In
1895 Marie Høeg (1866-1949) and
Bolette Berg (1872-1944) established the Berg & Høeg photography studio in
Horten, Norway.
Partner Marie Høeg
Queer Places:
Preus museum, Kommandørkaptein Klincks vei 7, 3183 Horten, Norway
In
1895 Marie Høeg (1866-1949) and
Bolette Berg (1872-1944) established the Berg & Høeg photography studio in
Horten, Norway.
They took portraits and views of Horten and surroundings and lived on the proceeds from sales. Horten was a naval base with the main shipyard for the Norwegian navy and had a strong flow of people who needed photographs for celebration and recollection. Perhaps that is how the two photographers understood by the very process of portraiture how important it is to stage oneself and to what a large degree that contributes to how we are perceived.
The Preus museum has a collection of 440 glass negatives from Berg & Høeg. Among the cartons in the 1980s were discovered some on which had been written "private." It is not unusual that photographers also have private photographs in their archives. But these were not ordinary keepsake pictures. They indicate that the two photographers, especially Marie Høeg, experimented with various gender roles.
We know that Høeg was the extrovert and started groups such as Den selskbelige Diskusjonsforening (The Social Discussion Association), Horten Ledd av Landskvinnestemmerettforeningen (the Horten Branch of the National Association for Women's Right to Vote), Horten Kvinneråd tilknyttet Norske Kvinners Nasjonalråd (the Horten Women's Council linked to the National Norwegian Women's Council), and Horten Tuberkuloseforening (the Horten Tuberculosis Association). Bolette Berg was less in the public view. However, she must have been back of the camera in many of these photographs, which have attracted international notice.
Høeg and her partner Bolette Berg in one of their own photos
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