The “Private” Photographs of Bolette Berg and Marie Høeg (ca. 1895–1903) — The Public Domain Review

While their commercial work consists of the posed portraits and conventional landscapes typical of their time, Berg and Høeg’s private archive brims with experiments in the presentation of gender. Berg seems shyer, more often standing behind the camera than in front of its lens, while Høeg tends to ham it up: she playfully counts stacks of legal tender while wearing a neckerchief; poses with her hand on a military dagger, neck framed by a frilly tunic; and stares ahead stoically, hooded in the furs of an arctic explorer. As Sølvi Bennett Moen observes, “Høeg appears more traditionally feminine when performing as a (clearly fictitious) man, and more traditionally masculine in appearance—with her cropped hair and deadpan gaze—when performing for the camera as a woman.” Many of these images are also commentaries on social class, “send-ups of middle class respectability”, says Emma Lewis. Sometimes friends and family join the fun. In one ensemble, Høeg and her brother Karl cross-dress, he hanging off her gentlemanly arm while wearing a feathered hat and skirt; in another, the teachers Ingeborg Berg, Julie Antonsen, and Trine Ulriksen drink liquor, absorbed in a card game, while Høeg smirks at the camera mischievously and uncorks another bottle.