Florence Meyer

She was born in New York City, the eldest daughter of Eugene Meyer (1875–1959), future publisher of the Washington Post, and Agnes Elizabeth (Ernst) Meyer (1887–1970). Along with her four siblings, she was baptized as a Lutheran but attended an Episcopal church.[1]

She studied dance and acting in Paris and Berlin.

She photographed numerous artists, playwrights, actors, writers, composers, musicians, statesmen, film stars, and other celebrities of her day. Her work included portraits of James Agee, Thomas Mann, Constantin Brâncuși, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Vladimir Horowitz, Lion Feuchtwanger, Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood and of fellow photographers Edward Steichen, Walker Evans, and Brassaï.[2]

Meyer was a close friend and protégé of Man Ray, and in 1946 took the photographs for the double wedding portraits of Man Ray and Juliet Browner, and Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning. Meyer was the author of "Focus on Art", published posthumously in 1963.

In 1939, Meyer married the Austrian character actor Oskar Homolka (1898–1978). They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence, and later divorced.

After leaving Germany shortly after the Nazis took power, the Homolkas lived in London for a few years. They then settled in Los Angeles around 1943, and lived at 10788 Bellagio Road in Bel-Air and 914 Corsica Drive in Pacific Palisades.

She died in Los Angeles in 1962. Her body was cremated.

• Getty Museum biography