Archive Highlights Showcases Stellar Material Relevant to the History of Artistic Photography Within the Overall Growing Archive since 2011: be it the Work of a Singular Photographer or in-depth Compilation of Published Material. To see all Highlights please go here.

 

A Pictorialist Italian Grand Tour Album From 1912

This extraordinary album (16.5 x 21.5 x 5.0 cm) of unique loose pigment prints was most likely the work of an unknown German photographer as it is stamped Jtalien (Italy) 1912 on the album recto. This etymological difference for the word Italy is an attribute of the German language, where the capital letter J was often used to replace the capital letter I. (1.) Another strong indicator of a German maker, which we explore further in the accompanying blog post for this album, is the inclusion of a mounted snapshot (2.) showing a group of German World War 1 soldiers-smiling and flanked by two female nurses while posing for a photograph in an unknown location. A small sign propped up by two of the soldiers spells out “1914 Feldzug 1915”, indicating they took part in the first year campaign of the Great War. It is certainly possible one of these soldiers or even one of the nurses is responsible for taking the photographs making up the album.

Album Particulars

The album contains views of several well known Italian landmarks, including the Colosseum and Arch of Constantine in Rome as well as St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. However, most of the views in the album are not done in typical tourist snapshot fashion, but instead from an artistic viewpoint. For example, one of the more interesting photographs from a compositional perspective shows the dome of St. Peter’s— sprouting from the horizon line of an expanse of open fields before it. This atypical photographic vantage point seems deliberately sought out, with the final result a pleasing balance of open sky, the earth below and mankind’s illuminating achievement sandwiched between both.

Multiple building, cityscape and countryside views, coastline, native citizen and recreational photographs of Italy are included in this album, most done in our estimation with deliberate thought and with a pictorialist sensibility.

We have chosen to label these as pigment prints, owing to their multiple color variations and with the understanding that more than one process may have been used in their making, possibly including carbon, gum bichromate, ozobrome or other media. Additionally, some of the photographs have been mounted on trimmed art-paper supports within  the impressed window openings on their respective colored cardstock mounts. (3.) It also seems likely the author of these works used a small camera. Since most of the prints average 3 1/4 x 4 1/4” in size, it is conceivable the original negatives were produced using a roll film type camera similar to the 3A Folding Pocket Kodak type or similar. If the photographer owned this model, the advantage of a viewfinder that could be shifted 90 degrees in order to take horizontal images would also explain the two formats represented in the album. On a provenance note, the album was purchased in late 2009 from a former owner in the Netherlands.  Additional insight into this album is  welcomed.

NOTES:

1. LETTER J: FROM: DE.WIKIPEDIA.ORG: ACCESSED: 2011
2. THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS CENTER MOUNTED ON A SUPPORT CONSISTENT AND NATIVE TO THE ALBUM.
3. THESE MOUNTS SHOW EVIDENCE THEY WERE CUT FROM LARGER SHEETS AS THEY ARE NOT ALL UNIFORM. THEIR EDGES ARE OFTEN LEFT ROUGH-INDICATING THEY MAY HAVE BEEN INDIVIDUALLY CUT BY HAND USING A STRAIGHT-EDGE AS A GUIDE RATHER THAN A CLEAN CUT THAT WOULD BE EXPECTED WITH THE USE OF A RAZOR OR KNIFE. THE DIMENSIONS OF MANY OF THE IMPRESSED WINDOW OPENINGS IN WHICH EACH PRINT IS GLUE-MOUNTED IN THE CORNERS IS 9.4 X 11.9 CM BUT OTHER SIZES EXIST FOR THE ALBUM. AND LIKE THE SUPPORT MOUNTS, THESE EMBOSSED WINDOW OPENINGS ARE NOT UNIFORM IN TERMS OF THEIR LOCATION ON EACH SUPPORT. IT WOULD APPEAR THE PHOTOGRAPHER HAND-SIGHTED THE TEMPLATE TO CREATE EACH EMBOSSED WINDOW ON THE RECTO OF THE MOUNT BEFORE PRESSURE WAS APPLIED IN ORDER TO CRIMP THE MOUNTS. EVIDENCE ON THE MOUNT VERSO TYPICALLY SHOW BURNISHING ABRASIONS IN THE CORNER AREAS OF THE WINDOW AS WELL.

The process of preparing material for this website has been a real education for me.  In picking apart and studying the components making up the two latest French portfolios added: L’Épreuve Photographique (The Photographic Print) for 1904 and 1905, knowledge has come in both large waves and tiny revelations. One of these waves has been some of the poetic, profound, and often humorous writing of French art historian and critic Émile Dacier. 

Here is an example of him speaking of his perceptions on the artistic photographic plates-included in his preface to the 1904 portfolio:

“These are the memories of distant lands, these are the tragedies and comedies of the street where chance is the great director, and here the pressure of crowds, the galloping squadrons, the shock waves on the breakers…”

And earlier, his delightful account of Photography and photographers in the dark ages-before their creative impulse was set free:

“Photographers! These terrifying figures to children that their souls have kept long stubborn grudges! …To visit these murderers as children we had to dress up-like the condemned.  After the mandatory cutting of the hair, torture ensued by the shaking of the neck yoke…”

Tiny revelations: the editor of L’Épreuve Photographique, Roger Aubry, was not only a photographer and inventor, but a passionate balloonist who survived a crash into the Grand Palais in 1905 while taking photographs above Paris. And another: the very typeface that survives in some of the signage used in the Paris Métro train stations- Auriol, was designed by namesake George Auriol, a French artist, type and graphic designer who used his new typeface as well as other Art Nouveau elements in his commission of  L’Épreuve Photographique by the Paris publisher Librairie Plon.

 In 1903, Aubry had taken over the editorship of the Librairie Plon’s  Annuaire Général et International de la Photographie. (General and International Directory of Photography) Published in Paris, this was an annual encompassing a little bit of everything photographic, but with a more scientific focus in keeping with the tradition of the publication. I was fortunate to have bought a copy of the 1905 edition many years ago, and used it as a reference work when preparing these galleries.  “Directeur”, another way of saying “Editor”, is the title assigned Aubry for this publication as well as for L’Épreuve Photographique.  My respect for his work in compiling these portfolios keeps in step with the tradition of the enlightened city of Paris, their place of publication. We have additionally prepared a PhotoSeed Highlight for this work here, with a further link to all 96 plates making up the portfolios.

Between 1904-1905, one of the most luxurious subscription photographic plate publications in France or Europe was L’Épreuve Photographique. (The Photographic Print) Published in Paris, and not satisfied with identifying itself as a mere photographic journal, it billed itself as a “monthly portfolio of luxury” instead. (Portfolio périodique de grand luxe)  Over the course of two years, prize-winning salon photographs from French and European pictorialist circles were selected for inclusion in this oversized publication as hand-pulled, copper plate (taille-douce) screen photogravures (héliogravures) from the Paris atelier of Charles Wittmann. 

The following is a translated excerpt from the publisher Librairie Plon in 1905 describing this work:

“The Photographic Print is in fact not a newspaper or a magazine but a collection of intaglio photographic reproductions of the most notable and original work, signed by the art’s most renowned photographers from France and from abroad, and carefully selected irrespective of gender or process, provided the artistic intent is clear and done with perfect execution.
We adopted the gravure as the only mode of reproduction capable of showing off all of the qualities from the varied effects of the current processes of photographic prints.
Each subject is reproduced in its color and original dimensions; and mounted along with complimentary supports that provide harmonizing color, in order to form an identical work to the original presented under the same conditions of development and artistic effect.
Each plate is covered with a tissue guard that includes the title and author’s name and any special instructions. The publication is issued periodically in issues measuring 44 by 32 cm, in a color cover designed by Georges Auriol; the series, complete in one year, includes 48 plates and is accompanied by an index page of titles printed in two tones with character designs and ornaments by Auriol.”  1.

Please continue to our two L’Épreuve Photographique galleries, for 1904 and 1905 showcasing all 96 plates from this important publication.

 

1. EXCERPT: ADVERTISEMENT FOR L’ÉPREUVE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE (2E SÉRIE) IN: ANNUAIRE GÉNÉRAL ET INTERNATIONAL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE: LIBRAIRIE PLON:PARIS:14TH ANNÉE-1905: UNPAGINATED.

In France, prior to taking on the complex task of publishing the journal L’Art Photographique, (The Photographic Art) first appearing in July, 1899, Georges Carré and C. Naud in Paris had made a reputation for publishing volumes dealing in scientific, medical, as well as photographic subjects. Their journal the Photo-Gazette under the editorship of Georges Mareschal was the best known.

With the committed goal of keeping the relevance of photographic art before the public eye and with the backing of France’s elite photographic body in the form of The Photo Club de Paris, Carré and Naud under the leadership of Mareschal set about contracting with multiple printing ateliers throughout the country  (1.)  in order to showcase work produced by the club’s members.

Certainly with Franz Goerke’s Die Kunst in der Photographie journal in Germany serving as a model beginning only two years earlier in 1897, the publishers believed bigger was better, (46.0 x 34.0 cm)  and the task of presenting French work (2.) as reproduction plates in the original size the photographer intended was the stated goal from the outset. Everything about this photographic magazine is admirable, and for France, this evolution would break new ground as the first monthly photographic publication solely devoted to the image itself. Looking back, it is also an important historical record of the cutting-edge, French photographic engraving being produced at this time. The photographic plates included with it are printed in the finest hand-pulled photogravure, collotype, (photocollographie) and single and multiple-color halftone. (similigravure) These in turn are printed, often by a separate atelier, on a variety of French papers running the gamut from hand-made plate paper to traditional examples of thick coated stock.  To satisfy the photographic purist, technical details for the images are often supplied on the accompanying plate tissue-guards.  So in a word, revolutionary. 

In the mission statement laid out by editor Georges Mareschal in the first issue, he explains the admirable intention of employing the cover itself to showcase a photograph. But because of logistical problems not revealed, (3.) the talents of Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha were employed in 1899 to design its cover used consistently over the one year run ending in June, 1900.

At PhotoSeed, we are excited to be able to present all 48 photographs from L’Art Photographique in their order of publication beginning here.

Notes:

1. Nine in France and the long established firm of Jean Malveaux in Brussels.
2. Although several examples from Argentina, Belgium, England and a Polish photographer working in Paris are included.
3. My own conjecture on this surmises the publishers felt an over-sized magazine needed to be “shown off” better-especially with the resources being devoted to its production, and there was certainly no better way to do this than to employ a cover “poster effect” in the form of a full-color lithograph by Mucha.

With few exceptions, the monthly photographic journal L’Art Photographique (The Photographic Art) was devoted to the work of French photographers. Published for only one year from July, 1899 through June, 1900, the publication might be considered a continuation of the limited-edition portfolios issued by the Photo Club de Paris commemorating their annual photographic salons held between 1894-1897. The difference however was it was meant for a wider audience. Etienne Wallon, a prominent member of the club, writes in the introduction to the new work in July, 1899 that keeping artistic photography relevant was a concern, and notes the progress made from these aforementioned exhibitions as impetus for its publication.

What is very special about this journal were the resources devoted to producing it. It was certainly the most important showcase for fine photographic engraving being done in France at the turn of the last century, selling itself as the first French publication devoted solely to the image itself. French ateliers including Bergeret et Cie in Nancy; Draeger frères, Rückert & Cie, and Paul Dujardin in Paris produced exquisite plates in hand-pulled photogravure, (héliogravure) collotype, (photocollographie) as well as single and multiple color halftone (similigravure) plates reproduced in the exact size the artist intended. (1.) These plates were issued loose without any letterpress, and were intended to be framed should the subscriber desire.

Our in-depth overview for L’Art Photographique begins here.

1. SEE PREFACE: ETIENNE WALLON: L’ART PHOTOGRAPHIQUE: JULY, 1899

The German photographic journal Photographische Rundschau (Photographic Review) was one of:

“the earliest magazines specifically produced for amateurs, for non-specialists in both art and science.” 1.

For the purpose of a historical record relating to artistic photography, it is an important document of its progress:

“The main reason to subscribe to this magazine, at least after 1894, was its perfect illustration with photographs from masters of the art.” 2.

From 1896-1902, the most important promoter of artistic photography within its pages was due to its German picture editor-Ernst Juhl, who actively promoted the work of amateur photographers and pictorialism on an international level. Juhl was forced to resign from the journal in 1902 after making the decision to publish the progressive and decidedly unconventional work of American photographer Eduard Steichen (then working in Paris) in its pages.

Issued monthly, (bi-monthly beginning in 1903) the magazine typically published one hand-pulled photogravure supplemental plate with each issue as well as other full-page illustrations in halftone.

1887 was the first year Photographische Rundschau was published, but not in Germany. It began life as the official organ of the Club der Amateur Photographen in Wien, (Club of Amateur Photographers in Vienna) and was published and edited by Charles Scolik. One year later:

“in 1888 it found a publisher in Halle an der Saale in Germany. Wilhelm Knapp was an important scientific publisher whose brother Carl was directly interested in photography. So for five years the journal was written in Vienna by Club members, published in Halle an der Saale, and distributed in Germany and Austria.” 3.

1893 proved to be the transformative year for the journal:

“But in August 1893, for unknown reasons, almost certainly at the publisher’s instigation, the journal grew another head when Richard Neuhauss in Berlin began sharing the role of editor-in-chief with Charles Scolik in Vienna.” 4.

The loss of direct editorial control from Vienna to Berlin for the journal was also cemented with the establishment of a new journal for the Vienna club, the Wiener Photographische Blätter.  

By the following year, 1894, Dr. Richard Neuhauss appeared solely as the journal’s editor on the title page.  Approximately  680 kilometers (425 miles) separates Berlin with Vienna, but philosophically, in relation to amateur photography as a social construct for the period, the distance was greater. Speaking of this divide, contemporary author Christian Joschke remarks:

“The photographers of the two capitals did not share the same vision of amateurism. For the Viennese members of the Club der Amateur Photographen, this socialized aspect of leisure photography was a way of legitimizing its artistic character.” 5.

And the view from Berlin:  

“But for the Berlin groups this separation gave photography too confined a role. They needed to build a shared culture, mixing science with art and transcending the divisions between the two domains. For them the network of amateurs offered the possibility of building a shared culture of images, fostered by the popularization of science and consolidated by a practice that paid attention to “advances” in every domain.” 6.

The growing popularization of science in Germany, of which amateur photography was central, found the perfect editor in Richard Neuhauss. Indeed, one of the first things he changed was its tone on the title page of the journal. He added “Zeitschrift für Freunde der Photographie” (Magazine for Lovers of Photography) at the tail-end of Photographische Rundschau’s title, replacing the simple “Monats-Zeitschrift für Photographie” (Monthly journal of photography) that formerly appeared. A polymath with interests including amateur photography, photographic chemistry, anthropology (he was a member of the Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory) and even aviation, Dr. Richard Neuhauss (1855-1915):

“was a doctor of tropical medicine who resided in Berlin but traveled widely. He published on many medical subjects but also was a superb experimentalist in photography with a special affinity for the Lippmann Process.” (early French color process)  7.

Unique insights into his curiosity and scientific ambitions came into play in 1895, the year he put his skills to work building specialized cameras for the purpose of photographically documenting flight. A remarkable series of his photographs recording biplane and “Vorflügelapparat” (glider with wing tip controller) flights of German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal at the “Flying-Hill” in Lichterfelde Germany are now preserved in a museum bearing Lilienthal’s name in Anklam Germany. 8.

Neuhauss continued as editor of the journal until 1907, when he left and was replaced in 1908 by a group of three editors: Dr. Richard Luther, art photography advocate, photographer and painter Fritz Matthies-Masuren and Otto Mente. Of Luther and Mente, contemporary writer Rolf Sachsse comments:

“…both were lecturers in photo-chemistry and gave the magazine a more scientific note.” 9.

Merging with other photographic journals also caused Photographische Rundschau to change names several times until it finally ceased publication under the Rundschau moniker in 1943. Beginning in 1904 and lasting until 1911, it joined forces with publisher Wilhelm Knapps  Photographisches Centralblatt, (Photographic Journal ) becoming the Photographische Rundschau und Photographisches Centralblatt. From 1912 until 1933, it combined with the former Photographische Mitteilungen to become the Photographische Rundschau und Mitteilungen, and from 1934-1943 its name changed to the Fotografische Rundschau.

Beginning in 1904, the year it combined forces with the Photographisches Centralblatt, the quality of the supplemental photographic plates also changed in Photographische Rundschau . Hand-pulled photogravures produced by some of Germany and Austria’s finest ateliers now included full-page, sheet fed gravures produced by mechanical (machine) presses. Close magnification of these plates reveals an extremely fine screen pattern. Plate marks-a good indicator of a hand-pulled photogravure (although faux plate-marks are sometimes added as a decorative element to other types of process photographs) are absent from the borders of these screen-photogravure plates.

With only several exceptions as noted, our online galleries include all photogravure supplements for this journal as well as additional photographic plates from Photographische Rundschau’s most significant achievement in relation to artistic photography: 1894-1908.

NOTES:

1. PHOTOGRAPHISCHE RUNDSCHAU: ROLF SACHSSE: IN: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY, VOLUME 1: EDITED BY JOHN HANNAVY: ROUTLEDGE-TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP: NEW YORK: 2007: P. 1096
2. IBID
3. AMATEURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE-PHOTOGRAPHY IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA (1880-1900): CHRISTIAN JOSCHKE: IN: IMPRESSIONIST CAMERA: PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN EUROPE, 1888-1918 : MERRELL PUBLISHERS : 2006 : P.109
4. IBID
5. IBID: P. 110
6. IBID
7. NEUHAUSS BIOGRAPHY: IN: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY, VOLUME 1: EDITED BY JOHN HANNAVY: ROUTLEDGE-TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP: NEW YORK: 2007: P. 990
8. NEUHAUSS ONLINE ARCHIVE: OTTO LILIENTHAL MUSEUM: ANKLAM GERMANY
9. PHOTOGRAPHISCHE RUNDSCHAU: ROLF SACHSSE: IN: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY, VOLUME 1: EDITED BY JOHN HANNAVY: ROUTLEDGE-TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP: NEW YORK: 2007: P. 1096