Gertrudes Altschul (1904–1962) was a pioneer in the context of Brazilian modernist photography. Although she is quite admired in the photographic field in the country, her work is still known only in specialized circles, having been scarcely published and exhibited. Of Jewish origin, the artist migrated in 1939 from her hometown, Berlin, to Brazil with her husband, fleeing the Nazi regime. She settled in São Paulo, where she divided her time between photography and the production of flowers for hats in a factory run by the couple. Altschul was one of the few women to be part of the well-known Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante (FCCB) in São Paulo, an important group that brought together photographers aligned with modernist photography in Brazil.