Swiss artist and etcher Hermann Hirzel (1864-1939) (born: Buenos Aires) was commissioned by Die Kunst in der Photographie editor Franz Goerke to design the artwork and Jugendstil typography for the publications photographic art folio as well as the decorative floral artwork used on the inside front cover contents (Inhalt) page. The artist also supplied a woodcut floral headpiece adorning the back cover. From 1897 to the end of volume 7 in 1903, the Hirzel designed cover remained consistent, the only change was publisher attribution. Beginning in 1904, the art folios were issued as plain green cardstock folders with simple typography. It is unclear what color the folios were issued in for the year 1905. Folios from 1906-1907 were red and for the last year, 1908, folios were issued in gray cardstock.
Between 1897-1908, 356 individual large format, hand-pulled photogravures and 318 tipped autotypes (halftones) were issued as part of 66 individual art folios in the German photographic art journal: Die Kunst in der Photographie.” (translated to The Art in Photography)
Franz Goerke (1856-1931), the editor and publisher of this publication, was an important exponent of German art photography. Dr. Hermann Wilhelm Vogel, who taught the young Alfred Stieglitz photographic chemistry in Germany in his formative years, commented in a photographic review during its’ first year of publication (1897): Die Kunst in der Photographie is a …”totally new and original undertaking. Many waffle about art in photography, but what nonsense. Here (speaking of Goerke) we are dealing with the work of a sensitive expert.” 1.
And a modern view, in the publication History of Photography:
“This publication may well be the most important and valuable documentation of art photography in the German language but, because of its rarity, has remained virtually unknown.” 2.
Please visit here to continue with our overview of Die Kunst in der Photographie.
1. ROLF H. KRAUSS: DIE KUNST IN DER PHOTOGRAPHIE, THE GERMAN CAMERA WORK: PART 1: THE PUBLICATION AND ITS IMAGES: HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, VOLUME 10, NUMBER 4, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1986: P. 267
2. IBID: P. 265
