Wilhelm Dreesen
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Wilhelm Anton Georg Dreesen (born March 31, 1840 in Rendsburg , † December 18, 1926 in Flensburg ) was a German - Danish photographer .
Dreesen, who lost his father at an early age, who had worked as a Fourier in the Danish military brigade in Rendsburg , grew up in the military orphanage in Eckernförde . He received training as a military swimming instructor, but also worked as a trumpeter in a regimental band and as a chamber musician in the civilian environment. In 1864 he volunteered and fought on the side of Denmark at the Düppeler Schanzen against Prussia.
After retiring from military service in 1865, he founded a photo shop in Flensburg , where he mainly made prints from negatives by other photographers. Due to his craftsmanship and the resulting economic success, he was soon able to open branches in Kiel and Kappeln . From 1870 he worked as a landscape photographer and was honored with many national and international exhibitions and prizes during his lifetime, including the world exhibitions in Paris and Chicago. Presumably he received the title of court photographer from the House of Glücksburg .
Many of his works were destroyed by bombing in Hamburg during the Second World War .
His daughter was the painter Dora Dreesen-Horn .
Photographic work and thematic focus
There are two thematic focal points in Dreesen's photographic work: on the one hand there are many atmospheric and picturesque landscapes and images of the rural idyll, on the other hand he was interested in the changes in the German Empire such as the emerging swimwear and sailing fashions the north German coasts as well as the technical and structural modernization in the cities. Over the years an incomparable and comprehensive photographic image document of Schleswig-Holstein was created.
Dreesen was not only active in Schleswig-Holstein, but throughout northern Germany and Scandinavia. Large shipping companies offered him free travel on their ships, so that he also brought back pictures from his travels, which in turn were used by the shipping companies for advertising purposes. From 1891 onwards he published his works in more than twenty folders, most of them as a collection of around 25 pictures in folio format.
Ekensund artists' colony
As a member of the Ekensund artists' colony , which had existed on the north bank of the Flensburg Fjord since the 1870s, he met artists from Flensburg and the surrounding area, many of them painters. For her in Ekensund not only the lively exchange of ideas with other artists was interesting, but also the opportunity to paint from nature and to be inspired by it.
As a photographer, Dreesen not only took part in this exchange of ideas, he also provided templates that the artists used to paint in the studio. Dreesen, however, also painted himself and was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein Art Cooperative , at whose exhibitions he was represented with oil paintings.
Photography and Zeitgeist
Although Ekensund and its brickworks were characterized by poverty and hard work, the life of the common people was hardly taken up as a topic in art at that time. The fact that Dreesen had to sell his photos for a living and that the wealthy bourgeoisie came into question as a customer also contributed to the fact that the lives of ordinary people only appeared marginally in his work. Instead, there are predominantly well-composed and well-thought-out depictions of landscapes that were highly praised at the time and that he was able to sell with great success.
The changes in Kiel documented by Dreesen were ultimately a child of their time. The port was expanded into a military port in the imperial era and, following the general fascination for the new, Dreesen photographed technical facilities, new buildings and barracks, which otherwise did not actually correspond to his style. Due to its changes, the city of Schleswig became interesting for him as the new seat of government of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein. At the North Sea, he mainly photographed the newly emerging beach baths that attracted the rich and the beautiful of their era.
The spirit of the time and the romantic image of everything rural at the time also corresponded to the fact that he photographed traditional costumes on Helgoland and the island of Föhr , which were actually no longer worn every day.
Photo folders (selection)
- The sailing sport. Pleasure and racing trips by the Imperial Yacht Club and the North German Regatta Association (1893; 34 images on 25 boxes, folio)
- Land and sea images of Kiel and the Navy (1894; 86 images on 25 cardboard boxes, 49 × 33 cm)
- The North Sea island of Sylt (1894; 50 illustrations on 25 boxes, folio)
- The city of Schleswig and the Schlei (1894; 50 illustrations on 25 boxes, folio)
- Helgoland, Amrum, Föhr and the Halligen (1895; 46 images on 25 boxes)
- From Flensburg to Alsen (1895; 49 images on 25 boxes)
- Hikes through heather and moor between the Elbe, Jeetze, Aller and Weser. Hamburg 1905. Portfolio with 150 collotype images on 75 board. Explanatory text by F. Gabain.
literature
- Jürgen Jensen: Schleswig-Holstein during the imperial era. City and country around 1900 in photos by Wilhelm Dreesen . Karl Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982, ISBN 3-529-02669-7 .
- Jürgen Jensen: The discovery of heather and moor around the turn of the century. Land and people between the Elbe and Aller, Weser and Jeetze in photos by Wilhelm Dreesen. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1984, ISBN 3-529-02679-7 .
- Wilhelm Dreesen: Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer, Ekensund Artists' Colony , Heide 2000, pp. 93–99.
Web links
- Literature by and about Wilhelm Dreesen in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Jürgen Jensen: Schleswig-Holstein during the imperial era. City and country around 1900 in photos by Wilhelm Dreesen. Karl Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982, ISBN 3-529-02669-7 , page 7 & the following
- ↑ Brief contemporary description in: Charles Scolik (Ed.): Photographische Rundschau , 5th Jg., Wilhelm Knapp, Halle / S., 1891, pp. 191–192 (ad XIII :).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dreesen, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dreesen, Wilhelm Anton Georg (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Danish photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 31, 1840 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rendsburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 1926 |
| Place of death | Flensburg |