Barbara Mors

Bárbara Mors Luchsinger (São Paulo, 1925 – ). Photographer, biologist. She was the first woman to publish photographs in the Boletín Foto-Cine (BFC) and the only woman from São Paulo selected for the VII International Salon of Photographic Art (1948).

Bárbara Mors joined the Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante (FCCB) at the age of 23. The quality of the young photographer and biologist’s work was quickly recognized by the members of the photography club, who saw in Mors great potential and sensitivity for modern photography.

Bárbara Mors’ photographs were featured in six editions of the International Salon of Photographic Art organized annually by the FCCB, including: Muro Colonial (1948), at the 7th International Salon of Photographic Art; Punhos de Aço and O Sheik, both from 1949, at the 8th International Salon of Photographic Art; Sol e Vento, Acesso ao Lago, and Zéa Mays, all three from 1950, at the 9th International Salon of Photographic Art.

In 1949, Bárbara Mors was awarded a prize for her photograph Sono (undated) at the 1st Photography Exhibition promoted by the Cultural Society of Santo André. Between 1950 and 1952, Bárbara Mors participated in 34 exhibitions abroad, such as the 8th Turin Biennial Exhibition in Italy (1950); the 4th Luxembourg Exhibition (1950); and the 26th Zaragoza Exhibition in Spain (1951). In 1951, she was selected as one of the photographers representing the FCCB at the 1st Women’s Salon of Photographic Art in São Carlos, alongside Dulce Carneiro (1929-2018), Elza Benedict, Menha S. Polacow (1917), and Nair Gisella Szterenyi.

Bárbara Mors’ photographs appear in several editions of BFC. The image Sol e Vento is published on the cover of issue no. 18 (April 1950), and four others are reproduced inside the newsletters: Sono, in issue no. 34 (February 1949); Acesso ao Lago, in issue no. 46 (February 1950); Punhos de Aço, in issue no. 56 (December 1950); and Caresse, in issue no. 64 (August 1951).

La fotografía Punhos de Aço aparece en dos publicaciones: primero, en el catálogo del 8º Salón Internacional de Arte Fotográfico (diciembre de 1949) y, a continuación, como ilustración del artículo «Composición: conclusión», de Aldo A. Souza Lima1.

Her photographs are part of important collections, such as those of Masp/FCCB and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA).