Richard Müller (photographer)
Richard Müller (born October 17, 1884 in Innsbruck ; † February 18, 1957 there ) was an Austrian photographer . He was one of the most famous Innsbruck photographers in the first half of the 20th century.
life and work
From 1901 to 1903 Müller attended the graphic teaching and research institute in Vienna . In 1908 he started his own business in Innsbruck and worked primarily as a landscape photographer and specialist in high mountain photography. Recordings have appeared in books and magazines. He also worked as a portraitist, theater and press photographer. On December 1, 1920, Müller took over the former Atelier Zech from the Tyrolia publishing house and opened a photo shop in 1922, which was destroyed by bombs in 1943. He made more than 53,000 recordings. He made his recordings largely on glass plates.
After his death, the Richard Müller photography business was run by his wife Maria (1904–1997) and then by his daughter, the photographer Gudrun Müller, until it closed in 2014.
Richard Müller also worked for the Gaupresseamt during World War II. After the end of the war he was charged as a former member of the NSDAP and interned, but released by the American military government in 1946 and, after a thorough examination by the office of the Tyrolean provincial government, classified as having a minor burden.
The recordings made document the history of the city of Innsbruck, but also particularly scenic phenomena. His recordings were used during his lifetime a. a. by scientists from the University of Innsbruck . Examples are ice age glaciations in the Innsbruck area, photos of the volcanic fall at Köfels in the Ötztal or from the glacier table, a stone slab in the form of a table at the foot of the Ötztal Wildspitze . Some of his mountain photos are preserved in a digitized collection in the Tyrolean Archive for Photographic Documentation and Art (TAP) in Lienz , East Tyrol .
Richard Müller's glass negatives and photographs also include a contemporary gallery of important personalities, including Hermann Gmeiner , the founder of SOS Children's Villages ; Reimmichl (Sebastian Rieger), Catholic priest and poet; Ferdinand Exl , founder of the Tyrolean Exl stage ; Brother Willram (pseudonym of Anton Müller), writer and priest; Karl Schönherr , doctor and writer; Franz Kranewitter , poet; Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky , painter and architect; Otto Moroder , sculptor, and Hermann Buhl , alpinist.
The Richard Müller archive with several thousand objects from all creative areas and the documented period from 1906 to 1956 has been housed in the Innsbruck City Museum in the city archive there since 2017.
In addition to his unique creative period from 1906 to 1956, his role as a documenter of the city's history in 1918/19, from which he was the only Innsbruck photographer to leave an extensive inventory of important photographs, is outstanding.
literature
- Austrian Tourist newspaper, 1912
- Photo Sport, 1917-19
- Zillertal III, 1926
- Rock and varnish, Munich / Bergverlag Rother, 1937
- Walter Schmidkunz: Bergvagabunden, Erfurt 1937
- Erwin Benesch, Über Berg und Tal, Alpenverlag F. Bruckmann, 1938
- Innsbruck in the picture, Dt. Alpenverlag, 1939
- Yearbook of the Austrian Alpine Club, Wagner University Press, 1949.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Müller, Richard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 17, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | innsbruck |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 1957 |
| Place of death | innsbruck |