Karl Weiß (photographer)

Karl Weiß (born February 4, 1876 in Buchen (Odenwald) ; † May 6, 1956 ibid) was a German photographer and graphic artist in Buchen in the Odenwald in Baden .

family

Karl Weiß was the first of four children of the Eppingen- born master carpenter Karl Weiß sen. (Born June 16, 1851 in Eppingen; † 1912) and his wife Maria Anna b. Christ (1849–1913) from Buchen. Karl Weiß sen. ran a carpenter's workshop in Buchen since 1874, where his son also trained as a carpenter. The workshop was located at today's Dr.-Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 4.

Photo studio

Photo by Karl Weiß: Vorstadtstrasse 29–33 in Buchen (around 1930)

Before the Karl Weiß & Sohn photo studio was founded in 1894, the residents of Buchen had their pictures taken by the photographer Martin Hofert (1831–1893) in Bödigheim . Since Hofert could not find a successor, there was a need for a photo studio after his death. Father and son Weiß made the decision to add a photo studio to the carpenter's workshop. Therefore, Karl Weiß jun. In Karlsruhe he trained as a photographer with the court photographer Schuhmann . At the same time he attended courses at the Kunstgewerbeschule Karlsruhe , where he trained in drawing. In April 1894, the Buchen District Office approved the construction of a photo studio on the joinery property. The single-storey building had large glass windows and some had a glass roof. The laboratory equipment came from A. Glock in Karlsruhe. The photo studio was opened at the end of 1894 and had to be temporarily closed in 1897/1898 during Karl Weiss's military service. Father and son operated jointly under the name Karl Weiß & Sohn, Mechanische Schreinerei und Photo-Atelier , because the young photographer's main work was done on Sundays, so he could continue to work as a carpenter on weekdays. In 1907 he passed his master carpenter's examination at the Mannheim Chamber of Crafts . At the end of the 19th century, Karl Weiß began to publish postcards in his own publishing house , which he drew from his own photos. So these weren't photo cards, but cards with graphics. In 1904 he married Anna nobleman from Book that from 1908 a grocer's trading operation in the suburbs. With these diverse economic activities, the livelihood of the Weiß family and their three children was secured.

After the death of Karl Weiß sen. in 1912 photography became the main line of business. Karl Weiß jun. advertised his photo studio in newspaper advertisements and showcases . Customers often came to his studio on Sundays to have their picture taken , as that was the day they wore their Sunday best. Events were weddings , Erstkommunionfeiern , confirmations could ua ua In group shots of clubs, school classes, round tables more copies are sold. The catchment area of ​​the photo studio included the city of Buchen and the neighboring towns, the area from the rear Odenwald to Mudau and the building land to Altheim . It was not until the 1920s that Karl Weiß received competition from the photographer Karl Müller, who opened a photo studio on Schützenstrasse. Karl Weiß leased his photo studio to his competitor Karl Müller in 1938 because of an eye problem. Around 1945 the tenant Rudolf Graeske took over the studio, who ran it until 1966.

The extensive negative collection was handed over by the heirs to the Buchen District Museum in 1979 .

literature

• Rainer Trunk: Karl Weiß (1876–1956), photographer in Buchen . In: Der Wartturm , No. 2/1982, pp. 2-4.
• Photography in the country around 1900. Karl Weiß, photographer in Buchen. With a contribution to the early history of photography in the Franconian region of Baden . Publishing house of the Bezirksmuseum Buchen association , Buchen 1982. (not evaluated)

Web links

Commons : Karl Weiß  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Karl Weiß picture archive at the Bezirksmuseum Buchen (with photos, accessed on December 23, 2014)
• Karl Weiß picture archive of the Buchen district museum at museum-digital: baden-württemberg (accessed on March 13, 2017)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Diefenbacher: Ortssippenbuch Eppingen im Kraichgau . Interest group Badischer Ortssippenbücher, Lahr-Dinglingen 1984, p. 671 , no. 6199 ( German Ortssippenbücher, Series A. Volume 109) ( Badische Ortssippenbücher . Volume 52).