Carla Maria Casagrande died in her sleep at her home in Winchester, MA on December 23. She was 93.
Carla Maria discovered a passion for art at a young age, pursuing professional training in art and photography at the age of 16 at the Hamburg Fine Arts Academy in Germany, and then at Cooper Union in New York City. She was invited to cover the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where she was the only female professional still photographer. Her 1936 photographs span an array of sports, focusing largely on diving, swimming, fencing and track. She took many significant photographs of Jesse Owens who won four gold medals, and she also captured many important political figures such as Hitler and Goehring, as well as the social commentary of those times. These photographs became an important historical document of that era. They were exhibited at Christie’s in New York and in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics.
Carla Maria’s talent was not limited to photography. She was also a professional painter who exhibited widely in the United States and in Europe. She found a poetic voice later in life, and was an avid and eclectic collector of many of life’s finer things, including a host of friends.
In 1937, Carla Maria married Leo Casagrande, a world-renowned engineer who taught soil mechanics for 40 years at Harvard University. They had 5 children, Christian of Middletown, R.I., Dirk of Arlington, MA, Ralf of Timmendorfer Strand, Germany, Immi Storrs of New York, NY, Nicholas of Goshen, N.H., and 4 grandchildren, Nikolas, Tai, Alexander, and Maya.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Carla Maria Casagrande to the Cambridge Art Association (25 Lowell St, Cambridge, MA, 02138), with which she was affiliated for more than 30 years, would be greatly appreciated.
There will be a Memorial Service for friends and family at a future date to be announced.