64
image of the Brooklyn Bridge with its grids of wires.
Both images are made at dawn and under bad weather
conditions, both are gum prints in a brownish mono-
chrome tone and not substantially sharp in detail. But
both pictures show all elements of modern architectural
photography: a basic composition beyond the classical
forms of perspective and distance, a defi nition of time
and space within the photograph itself by reference
to weather, light and clouds. Beyond the function of
advertisement for architects and building companies
and besides the idea of a picturesque view on edifi ces
unknown (and ‘colossal’ as the 19th century wanted it),
these impressions present themselves as entities of their
own. Architecture and its image had fallen into each
other, modernism was on its edge.
Rolf Sachsse
See also: Archaeology; Landscape Photography; and
Itinerant Photographers.
Further Reading
Blau, Eve, and Edward Kaufman (ed.), Architecture and its Image,
Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press. 1989.
Exh. cat. Images et Imaginaires d’Architecture. Dessin Peinture
Photographie Arts Graphiques Théâtre Cinéma en Europe
aux XIXe et XXe Siècles, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou
(CCI). 1984.
Robinson, Cervin, and Joel Hershman, Architecture Transformed.
A History of the Photography of Buildings from 1839 to the
Present, Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press. 1987.
Sachsse, Rolf, Bild und Bau. Zur Nutzung technischer Medien
beim Entwerfen von Architektur, Bauwelt Fundamente 113,
Braunschweig Wiesbaden: Vieweg Verlag, 1997.
Sobieszek, Robert A. (ed.), “This Edifi ce is colossal,” 19th-cen-
tury Architectural Photography, Rochester, NY: International
Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, 1986.
ARCHIVES, MUSEUMS, AND
COLLECTIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS
The analysis and evaluation of the formation of collec-
tions of photography during the 19th century remains
largely unresearched though it plays a signifi cant role in
the form, function and reception of the medium during
the fi rst half century or so of its existence.
The 20th century provides a litany of the loss and
destruction of 19th century photographic collections
ranging from the archives of both large and small photo-
graphic companies through public institutions and com-
mercial companies to private individuals. Key to this was
a matrix of value judgments. Firstly, some photographic
archives simply became redundant for the purposes they
had initially been set up. Advances in photographic
technology also produced a degree of ‘churn’ whereby
new, technically better and more relevant photographs
replaced older equivalents. One only has to consider the
replacement of photographs of paintings during the 19th
century as isochromatic emulsions were introduced, that
in turn were replaced by panchromatic emulsions and
then by colour images. However, in some instances such
collections failed to live even into the 20th century. One
specifi c cause was ambient environmental conditions.
Heat and humidity of many climates were instrumental
in the deterioration and eventual loss of numerous 19th
century photographic holdings. This has to a degree
masked the history of photographic archives in many
countries with tropical climates.
Perversely, while Web-based digital image data-
bases and catalogues are in some respects rendering
‘analogue’ photographic collections redundant, thereby
increasing the threats to their existence, information and
communication technology has also acted as a catalyst
that has opened up and highlighted the richness and
diversity of 19th century photographic collections. Such
interest has led to the re-discovery of signifi cant but
little known photographic archives ranging from major
institutions to individuals.
The formal collecting of photographs covered a
wide range of players; from private individuals through
scholarly societies and public sector institutions to
commercial companies and professional organisations.
The manner in which photography was institutionalized
within existing archives, libraries, museums and col-
lections refl ects the scale and scope of its application
during the 19th century. However, the contemporary
impact of 19th century photographic collections may
never be fully revealed since so many have been dis-
persed and their administrative records lost. How such
photographic archives were used by used by contem-
poraries and what infl uence they had still largely needs
to be established.
To start with, the archives of photographers them-
selves remain primary sources for 19th century pho-
tography. Companies such as, Franz Hanfstaengl in
Munich typifi ed established lithographic printers and
publishers who adopted photography and formed a
large archive covering portraiture, art reproduction and
topographic and architectural views. The archive of
the fi rm of Fratelli Alinari—founded in 1852—forms
a similarly rich coverage of 19th century Italy, though
the historiography of the company’s art reproductions
remain central to its signifi cance. In Great Britian, the
archive formed by the Francis Frith Company between
1860 and 1970 formed a unique topographical record of
Britain through the photography of some 7,000 towns
and villages since Frith’s photographers returned to re-
document the locations over this one hundred and ten
year period. However, the majority of the original nega-
tives were destroyed in the early 1970s, though some
330,000 photographic prints survive. The signifi cance
of the archives of such 19th century photographers’
companies has been occasionally recognized. For in-