Francisco.
Word Count: 26

Archive

Elizabeth Coleman