Laurberg & Gad

Dive into the archive of the photography company Laurberg & Gad. The two companions ran a recognized portrait studio in Copenhagen. At the same time, they were pioneers and shot films and some of the country's first colour photographs.

Julie Laurberg and Franziska Gad had a studio together in Magasin du Nord's building at Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. Laurberg moved in in 1895, and in 1907 she made Franziska Gad, who was her first apprentice, a companion. They took very finely executed portraits of prominent people, of colonels and directors, but also of writers, artists and front figures of the women's movement. They also took pictures of architecture and art, and then Laurberg was a technical pioneer who shot film and was one of the very first to make colour photography in Denmark. The women ran a business together, but also lived together in the inner city and had a vacation home in Ordrup.

Daughters of counts and artists

Many different people came to the studio. They were photographed against a dark or light background.

Feminism in the parliament

The leading figures of the women's movement were all photographed by Laurberg and Gad. The couple were themselves active in the movement.

Beautified pictures

The photographers had skilled retouchers on staff. They scratched out the negatives and drew on the positives.

The world in colour

Julie Laurberg was one of the first in the country to take colour photographs. She had gotten the plates from the Lumière brothers in Paris

Life partners

A group of women next to a bunch of flowers

Were Laurberg and Gad in a romantic relationship? Franziska Gad's obituary testifies of a very close relationship between the two women.

In the studio at Kongens Nytorv

Franziska Gad, Julie Laurberg og en medarbejder i atelieret på øverste etage i Magasin de Nord

Laurberg and Gad were among the many women who established themselves as photographers in the late 19th century.