Franz Xaver Setzer

Self-portrait Franz Xaver Setzer

Franz Xaver Setzer , actually Franz Anton Adolf (born August 6, 1886 in Vienna ; † January 10, 1939 there ) was an Austrian photographer .

Life

He received his training at the Kaiserlich-Königliche Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt , the studio was founded in 1909. Setzer always viewed his portraits as works of art and the style of portraits that he had influenced in front of unadorned backgrounds was considered very modern at the time. Word had quickly got around in Vienna during the interwar years that the portraits created in the Setzer studio were of the highest artistic quality. The well-lit studio on the top floor of Museumstrasse 5 in Vienna's 7th district was one of the top addresses for portraits.

The ambience at "Setzer - Photographic Portraits, Behind the German People's Theater" - as an advertising card from early years describes the location - also met the high requirements and was equipped with "lift and telephone". That is why personalities from the theater, opera and cultural scene had Setzer portrayed them from an early age. The first customers before 1920 included the composer Arnold Schönberg , the actress Hedwig Bleibtreu and the writer Stefan Zweig with his future wife Friederike von Winternitz. In 1920 Setzer married the opera singer Marie Gutheil-Schoder , which further expanded his social position. In addition to contemporary artists, representatives from the nobility, politics and business were increasingly included in the group of people who Setzer photographed.

Mutually dedicated photos show that Franz Xaver Setzer also maintained friendly contacts with his contemporary colleagues, such as Madame d'Ora and Arthur Benda .

Setzer made repeated trips to Salzburg. The Salzburg Festival was an opportunity both to make recordings on site - for example by Giacomo Puccini , Max Reinhardt and Maria Jeritza - and to receive orders for the studio in Vienna. In April 1920, the twenty-year-old Marie Karoline Tschiedel took up a position as the artist's assistant in the studio. She had also studied at the KuK Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt and specialized in the areas of portrait photography and negative retouching.

The burgeoning global economic crisis in the 1930s also affected work in the studio. The order situation deteriorated and Setzer increasingly withdrew from social life, also for health reasons. Tschiedel, who had already worked closely with Setzer for the past few years, advanced to the position of technical director of the studio in 1934 and took on more and more overall responsibility for the studio.

Franz Xaver Setzer died in January 1939 at the age of 52 as a result of a serious illness. Setzer's last recording is entered in the record book with the number 18448. Marie Karoline Tschiedel took over the studio from his heirs and continued to run it under the name Setzer-Tschiedel until 1980.

Awards

In recognition of the high quality of the work, Franz Xaver Setzer received the Voigtland Medal of the Photographic Society in 1917 .

Works (selection)

An excerpt from the record and negative book of the Setzer-Tschiedel archive gives an overview of the extensive total of portraits that were taken in the Franz Xaver Setzer studio and in the following years under Marie Karoline Tschiedel :

• Lena Amsel (1898–1929), dancer and actress
• Raoul Aslan (1886–1958), actor, civil and role models
• Rudolf Bayr (1919–1990), writer
• Hedwig Bleibtreu (1868–1958), civil and role models
• Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), Italian opera singer
• Vilma Degischer (1911–1992), actress
• Leon Epp (1905–1968), director, theater director and actor
• Alfred Gerasch (1877–1955), German actor
• Marie Gutheil-Schoder (1874–1935), civil and role models
• Nora Gregor (1901–1949), civil and role models
• Lo Hesse (1889–1983?), Dancer
• Hans Jaray (1906–1990), actor, civil and role models
• Maria Jeritza (1887–1982), actress, civil and role models
• Franz Lehár (1870–1948), composer
• Lotte Lehmann (1888–1976), singer, civil and role models
• Wilhelm Miklas (1872–1956), Federal President
• Hans Moser (1880–1964), actor
• Harald Paulsen (1895–1954), civil and role models
• Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), composer
• Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), composer
• Max Reinhardt (1873–1943), theater and film director, artistic director, theater producer and theater founder
• Rosa Albach-Retty (1874–1980), civil and role models
• Felix Salten (1869–1945), actor
• Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931), writer
• Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg (1899–1956), politician and home guard leader
• Richard Strauss (1864–1949), composer
• Richard Tauber (1891–1948), tenor
• Hans Thimig (1900–1991), actor and director
• Helene Thimig (1889–1974), actress, director and theater director
• Otto Tressler (1871–1965), role models
• Conrad Veidt (1893–1943), actor, civil and role models
• Bruno Walter (1876–1962), conductor
• Paula Wessely (1907–2000), actress, civil and role models
• Grete Wiesenthal (1885–1970), role models
• Anton Wildgans (1881–1932), poet and playwright
• Stefan Zweig (1881–1942), writer

literature

• T. Starl:  Setzer, Franz Xav .; actually Franz Anton Adolf (1886–1939), photographer. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001–2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 198.

Web links

Commons : Franz Xaver Setzer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Franz Xaver Setzer on albertina.at
• Franz Xaver Setzer at imagno.at