Name/Title
Nora WitzelEntry/Object ID
2012.636Description
Mixed-Media collage about a woman from Tennessee named Nora Witzel
Nora Witzel
1875- 1968
Nora Witzel was born in Clarksville in 1975, the only child of German immigrants. At about the same time, her parents adopted a cousin, Kate Engelhart, who lived with and was supported by Nora all of her life.
As an adult, Witzel conducted herself with an eccentric bravado unusual for women of her time. She and Engelhart lived on Spring Street, in a mixed-race neighborhood, and Witzel supported them with a photography business on the second floor of 132 Franklin Street (Currently the Tap Room). Though primarily a portrait photographer, she also made panoramic landscapes and stereographs of the surrounding area.
Witzel died in 1968 at the age of 93. Reportedly, few attended her funeral. Very little information about Miss Witzel is available, although her life and work is currently being researched by local historian Jackie Littleton.
"In those days, long before women's Liberation, Miss Nora had liberated herself. She dressed in her own uniform consisting of a blue serge coat cut along masculine lines, and a blue serge skirt, white shirt and dark tie, high-topped shoes and dark hose. She wore a pince-nez on a chain and ignored any convention that stood in her way. She spent a great deal of her time playing the pinball machines at the Pullman Cafe across the street form her studio and was known for her sharp tongue and candid remarks. Someone once asked her why she dressed as she did in the summer when her clothing must be hot. Miss Nora replied, 'Any damn fool knows that what will keep the cold out in winter will keep the heat out in summer.'"
- Charles Waters, "Historic Clarksville," 1983Artwork Details
Medium
Mixed-Media, CollageCollection
APSU Permanent CollectionMade/Created
Artist
Susan Bryant & Billy RenklDate made
1997Inscription/Signature/Marks
Location
Top leftTranscription
Nora