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parents, Rudolf Dührkoop was an important profes-
sional photographer who stepped beyond the conven-
tional rigid poses of traditional portrait photography as
he experimented with different lighting effects, while
becoming active in art photography and the Pictorialist
movement at the turn of the century.
Rudolf Johannes Dührkoop was born August 1, 1848,
the only child of the carpenter, Christian Friedrich Düh-
rkoop, working in a cigar factory, and his wife Johanna
Frederica Emile. The little family lived on Mattentwiete
in the harbor section of Hamburg. Dührkoop received
only an elementary school education and in 1870 he
went off to war to serve as a private in the infantry in the
Franco-Prussian War. Returning to civilian life in 1872,
he married Maria Louise Caroline Matzen, on April
28th, the day his fi rst child, Hanna Maria Theresia was
also born. To earn a living he worked for the railroad,
and in 1873 his second child, Julie Wilhelmine (Minya)
was born on June 21st.
By the end of the 1870s Dührkoop left the railroad,
worked as a merchant, and had become quite interested
in photography, while experimenting with the wet col-
lodion process. By the early 1880’s Dührkoop had
published his fi rst article, “On the Use of Yellow Light
in Developing Bromide Gelatin Plates” in the Berlin
periodical, Photographisches Wochenblatt, 1882. He
applied for a commercial photographer’s license in
1882, and in 1883 opened up his fi rst portrait studio on
Grosse Bäckerstrasse 26. Quickly successful, he moved
to larger studio quarters in 1884 on Hopfenmarkt 18-
19, and by 1889 had moved to Ferdinandstrasse 43 and
established branch locations in Altona and St. Pauli,
suburbs of Hamburg. His daughter Minya became his
creative and competent studio assistant at age fourteen.
With her assistance their business thrived and in 1906,
the Hamburg studio moved to its fi nal location on Jung-
fernstieg 34, and Dührkoop opened a Berlin studio on
Unter den Linden 10.
Dührkoop’s sixtieth birthday and twenty-fi fth an-
niversary of his studio in 1908 was marked by celebra-
tions in both Hamburg and Berlin. Dührkoop received
a number of awards and honorary memberships, and
a Dührkoop “Medal of Progress” was initiated to be
awarded annually to two deserving portrait photogra-
phers by the Suddeutschen Photographie-Verein.
Dührkoop’s career was marked by his ability to
bridge commercial and artistic endeavors, as he ran his
successful business and at the same time evolved from
a traditional commercial photographer to a leading
fi gure in the development of German art photography
and the Modernist movement. As early as 1903, when
Dührkoop’s work was shown at the Ausstellung for
Künstlerische Bildnis-Photographie” in Wiesbaden, a
reviewer, Hans Spörl, wrote, “In looking at Dührkoop’s
work, we are hard put to say which of his rich contribu-
tions is the most successful. Dührkoop exemplifi es best
what is meant by ‘creating with one’s entire conscience.’
There is rarely a line in his pictures that does not suc-
cessfully add to the total image, no tonal emphasis
which can be considered misplaced. He has achieved
a total harmony of elements; he has determined the
play of light and shade, the distribution of mass and
the use of movement with complete certainty and total
mastery...” (Hans Spörl, “International Ausstellung
für Photographie und Graphische Kunst Mainz 1904”
Photographische Kunst 2 1903–04: 307) Dührkoop’s
work was critically acclaimed internationally by crit-
ics such as Sadakichi Hartmann and Charles Caffi n. In
1907 Hartmann wrote, “Dührkoop apparently searches
continually for new light effects... He revels in the mys-
teries of light and shade—one of the greatest problems
portraiture has to offer—and makes his prints sparkle
with that delightful freshness which is one of the charms
of all good pictures.” (Sidney Allan, aka Sadakichi
Hartmann, “A German Pictorialist-Rudolf Dührkoop,”
The Photographic Times, 39, 1907: 250–251). Hartmann
mentions in particular, Dührkoop’s masterful portraits
of the “Poet Froensen” and “The Lovers” in each of
which the elimination of all unnecessary details and the
subtle play of light and shadows on the subjects’ faces
points to a depth of expression that goes far beyond the
accurate rendering of facial features.
Following Dührkoop’s active involvement in the
organization of the 1909 International Photographic
Exposition in Dresden, Charles Caffi n was to write in
Camera Work “...the impression thus of the whole ex-
hibit proved upon further acquaintance to be due to the
single authority of a few individuals: conspicuously of
Rudolf Dührkoop of Berlin and Hamburg; Hugo Erfurth
of Dresden, and Franz Grainer of Munich... their work
is distinguished by a variety of treatment and a fertility
of resource that are in refreshing contrast to the more
hackneyed methods of the American group...”(Charles
Caffi n, ”Some Impressions from the International Pho-
tographic Exhibit, Dresden,” Camera Work, October
1909: 38).
Dührkoop’s advocacy for increased aesthetic con-
cerns, that was an integral part of the Pictorialist move-
ment, was inspired and enhanced by the work of Alfred
Lichtwork (1852–1914), an infl uential art historian and
founding member of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. Lich-
twork had become particularly interested in the fi eld of
photography through Ernst Juhl (1850–1915), an affl u-
ent engineer and patron of photography. Juhl became an
avid collector of Dührkoop’s work, beginning in 1901,
purchasing over a hundred works by 1915. Dührkoop
became a close family friend to the Juhls and became the
family photographer. Juhl, Lichtwork, and Dührkoop all