Karl Schwier

Karl Wilhelm Gangolf Schwier (born November 12, 1842 in Soest ; † June 22, 1920 in Weimar ) was a German photographer , editor and publisher.

Life

Karl Schwier was born as the son of the deaf and dumb teacher Heinrich Gustav and Friedericke Schwier, born. Honestly born in Soest (Westphalia) in 1842. He was baptized on December 6, 1842. He had two siblings, Dorothea (born June 12, 1845) and Adolph (born August 20, 1851). Difficult attended grammar school in Soest and also the trade school in Hagen. He studied at the Gewerbeakademie Berlin with Hermann Wilhelm Vogel and at the Berlin University. Difficult was involved in the war of 1870/1871 as the technical director of field photography. In 1871 he married Marie Oberland, who died in 1876. The children Hanny (* 1872), Dorchen (* 1874) and Adolph (* 1876) emerged from this marriage. Schwier first came to Weimar in 1874. On June 18, 1879, he became a citizen of Weimar. In addition to his activities in the field of photography, he was also the founder and chairman of the Weimar Cremation Association and an honorary member of the East Thuringian Association of Engineers and Architects. He was married to Sophie Rothe for the second time (1880). The son Heinrich (* 1881) emerged from this marriage. Difficult lived in Weimar one after the other at Schlossgasse 25 (1876–1882), Am Brühl 16 (1882–1886), at Bürgererschulstrasse 4 (1887–1891) and from 1891 until his death at Sophienstrasse 4. He died on 22. June 1920 in Weimar. According to his obituary, he was a sponsor of the Municipal Museum.

plant

Difficult operated his own photo studio in Weimar and was a Weimar court photographer. He was familiar with Julius Schnauß's Photographic-Chemical Institute , but did not join it. Rather, in 1876 he founded the German Photographers Association , which is considered the first all-German association of professional photographers and whose headquarters were in Weimar. The first meeting took place on January 31, 1876 in Jena . The association acted as a professional representation of the photographers, should promote the development of photography, make it popular among the population and establish contact with other, also foreign, photography associations. The organ of the association was the Deutsche Photographen-Zeitung , which Schwier had looked after as editor and expeditor since 1877. After his death, his son Adolph continued the editorial work. The paper was published until 1924 and was of great importance for the association's public image.

Publications

Karl Schwier has published several photo series, for example on a “pageant of the trade unions on the occasion of the trade exhibition in Weimar in 1878” (46 photos, published in Weimar 1879) or on the “procession of traders on the twenty-five year anniversary of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke's reign Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach on July 11, 1878 ”(54 photos, published in Weimar 1879). His "Wartburg album: Photographs according to nature" (14 photos) was published as early as 1860, to which Hugo von Ritgen , who restored the Wartburg on behalf of the Grand Duke , contributed the text.

literature

• Herrmann AL Degener : Who is it: Contemporaries lexicon, containing biographies and bibliographies. Berlin: Degener, 1909, p. 1301
• Christoph Lößnitz: Karl Schwier and German photography. Weimar, [1999]
• Alf Rößner: Karl Schwier - an important picture chronicler Weimar. In: Of commercial jobs, books and newspapers. 150 years of Weimar printing history 1854-2004. Weimar: Pavillon-Presse, 2004, p. 20f.
• Axel Stefek: pupil of Hermann Wilhelm Vogel, pictorial chronicler of the war in France. The apprenticeship of the photographer Karl Schwier (1842–1920) and his "Wartburg-Album" from 1872. In: Weimar-Jena. The big city. The cultural history archive 6/3 (2013), pp. 175–204.
• Article Karl Schwier. In: Weimar. Lexicon on city history. Edited by Gitta Günther u. a., 2., verb. Ed., Böhlau, Weimar 1998, p. 396.