Hella Hammid (15 July 1921 – 1 May 1992) was an American photographer whose career included teaching at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Her freelance photographs appeared in diverse publications including ''Life'', ''Ebony'', ''The Sun'' and ''The New York Times''. Her softly backlit picture of two young Italian girls dancing, watched by other children in front of the abutments of a stone building, was chosen by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

for his 1955 world-touring MoMA exhibition ''

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

,'' which was seen by nine million visitors. Hammid had a long professional career taking "candid portraits" of children and families for private clients as well as contributing to a number of book projects. Hammid's photographic career is the subject of the book,
Hella Hammid: Feminine Fate
'' One of her most widely circulated images is the
Tree Poster
', which portrays writer

Deena Metzger Deena Metzger (born September 17, 1936) is an American writer, healer, and teacher whose work spans multiple genres including the novel, poetry, non-fiction, and plays. Her novel ''La Negra y Blanca'' won the 2012 Oakland Pen Award for Literatur ...

, a close friend of Hammid's. Hammid was also a remote viewer who worked with

Russell Targ Russell Targ (born April 11, 1934) is an American physicist, parapsychologist and author who is best known for his work on remote viewing. Targ joined Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in 1972 where he and Harold E. Puthoff coined the term "rem ...

and Harold E. Puthoff at

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...

doing work for the CIA. She also worked with Stephan A. Schwartz on The Alexandria Project, considered to be

psychic archaeology Psychic archaeology is a loose collection of practices involving the application of paranormal phenomena to problems in archaeology. It is not considered part of mainstream archaeology, or taught in academic institutions. It is difficult to test ...

. Hammid participated in the first Gateway Voyage program offered by Robert Monroe, founder of The Monroe Institute, that was held at the

Esalen Institute The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education. The institute played a key role in the Human Potential ...

at Big Sur in 1973.

Early life and education

Hammid was born Hella Hilde Heyman on 15 July 1921 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany. She immigrated to the United States on 14 September 1937, and later moved from New York City to Los Angeles. In 1939 she filed a declaration of intention to apply for US citizenship with the Southern District Of California. In fall 1940, she attended

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

for one semester as student, according to

Buncombe County, North Carolina Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Asheville ...

immigration records. Hammid also studied sociology at the City College of NY. Heyman married director and cinematographer

Alexander Hammid Alexandr Hackenschmied, born Alexander Siegfried George Hackenschmied, known later as Alexander Hammid (17 December 1907, Linz – 26 July 2004, New York City) was a Czech-American photographer, film director, cinematographer and film edito ...

(Alexandr Hackenschmied) in 1949 after his divorce in 1948 from

Maya Deren Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkowska, uk, Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська, links=no;

(Eleanora Derenkowsky). The three worked together on Deren's films ''

At Land ''At Land'' (1944) is a 15-minute silent experimental film written, directed by, and starring Maya Deren. It has a dream-like narrative in which a woman, played by Deren, is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey encountering other pe ...

'' (1944), ''

Ritual in Transfigured Time ''Ritual in Transfigured Time'' is a 1946 American Experimental film, experimental Silent film, silent short film directed by Maya Deren. Like Deren's previous work, ''A Study in Choreography for Camera'' (1945), she explores the use of dance on f ...

'' (1946) and '' Invocation: Maya Deren'' (1987). In her early work as a cinematographer and actress, Heyman is sometimes also credited as Hella Hamon. After their marriage, Hella and Alexander Hammid moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan and had two children, Julia (1950) and gem photographer Tino (1952–2015).

References

External links

Black Mountain College Museum Arts Center - Question Everything exhibit 2021Art in Box Gallery - Prague exhibit 2015-2016Hella Hammid: Feminine Fate - 2015 book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammid, Hella 1921 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American women artists American women photographers Black Mountain College alumni German emigrants to the United States Photographers from California Photographers from New York City Remote viewers SRI International people University of California, Los Angeles faculty