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Ylla (Kamilla Koffler) devoted herself exclusively to animal portraiture at a time when no one had thought of specializing in animal photography.

Driven by her symbiotic relationship with animals, she instinctively bonded with her subjects, capturing characteristics identifiable as human. She thus created a new genre in animal photography: the expression and personality in animals. This anthropomorphic approach came naturally, affirming the underlying universality that unites the dignity in human and animal nature.

An early exponent of the French movement of humanist photography, Ylla was part of artists' circles in 1930s Paris (Brassaï, André Kertész) originally taking beguiling photos in her studio, and in zoos where she dared to enter the cages of dangerous wild animals for close-ups. Ylla was thus regarded as a curiosity to other photographers, as people were not used to paying much to have their dogs or cats photographed.

Nevertheless, Ylla forged ahead and was included together with her leading photographer friends in practically every photography exhibition in 1930s Paris, culminating in the 1936 Exposition internationale de la Photographie contemporaine at the Musée du Louvre. This was the first photography exhibition presented in a state museum—Paris was now the world capital of photography. The following year she exhibited in Photography 1839–1937, a similar retrospective presented by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Ylla went to Africa in 1952, during the early days of wildlife photography. On several occasions over the years Ylla had earmarked savings “For Africa,” but various circumstances including World War II prevented the actualization of her dream. She feared that her secret desire, an expedition to Africa, was a lost cause as “they don’t take women.

“And now, having worked only in zoos, I had a strong desire to photograph animals in their native surroundings, whole herds of them; and to record something different from the portrait of an isolated animal in a cage.”

After three months in Kenya and Uganda when it came time to leave, Ylla did not bid farewell to Africa, but “au revoir,” knowing that her glimpse of the continent, its people, and its magnificent animal kingdom was merely superficial. Africa left traces in Ylla’s relation with animals and her perception of her work:

“When I got back to New York, I was apprehensive about visiting the zoo again; I was afraid that after this journey I should find the zoo too depressing, that I should be blasé and bored. I can only work when I am interested and amused. But I have become aware that I am now ‘in the know’, and I have only the greater sympathy and liking for the captive animals. When I saw them again, they were like friends of foreign birth with whose kinfolk and whose native land one had become acquainted. The animals were closer to me. I understood them better.”

Books

With her desire to better identify with wild animals, see the world through their eyes, and explore their thoughts and feelings as best she can, Ylla embarked on a series for children, photographing animal adventures with a storyline. Ylla thus introduced the genre of photographic illustration for children’s literature, an endeavor that created a whole new world of animal photography.

Ylla’s books were artfully conceived to provide a poetic dimension by having her photographs paired with the sentiments of poets, novelists, critics, historians, or children’s book authors.

To realize this, and to the delight of her readers, Ylla periodically lived with wild animals, one at a time, often creating interspecies “play dates,” capturing a diversity of unique encounters. She began with the adventures of a lion cub. The French version was paired with a poetic text by Jacques Prévert, and in English, by Margaret Wise Brown. Of her 25 books, The Sleepy Little Lion/Le Petit Lion (11 editions, 6 languages) and Two Little Bears (22 editions, 13 languages), are juvenile classics.

Pryor Dodge

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Suggested time to visit the exhibition: 30‒50 min.
Mai Manó House is not barrier-free.
Tickets for the exhibition can only be purchased in person at the venue, as online ticket sales are not available.

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