A Lower Rhine landscape photograph bisected by a dirt roadway.

Otto Scharf: 1858-1947

From Krefeld, Germany and “a gym teacher by profession, Otto Scharf is one of the most prolific figures in art photography. He submitted 53 works to the Hamburg exhibition in 1893. (Alfred) Lichtwark called him a “saddle-stable technician.” Scharf enjoyed support from Lichtwark’s student Dr. Deneken, who was the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld. As early as 1895, these show platinum prints, 1897, 1898 and 1899 colored ones, and 1902 and 1903 multi-colored rubber prints. Scharf’s specialty was small-format rubber prints.” (and produced the first of these gum prints in 1897-editor) (1.)

“In 1890 he was one of the founding members of the Free Photographic Association of Krefeld. The Hamburg Amateur Photographers Association, later the Society for the Promotion of Amateur Photography in Hamburg, had him as a corresponding member from 1894. In 1896 the Linked Ring London accepted him as a member.”

Lit.: Rosenblum 1984, p. 315; Krichbaum 1981, p. 165; exhibition catalogue Krefeld 1979; Harker 1979, p. 186; Kempe 1977, p. 130 f.; Brevern 1971, p. 36  (2.)

1. Biography: Otto Scharf, Kunstfotografie um 1900 in Deutschland, Fritz Kempe, Inst. für Auslandsbeziehungen, 1982, p. 60
2. Biography: Otto Scharf: Kunstphotographie um 1900. Die Sammlung Ernst Juhl, Joppien, Rüdiger & Claudia Gabriele Philipp, Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1989, p. 280