Hermann Walter (photographer)

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Hermann Walter, photographed by his brother-in-law Bernhard Müller (around 1900).

Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm Walter (born January 10, 1838 in Ebeleben ; † June 8, 1909 in Leipzig ) was a German photographer . He is considered the most important picture chronicler of the city of Leipzig in the late 19th century.

Life

Citizen's letter of the City Council of Leipzig from May 22, 1863.

The son of the businessman Karl Hermann Walter and his wife Auguste Wilhelmine Sophie Güntherine nee Hupe attended the Latin school in Sondershausen . From Easter 1853 to spring 1856 he completed an apprenticeship with the Grand Ducal Court Mechanic Zwez in Eisenach .

In 1859 Walter traveled via Hamburg and Rostock to Saint Petersburg and from there to Pulkowo , where he worked as an optical mechanic at the Nikolai main observatory until May 21, 1860 . He then traveled to London via Hamburg. Until August 16, 1862, he manufactured high-quality lenses there in an optical-mechanical workshop. In London, Walter most likely also had contact with photographers, and he certainly took photos there himself.

Walter came to Leipzig at the end of 1862 at the age of 25. On May 22, 1863, he took the citizens' oath before the City Council of Leipzig. At first he worked as a stamp cutter for letter seals and lived in Ranstädter Steinweg 20. From 1870 his job title was “Photographer and Mechanicus” and he bought the house at Naundörfchen 10, where his new studio was located.

In his first years in Leipzig, Hermann Walter did portrait photography in the skylight studio and thus did not differ in his way of working from other Leipzig colleagues.

The house at Neukirchhof 8 with a built-in studio, seen from the Töpferplatz (photograph by Hermann Walter, around 1900). The baroque buildings of today's Matthäikirchhof were demolished in 1909.
The architectural drawing approved on July 29, 1879 for the studio at Töpferplatz.
Hermann Walter's son Karl, photographed by his father (around 1900).

On July 28, 1874, he married Anna Johanna Clara Müller and moved his office to Leibnizstrasse 4. In 1879, he moved to Neukirchof 21 (later renumbered to No. 8), first as a sub-lessee and since 1899 as the owner. In the same year he built a studio with workrooms in the front garden of the house on Töpferplatz. The building had a glass roof, as was common in the “photographic salons” of the time, and the west side was fully glazed. Walter discovered the newly emerging postcard as a source of income and self-published his cards. In addition to city views, he also took industrial photos. From the middle of the 1880s he was a city photographer of Leipzig and created a rich oeuvre of Leipzig photos, partly on his own behalf and partly on behalf of the city council.

At the suggestion of the geologist Albert Heim , Hermann Walter took numerous photographs of Kleiner Laufen in 1900 .

After Hermann Walter's death in 1909, his brother-in-law Bernhard Müller (1860–1930) continued the business. Walter's daughter Marie (1879–1957) also worked in the business. It was not until 1930, after Müller's death, that Hermann Walters' second son, Karl Walter (* 1877 - October 11, 1940), became the owner of the studio. However, no pictures of Karl Walter's own are known. As early as 1935, after divorce, social decline and physical breakdown, the pension office induced him to transfer his father's archive, which contained around 4,000 completely disorganized records, to the City History Museum . However, the city only took recordings in which it had a direct interest.

Walter's first son Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm (* December 7, 1874; † 1942) was one of the first students at the Leipzig Commercial College , he later became professor and director of the Leisnig commercial school .

Honors

In 2011 the Leipzig City Council decided to give a new street in the Probstheida district the name Walterweg .

Exhibitions

literature

  • Christoph Kaufmann: Hermann Walter photo studio. Leipzig 1918–1935. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-936508-61-1 .
  • Christoph Kaufmann, Wolfgang G. Schröter: The glass treasure. Leipzig photographs from the Hermann Walter studio. DZA, Altenburg 2002, ISBN 3-9806602-4-9 .
  • Anton Blaschke, Karl Czok (Ed.): Leipzig. Photographs 1867 to 1929. Fotokinoverlag, Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-7311-0120-3 .
  • Rose-Marie Frenzel, Wolfgang G. Schröter (Ed.): Hermann Walter. Photographs from Leipzig 1862–1909. Fotokinoverlag, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-7311-0026-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hermann Walter  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Metz : Geologische Landeskunde des Hotzenwalds , S. 987/988
  2. ^ A b Rose-Marie Frenzel, Wolfgang G. Schröter: Hermann Walter. P. 47
  3. ^ Rose-Marie Frenzel, Wolfgang G. Schröter: Hermann Walter. P. 46
  4. ^ A b Rose-Marie Frenzel, Wolfgang G. Schröter: Hermann Walter. P. 45
  5. ^ Christoph Kaufmann: Hermann Walter photo studio. P. 15
  6. ↑ Council meeting of May 18, 2011 (resolution no. RBV-822/11), official announcement: Leipzig Official Gazette no. 11 of June 4, 2011, in force since July 5, 2011 and August 5, 2011. Cf. Official Journal No. 16 of September 10, 2011.
  7. ^ Before the excavators came: Leipziger Stadtbilder in: FAZ from January 12, 2012, page 32
  8. ↑ http://www.fotomuseum.eu/index.php?rubrik=ausstellung_detail - accessed on January 13, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Walter, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walter, Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Life
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1909
Place of death Leipzig