!!!Fotografie

Photography: When daguerrotypy, the first practicable photographic 
technique, was presented to the public in Paris in 1839, the Austrian 
mathematician and physicist A. v.  Ettingshausen, who had been 
sent to Paris by the Austrian government to study the new process, 
introduced the technique in the same year in Austria, where its use 
spread rapidly. It was in particular the 
"Fuerstenhofgruppe", a group of artists led by the painter 
C.  Schuch, that used the new technique and strove to improve it (for 
example by reducing exposure time). Important members of the group 
were F. Kratochwilla, J.  Petzval, P. W.  Voigtlaender, and 
A. G. Martin). In 1841 the brothers Johann and Josef  Natterer 
produced the first "Sekundenbilder" ("instantaneous images") in 
Vienna. Viennese artists also took an interest in other processes such 
as the British inventions of calotypy and talbotypy. Along with 
portrait work, which remained the focal point of professional 
photography up to the end of the 19th century, landscape photographs 
were also produced from 1845 onwards (F. Adler, R. Gaupmann and G. 
Fischer, the Rospini brothers in Graz). In connection with the 
wet-collodion process the albumin copy, invented in France in 1850 
(and considerably improved by the Viennese photographer A. Ost in 
1869), resulted in the unprecedented success of photography, since it 
was now possible to produce numerous copies of individual pictures; at 
the same time, a series of standard formats were adopted ("visiting" 
format from 1857, "cabinet" format from 1866, "promenade", "panel" and 
other formats from 1875). In due course numerous photographic ateliers 
were set up in Austria, with those in Vienna (L. Angerer, J. Bauer, C. 
Mahlknecht and others) continuing to command a leading position. At 
the suggestion of J. Homolatsch a "Photographic Society" was founded 
in 1861 as the first association of Austrian photographers (First 
photographic exhibition in Vienna in 1864). In 1888 the school of 
photography established in Salzburg in 1879 was moved to Vienna 
("K. k. Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt fuer Photographie und 
Reproduktionstechnik"- "k.k. School and Experimental Station for 
Photography and Reproduction Technique"). Amateur photography received 
major impulses with the advent of the "dry process" (based on dry 
gelatine plates, first produced industrially by C. Haack in 1879), 
which completely supplanted the wet-collodion process (foundation of 
the Vienna "Camera-Club" as Austria's first amateur photographic 
society in 1887). Technological innovations aiming at ensuring greater 
authenticity (genuine Austrian contributions included the "phototypy" 
(J. Berres, 1840), "galvanography" ( P. Pretsch, 1854), and 
"heliogravure" processes (K. Klietsch, 1879)) and the development of 
new applications apart from atelier photography, such as interior, 
industrial, expedition and travel photography (W. Burger, J. v. 
Brenner-Felsach, R. Poech and others), as well as chromophotography 
(A. Ost), photoceramics (J. Leth) were characteristic features of 
early Austrian photography. The history of photochemistry in Austria 
was greatly influenced by J. M.  Eder, who was responsible for 
many seminal developments (Eder-Hecht sensitometer, sensitisers, 
silver chlorobromide gelatine). Under his direction, the Graphische 
Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna attained world renown as a 
research institution and the achievements of Austrian experts in the 
fields of photochemistry and photographic physics reached a peak.

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Sophisticated printing processes (platinotype, pigment, rubber and 
bromoil printing), which were decisively improved in Austria (G. 
Pizzighelli, A. v. Huebl, H. Kuehn, E. Mayer), brought 
photographic images into the vicinity of painting and the graphic 
arts. This resulted in a flowering of artistic photography between 
1890 and 1914, with members of the Vienna "Camera Club" (L. David, A. 
and N. v. Rothschild, F. V. Spitzer) and in particular H. 
Watzek, H. Henneberg und H. Kuehn ("Trifolium")playing a 
significant role. Similar amateur societies were established in Graz, 
Salzburg and Linz. Bad Ischl (Upper Austria) is home to the Upper 
Austrian Provincial Museum of Photography (Frank Collection).

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The imagery of artistic photographers continued to be a dominant 
influence even after 1918 (R.  Koppitz, M. v. Karnitschnigg, H. 
Haluschka) and also influenced professional photographers (portrait- 
and fashion photography) such as Atelier D´Ora, A. Benda, A. 
Schein, J. Loewy, F. X. Setzer, H. Schieberth and E. Barakovich.

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The "Neues Sehen" ("New Vision") approach developed in the inter-war 
period by the Bauhaus and others, which aimed at the exact 
reproduction of details or unusual views of everyday objects, was 
translated into photography on an experimental level by such 
individuals as H. Schwarz, A. Stern, T.  Fleischmann and E. Fuerboeck, 
and in particular by representatives of photographic journalism, which 
increasingly tended to distinguish itself from "atelier photography" 
after 1918. Important individuals (L.  Ruebelt, M. Fenichel, W. 
Willinger, A.  Hilscher, L. Ernst, H.  Lechenperg and others) worked 
for illustrated periodicals and magazines on the national and 
international market (for instance, after 1945, Ernst  Haas, H.  Mayr, 
E.  Lessing).

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This renewal of photographic esthetics after 1945 also helped to 
establish photography as a discipline of the Fine Arts, not only for 
the representation of abstract images (H. Mayr, W. Narbutt-Lieven) but 
also for photographic collages (W.  Verkauf, G.  Ruehm), for 
self-representation (C. L.  Attersee, E. Plus, O.  Oberhuber), in 
Viennese  Actionism (H.  Nitsch, G.  Brus, R.  Schwarzkogler) and in 
many other forms of artistic discourse (V.  Export, B. Fritz, K. 
Schoeffauer, H. Gappmayr, R.  Kriesche). It is hardly possible to 
establish a clear borderline with "pure photography", since there are 
many overlaps. Many free-lance photographers who devote themselves to 
themes of their own choosing have one characteristic in common, i.e. 
the great diversity of approaches and methods (representatives of what 
has come to be called "Autoren-Fotografie ("authors' 
photography)", such as N. Walter, O. Thormann, B. Lenart jun., M. 
Willmann, H. Tezak, J. Pausch, W. Bernhardt, P. Dressler, R. 
Kratochwill, H. Cibulka) The establishment of photo galleries (Graz, 
Salzburg, Wien), periodicals of contemporary photography 
("Zeitschrift fuer Fotografie", 1980ff.),and prizes (e.g. 
the "Landesfoerderungspreis fuer Fotografie" awarded by 
Styria since 1971) have greatly helped to enhance the international 
prestige of artistic photography in Austria. Amateur photography, with 
centres in Vienna (L. Fischer, H. Stanek, K. Piringer), Linz (M. 
Neumueller, K. Almesberger), Graz (E. Kees) and St. Poelten has also 
attained an important position.

!Literature
R. Zahlbrecht and O. Helwich (eds.), 100 Jahre 
Photographische Gesellschaft in Wien. 1861-1961, 1961; A. Baier, Die 
Photographie und ihre Entwicklung in Wien 1839-1911, Dissertation, 
Vienna 1965; O. Breicha, Kreative Fotografie in Oesterreich, 
exhibition catalogue, Graz 1974; H. Frank, Vom Zauber alter 
Licht-Bilder. Fruehe Photographie in Oesterreich 1840-60, 1981; O. 
Hochreiter and T. Starl (eds.), Geschichte der Fotografie in 
Oesterreich, 2 vols., exhibition catalogue., Bad Ischl 1983; 
Rueckblende: 150 Jahre Photographie in Oesterreich, exhibition 
catalogue, Vienna 1989; Fisch & Fleisch. Photos aus Oesterreich 
1945-95, exhibition catalogue, Krems 1995.


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