A number of Tonka's photos have been seen on postcards of Russian and Slovenian stage and early silent film performers. Many of the performers were actors from the Moscow Art Theatre. They performed in Western Europe during the Civil War and its immediate aftermath in the young Soviet Union, when famine was enormous there. Many were Stanislavsky pupils.
The cards present a portrait surrounded by a thick dark frame. Several are signed and dated by the performer, circa 1921. All are marked with the photographer's signature on the image itself as well as an embossed stamp for the studio below the card. A single back has been seen, and it is a divided card with only lines on the address section.
"Prominent portraitist of the elite, photographer of the royal family and one of the most prominent Croatian photographers Antonija Vajda Kulčar, better known as Tonka, was born on July 10, 1887 in Varaždin. Although few people know her by her real name, many have photos from the 'Foto Tonka' studio in their family albums. The famous atelier was a place where top portrait photographs were taken and a gathering place for Zagreb artists. Tonka left a big mark in documenting the social and cultural life of international Zagreb, as its main social chronicler. She learned photography in Rudolf Mosinger's studio, and studied at the Department of Photography, Light Printing and Engraving in Munich and at studios in Vienna and Berlin. In Zagreb, in 1917, she took over the 'studio for modern photography and fine arts' on the then Franjo Josip I Square, today's Tomislav Square, under the name 'Olga', and soon married the former owner of the studio, Artur Kulčar .
"Ten years later, she modernized the photography salon and moved it to the former painting studio of Vlaho Bukovac , under the name 'Tonka'. After the death of her husband Artur Kulčar, she married the academic painter Jaša Prut. She was also one of the best court photographers of the Karadjordjevic dynasty. She shot realistic and idealizing portraits following current photographic directions. Her shots are characterized by refined taste, perceptive observation, psychological characterization, picturesqueness, specially adjusted posture of the body and hands, and skillful handling of light. In 1955, she moved to Rogaška Slatina, where she had a branch, and died there in 1971. Her name has been synonymous with quality portrait photography for decades, and even today she evokes nostalgia for the past."
Source: HRT Magazin on-line. URL no longer active.
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