Born in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1859, Marie Goslich tried her hand at various things before beginning to work as an “author and editor”. Cited in Berlin’s residents register, this professional title alone is remarkable for a woman of her time. To cap it all, she began training as a photographer at the age of 44 in order to be able to provide her own pictures for her articles. Consequently, she became one of the first professional female photographers in the world. 

In 2008, a part of her estate which was long thought to have been lost was rediscovered in a guest house in Geltow at the Schwielowsee lake. Some 400 glass plate negatives still exist today, having survived the chaos of two world wars.

With social injustice being her main concern, Goslich wrote and illustrated many articles, some of which were quite radical, to address the causes of suffering and misery. Again and again, her works denounce the gap between rich and poor and portray travelling people, street vendors, beggars, ragmen and tinkers. All of her pictures betray her empathy towards her subjects, giving her photos a very intimate and rousing effect. 

This book makes Goslich’s comprehensive work available to the public 100 years after it was created, celebrating her as a bold pioneer and grande dame of German photojournalism and social critique.