4238 - Seidenstücker, Friedrich

Seidenstücker, Friedrich Ilka Dieball as "Diana." Ca. 1928. Vintage ferrotyped gelatin silver print. 18.2 x 12.9 cm. Photographer's "Kaiserplatz 16" stamp on the reverse. Published several times in physical education magazines of the period, this portrait depicts Ilka Dieball, a dance and gymnastics teacher and the first wife of naturism pioneer Adolf Koch (1897–1970). Together with Koch and Hans Graaz, she helped direct his Berlin school of physical culture. Following the National Socialist crackdown on the nudist movement in 1933, the school and its grounds were confiscated, Koch’s books were burned, and he was barred from teaching. In 1935, he established an institute in Kreuzberg, where the work continued on a smaller scale; Dieball later ran it during his absence during the war. As Ilka Falkenhagen, she taught gymnastics at the Spandau adult education center well into old age. – Corners slightly bumped, light surface rubbing, traces of ink in the upper right corner, and an irregular ferrotype surface around the edges; otherwise in good condition.