Atelier Balázs

Today, the subject of our series on film star photographers is Atelier Balázs. This little-known Berlin studio was active during the Weimar period. The photographs of Atelier Balázs were often used for the sepia postcards of Ross Verlag.


Lya Mara. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3599/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Lilian Weiss. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Erna Morena. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3423/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Evi Eva. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3518/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Aud Egede Nissen. German postcard. by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3534/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Camilla Horn. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 588. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

Alexander Balázs

Although Atelier Balázs contributed dozens of portraits to Ross Verlag's postcards, little is known about the studio.

In 2015, when we made the first version of this post The WikiProjekt Stummfilm/Stummfilmfotografen had not identified yet who the person behind the studio was, when he or she was born and where.

Since then, more is known about the photographer behind Atelier Balázs. It was the studio of photographer Alexander Balázs.

Alexander Balázs was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1890. In 1916, during the First World War, he moved to Wilmersdorf, a borough in the centre of Berlin, where he started his studio in the Martin Luther Strasse no. 9. During the era of the Weimar Republic Wilmersdorf became a popular residential area for artists and intellectuals and they flocked to his studio.

Alexander Balázs died in Berlin in 1932. The building, where he worked in Berlin, does not exist any longer, but thanks to the many film star postcards for which his portraits were used his photo legacy still exists.


Eva May. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 432/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Karl Beckersachs. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 348/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Balász.


Mia Pankau. German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 1031/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Mia Pankau. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1031/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Luciano Albertini. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1287/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin / Albertini-Produktion GmbH.


Luciano Albertini. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3032/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin. This picture was also used for the cover of the magazine Film-Woche, no. 17, 1929, to announce Albertini's film Tempo! Tempo! (Max Obal, 1929).


Arne Molander. German Postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1131/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Lya Mara. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1368/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Lilian Hall-Davis. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1370/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Wilhelm Dieterle. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1741/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin / Zelnik Film.


Lucy Doraine. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3054/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


Lien Deyers. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7058/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

Check out our Flickr album on Atelier Balázs and our other posts on film star photographers. See the links at right under the caption 'The Photographers'.

Sources: Un regard oblique and Wikipedia. Our thanks to Jean Ritsema for her additional information. This post was last updated on 1 January 2024.