"La Argentina"

The photographer who shot this image, Dora Philippine Kallmus, known professionally as Madame D’Ora, was one of the great fashion photographers of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Vienna, she opened her first photography studio there in 1907 and a second gallery in Paris in the 1920s. She photographed many of the notable talents of that extraordinary era including Josephine Baker, Coco Channel, Tamara de Lampicka, Alban Berg and Collette. Her subject here, Antonia Mercé y Luque (September 4,1890 – July 18,1936), was born in Buenos Aires to professional dancers. Father Manuel Mercé was of Andalusian decent and Mother Josephina Luque was Castilian. Despite their strong connection to native Spanish dance, they encouraged Antonia to study classical ballet and the family returned to Europe so she could pursue her career. Antonia debuted at Madrid’s Teatro Real at the age of nine and was Prima Ballerina at the Madrid Opera by the age of 11. Her father died shortly thereafter and u