Anna Werner (born Munich, 1941) is a German photographer. She is, in particular, known for her membership of Der Harem - described variously as a "virtual commune" or a "self-discovery group" - around Rainer Langhans.

Life

Anna Werner grew up in the foothills of the

Bavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (german: Bayerische Alpen) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps that ...

at Walchensee where her mother, born Norma Bucherer, celebrated her one hundredth birthday on 19 October 2011. Anna's mother died two days short of what would have been her one hundred and fifth birthday. Till 2003 Norma Werner was still running the "Café Bucherer" which her own father - Anna's maternal grandfather - had set up in 1924. Anna Werner's father was an artist from the north of Germany. While still young Anna Werner moved to Mexico where she lived and travelled alone with her camera for a year and a half before being joined by her younger sister, Frauke. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, the Mexican president was so enthused by the sisters' yodeling and dulcimer playing that he provided them with a

Letter of Recommendation A letter of recommendation or recommendation letter, also known as a letter of reference, reference letter or simply reference, is a document in which the writer assesses the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being recommen ...

. During 1967, touring the United States of America, the two of them lived through the

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. ...

in San Francisco. It was around this time in the United States that she first met Jazon Wonders, later the father of her daughter Janna, known today as a film maker and musician in the band ''Ya-Ha!''. Her sister Frauke died young, possibly by suicide. Anna Werner was much affected: she returned to West Germany. Without Frauke there was no more music, and she turned to photography. In 1972 she got to know the former K1 communard Rainer Langhans soon after the very public ending of Langhans' partnership with

Uschi Obermaier Ursula "Uschi" Obermaier (; born 24 September 1946) is a former fashion model and actress associated with the 1968 left-wing movement in Germany. She is considered an iconic sex symbol of the so-called "1968 generation" and the protests of 1968. ...

. In 1976, with the Langhans and the photo-models

Brigitte Streubel Brigitte Streubel (born 27 January 1950) is a German former photo-model, sometime actress and author. She is, in particular, known for her membership of Der Harem - described variously as a "virtual commune" or a "self-discovery group" - around ...

and Jutta Winkelmann Werner founded the "experimental living community" which subsequently became known as The Harem in Munich. The community were joined in 1978 by Christa Ritter and in 1991 by Jutta's twin sister,

Gisela Getty Gisela Martine Getty (née Schmidt; born 3 April 1949) is a German photographer, film director, designer, and author. She and her late sister, Jutta Winkelmann, are known in Germany as high-profile representatives of what German historiography ...

. The primarily spiritually based co-existence of Langhans and five women continues to this day in Munich-Schwabing. Anna Werner's own membership has been semi-detached. In the mid-1980s she moved back to the United States which is where her daughter was born. More recently, she was for several years the only member of the virtual commune to be based not in Munich-Schwabing but in the mountains to the south, in Walchensee where until it was rented out she helped her mother with the running of the family café.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Werner, Anna Photographers from Munich German women photographers 1941 births Living people