Johanna Alexandra Jacobi: A Pioneer of High Contrast Portraiture Lotte Jacobi, born Johanna Alexandra Jacobi on August 17, 1896, in Thorn, Germany—now Torun, Poland—was a German-American photographer who carved out an extraordinary legacy as one of the foremost portrait photographers of the twentieth century. Her artistic journey began with a fascination for her family’s photographic tradition, tracing back to her great-grandfather's pioneering work as a daguerreotypist in Paris during the 1840s—a lineage that instilled within her a profound appreciation for capturing moments and conveying e…