Albert Meyer (photographer)

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The photographer Albert Meyer in the jewelry of his awards

Albert Meyer (born February 27, 1857 in Klotzsche , † August 24, 1924 in Dresden ) was a German photographer and operator of photographic branches. He became known as the photographer of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 .

Life

Meyer was born in Klotzsche near Dresden. At the age of 24 he went to the USA and received a two-year training as a photographer.

After his return he opened a photographic studio in Berlin at Alexanderstraße 45 in the house with 99 sheep's heads in 1883 , in which he temporarily employed 15 employees. He used the title “Hof-Photographer” in showcases, on a billboard and in the address book. He was repeatedly warned by the police to point out clearly that he was the court photographer of the King of Saxony and the Duke of Saxony-Meiningen and not the Emperor of Germany in Berlin.

Ms. Einholz has other studios: from 1884 in " Neue Königstrasse 64 " and from 1896 in "Pallisadenstrasse 106".

In 1891 he had opened branches in Stettin and in the Baltic resort of Misdroy (today Szczecin and Miedzyzdroje, both located in Poland ), as well as another studio in Berlin on Potsdamer Strasse . Albert Meyer was now a wealthy man. His income in 1893 was around 13,000 marks.

After his success with the portfolios with pictures of athletes from the "first modern Olympic Games", Albert Meyer sold his studios in Berlin in 1901 and moved to Hanover . One of the buyers of his studios was Arthur Schulz .

In 1902 Meyer opened an “art institute” in Hanover, Georgstrasse 24, directly opposite the entrance to the opera house , which soon became a permanent fixture in the city's social life. The studio had about 20 rooms, including two laboratories . Two receptionists greeted the guests; Photographers, apprentices and even a permanent bookbinder did the well-paid jobs.

On the ground floor of the studio, “Meyer's Warmth Hall” attracted customers, especially artists. The Atelier at Georgstrasse 24 was destroyed by the air raids on Hanover in the Second World War (June 1943), but the facade of the ground floor with the entrance portal at today's house number 38 has been preserved.

In 1903 Albert Meyer was a member of the Hanover Photography Association and was elected treasurer in January.

In 1906 Albert Meyer took Hugo Julius on as a partner in his photographic studio in Hanover. In 1912 Meyer also sold his remaining stake for a large profit.

In 1915 Albert Meyer moved back to Dresden. Here began the unhappy years of his life. His son, in whom he had high hopes, was killed as a soldier in the First World War . Albert Meyer lost all of his fortune during the German inflation in 1923. He died impoverished.

Photographer of the Athens Olympic Games 1896

Albert Meyer was a member of the “ Comité for Germany's Participation in the Olympic Games in Athens 1896”, which was established in December 1895 a. a. by Willibald Gebhardt in Berlin. Together with his wife Elisabeth, he accompanied the German Olympic team during the competitions. There is evidence that Elisabeth Meyer was also a photographer there. Before returning home, the couple made a detour to Constantinople .

The Olympic champion in discus throwing, Robert Garrett, USA

Presumably less than 100 pictures were taken during the Olympic Games in Athens. Five of the seven photographers were Greeks, an American named Curtis and Albert Meyer. With part of the German team he traveled from Berlin to Brindisi on March 28, 1896 and from there by ship to Corfu . At least half of the recordings are attributable to Meyer.

Meyer developed his photographic plates during the games and left them to the Kurt Beck publishing house and other publishers. "Beck's Album" was the first official Olympic report. After his return, Albert Meyer had elaborate leather folders made with the inscription "Athens Olympic Games 1896". They each contained 25-35 plates and were sent to numerous royal and princely houses. This brought Meyer a lot of attention, recognition and numerous awards in the form of orders and medals. In the years after 1896, the commercial success of his "photographic studios" increased. In 1898 his fortune was estimated at 120,000 marks. Albert Meyer has repeatedly described his participation as a photographer in the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 as the greatest event of his life.

Back of a Carte de Visite by Meyer from " Georgstrasse in Hanover " opposite "the Opera House "
Around 1902 or later: The business building, later called Haus Frensdorff / Bühring , at Georgstraße 24 (today: house number 38 ) in Hanover, with the lettering Conrad Bühring and the name of the court photographer Albert Meyer above his show and "heat hall"

Awards

  • A “Golden Medal” in Group IV (recordings by professional photographers) at the “First International Photographic Exhibition in Paris” in 1892
  • the "Merit Cross for Art and Science" from the Duke of Saxony-Meiningen in 1898.
  • to wear the " Red Cross Medal on Ribbon" awarded by the Kaiser in 1900.
  • the "Officer's Cross of the St. Sava Order " from the King of Serbia in 1900.

As evidenced by his letterhead from 1903, Albert Meyer was there

While he was still a photographer in Berlin and in the seaside resort of Misdroy , Albert Meyer wore the two titles of "court photographer"

At the beginning of 1903 he also had the title of court photographer

Secondary literature

literature

  • Volker Kluge (Ed.): 1896 Athens, Athens, Athènes, Atenas. The pictures of the games of the 1st Olympiad. Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89488-098-8 .
  • Volker Kluge: Albert Meyer: A German photographer and chronicler of the first Olympic Games . In: Stadion, vol. 29, special issue. Olympic Games · Olympic Games · Jeux Olympiques . Edited by Andreas Höfer, Manfred Lämmer and Karl Lennartz, 2004, ISBN 3-89665-329-6 .
  • Ludwig Hoerner : Photography and Photographers in Hanover and Hildesheim . Festschrift for the 150th birthday of photography. Ed .: Photographers Guilds Hanover and Hildesheim. Berufsförderungswerk, Bad Pyrmont 1989, p. 30th ff .
  • Wolfgang Decker, Bernd Wirkus: The court photographer Albert Meyer and the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Arete Verlag, Hildesheim 2019, ISBN 978-3-96423-016-4 .

Web links

Commons : Albert Meyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Photographic Journals  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This circumstance led to Meyer being included in police files. These helped the author Volker Kluge to discover the connections between photographs and photographers.
  2. ↑ In the database under “Pallisadenstrasse 106” there is also a “Meyer, J.” with similar dates.
  3. ^ Postcard from the Federal Archives
  4. ^ A b Volker Kluge : Albert Meyer: A German photographer and chronicler of the first Olympic Games . In: Stadion, vol. 29, special issue. Olympic Games · Olympic Games · Jeux Olympiques . Edited by Andreas Höfer, Manfred Lämmer and Karl Lennartz, 2004, ISBN 3-89665-329-6 , p. 88 books.google.de
  5. ^ A b Paul Siedentopf : Albert Meyer , in: The book of the old companies of the city of Hanover in 1927 , Culemannsche Buchdruckerei, Jubiläums-Verlag Walter Gerlach, Leipzig 1927, p. 144
  6. ↑ see back of the adjacent Carte de Visite
  7. ↑ Volker Kluge: Albert Meyer: A German photographer ... (see section literature )
  8. ↑ Defective web link Claudia Polak: Kurt Julius Vita ,
  9. ↑ Compare this web link defective Hugo Julius Vita - photo of the historic entrance hall , for the changed house number compare this photo . The building was the former "Haus Frensdorff / Bühring", which the architect Ludwig Brockmann had built in the neo-renaissance style in 1873/74 (source for this: Helmut Knocke , Hugo Thielen : Georgstraße , in: Dirk Böttcher , Klaus Mlynek (ed.): Hannover / Art and Culture Lexicon / Handbook and City Guide , 4th edition, Verlag zu Klampen, Springe 2007, ISBN 978-3-934920-53-8 , p. 120.)
  10. ↑ a b c d Ludwig Hoerner: Photography and Photographers ... , p. 30ff.
  11. ↑ Business , in: Photographische Chronik , No. 82, 1906, p. 508.
  12. ↑ He was an athlete and was Olympic champion in the 110-meter hurdles
  13. ↑ It was these portfolios that prompted the author Volker Kluge to conduct numerous researches on the photographs and their photographers.
  14. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , vol. 29, p. 605. Meyer was invited as a Swiss citizen for political reasons, which is why the location "(Switzerland?)" Was chosen (source: PC , vol. 30, 1893, p. 89)
  15. ^ Personal data , in: Photographische Chronik , No. 52, 1898, p. 495
  16. ↑ Award , in: Photographische Chronik , No. 13, 1900, p. 86
  17. ↑ Award , in: Photographische Chronik , No. 102, 1900, p. 648
  18. ↑ Revers of this Carte de visite from Hanover
  19. ↑ a b c Revers of this Carte de visite
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Klotzsche
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1924
Place of death Dresden