Seventy-seven years ago today on August 16, 1935, Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein married her friend, Hans Augusto Reyersbach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I’ve always wondered if they chose the 16th day of the month to be consistent with their birthdays—May 16th for Margret and September 16th for Hans.
Hans, brilliantly, designed their wedding announcement as a business card of sorts to celebrate not only their marriage, but also their new business venture. Described as a “family advertising company” with Margret's talents as a photographer, and Hans' as an artist, they began their life together “doing magazine work, advertising, and book illustrations”. Within a few weeks, the couple had enough accounts to keep Hans busy working full-time as an artist and he resigned from his brother-in-law’s import-export firm.
As a businessman, Hans had to restrain his artistic talent, telling a reporter one time that he was “not allowed to adorn commercial letters with illustrations.” The following letter suggests, however, he did not always take this admonition to heart.
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| McCain Library and Archives University of Southern Mississippi |
Margret and Hans’ collaboration spanned more than forty years. After Hans’ death in 1977, Margret was asked what she felt led to their success. “Work,” she reminisced, “Work that interests you. [Marriage] is based on interests in common. Stay interested in life and work.”
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