Otto Wegener (photographer)
Otto Wegener (born January 20, 1849 in Helsingborg , † February 4, 1924 in Paris ) was a French photographer of Swedish origin who worked in Paris from 1867 to 1924.
Wegener's photo studio Otto , founded in Paris in 1883, was one of the prominent studios in which the protagonists of Paris politics and society and the art and literary scene were photographed, along with those of Nadar and Charles Reutlinger . Some of the people he photographed several times over the years include a. Marcel Proust , whom he photographed for the first time as a five-year-old, the poet Paul Verlaine and stage stars of the time such as Isadora Duncan , Sarah Bernhardt and Ida Rubinstein .
life and work
Wegener was born in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg. So far, there are no sources where he acquired his knowledge as a photographer. However, the photographer Hanna Forthmeiier (1827–1914) set up the city's first photo studio in his parents' house in the mid-1860s. In 1867 he went to Paris, where he was soon able to establish himself as a sought-after portrait photographer.
In connection with the unrest during the Paris Commune (1871), he moved to London. During this time his three sons were born. Only after 1875 did he return to Paris.
In 1883 Otto Wegener opened a prestigious studio at Place de la Madeleine 3. At the front of the house on the sixth floor was a company sign in gold letters with the name Otto , the brand name of his studio. The operating rooms went over four floors and comprised studios, laboratories, reception rooms and lounges. The house itself was furnished with paintings, antique and Art Deco furniture.
During a stay in Paris in 1900, Edward Steichen worked in Wegener's studio twice a week. Wegener photographed Steichen, with whom he remained on friendly terms, probably at the wheel of a car during a later stay in Paris around 1906. An exhibition for Steichen also took place in Wegener's gallery in the nearby Rue Royale , where pictures by Otto were shown in temporary exhibitions .
Wegener enjoyed a good reputation in his time for his elegant portraits of women and his pictures of children. The portrait of Comtesse Greffulhe is exemplary , in which she appears twice, once dressed in half profile and in black, the other time in white and in profile.
One of his lucrative lines of business was the manufacture of cabinet cards in the format of approx. 91 x 58 mm. These cardboard photos also served as an advertising medium for his studio. If necessary, oversize prints were produced in parallel. Many copies of Wegener's maps have been preserved in French archives and museums; the French National Library alone owns 1,000 prints and 600 negatives.
In Paris, Wegener kept in touch with Swedes resident here and with Scandinavian visitors to the city. August Strindberg was a guest in his house, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , Victoria Benedictsson and Albert Edelfelt he photographed, he taught Prince Eugene of Sweden photography, and in 1897/98 the Swedish photographer John Hertzberg (1871–1935) worked in his studio as a Assistant.
Otto Wegener died in Paris in 1924 and was buried on the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise . The grave was closed in 2002, his remains were in the ossuary transferred the cemetery.
estate
Otto Wegener's extensive image material has so far remained largely art-historical and untapped by the history and social sciences, as his photographs are either privately owned or scattered in European collections. The works shown in the major international art exhibitions have not yet been scientifically processed.
Exhibitions
Pictures by Otto Wegener were shown at the First International Photography Exhibition in Paris in 1892. Otto represented France at the World Exhibition in 1900 , in 1908 at the Great Art Exhibition in Dresden and in 1914 in Leipzig at the International Exhibition of Book Trade and Graphics .
Art market
Cabinet cards, original prints and Wegener's glass negatives are occasionally offered at auctions. Photographs here are priced at around $ 800 to $ 13,000 , and the trend is rising.
In 2016, 120 objects from the possession of Proust's great-grandniece Patricia Mante-Proust were auctioned at Sotheby’s in Paris. The bundle included u. a. the Cabinet Card with Proust and two of his friends, which, with an estimate of 5,000 to 8,000 euros, won the bid for 18,750 euros. This card is absolutely unique , as all other prints from the time were destroyed by pressure from Proust's parents. Reproductions go back to this one surviving copy from the possession of Mante-Proust. In the same auction, a Proust portrait reached 21,250 euros, with an estimated price of 4,000 to 6,000 euros. The portrait is part of a four-part series in which Proust is sitting on a Louis XV-style bench. posing.
In 2017, a 1910 rubber print depicting a Paris subway station was auctioned at Phillips in New York for an estimated price of $ 30,000 to $ 50,000 for an undisclosed price . In November 2018, the Musée Rodin in Paris acquired a portrait of Edward Steichen mounted on cardboard in a gilded frame for a right of first refusal for 14,520 euros.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Serge Plantureux: Le photographe retrouvé: Otto Wegener , accessed on March 25, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d e f Pär Rittsel: Wegener, Otto (1849–1922) in: John Hannavy (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography. London: Routledge 2007. p. 1484.
- ^ Musée Rodin, collections , accessed March 30, 2019.
- ↑ Le Figaro , February 6, 1924.
- ↑ Matthias Heine: Even with a full beard . In: Welt am Sonntag , accessed on March 30, 2019.
- ↑ Otto Wegener , MutualArt, accessed on March 25, 2019.
- ↑ Daguerre.fr , accessed March 25, 2019.
- ↑ Otto. Marcel Proust, Lucien Daudet er Robert de Flers, 1896. lotsearch.de, accessed on March 31, 2019.
- ↑ Sotheby's. Livres et manuscripts. 166 , accessed March 25, 2019.
- ↑ Daguerre Hôtel des ventes Drouot, 2018 , accessed on March 25, 2019.
- ↑ The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation, October 3, 2017 , Phillips.com, accessed March 25, 2019.
- ↑ Olga Grimm-Weissert: Photo Paris - Parisian glut of images with a feminist touch . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 9, 2018, accessed on March 30, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wegener, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish-French photographer in Paris (1867–1924) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1849 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Helsingborg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 4, 1924 |
| Place of death | Paris |