451
viewed art photography as an integral part of a renewed
aesthetic reform and education in German society, that
would help promote higher cultural standards in an age
of increasing industrialization and mass-production.
Dührkoop gained an international reputation trav-
elling as far afi eld as England and the United States,
showing his work in each place, as well as major cities
in Italy and Spain. He was elected to the Linked Ring
and Royal Photographic Society in England. He traveled
to the United States in 1904 and 1911. (He had his work
fi rst exhibited in Boston in 1902.) In 1911 he and his
daughter Minya were invited to give a series of lectures
in the United States, and attended the annual conven-
tion of the Photographers’ Association of America from
July 23–29, in St. Paul, Minnesota. In his address there,
Dührkoop emphasized the need for “Truth and Life” in
photography, “to elevate the photograph-taking from a
mere reproduction of Nature to imbue it with artistic
feeling” (Bulletin of Photography 23, September 6,
1911, 153–159). On that trip the Dührkoops traveled
as far west as Yellowstone National Park, and return-
ing east, Dührkoop was presented to President Taft in
Washington, D.C.
By this time Minya had become an important part of
her father’s work, having learned her skills from close
collaboration with her father. She became director of the
Hamburg studio in 1906 and part owner of the business
in 1907. Minya’s own portrait work featured primarily
women and children, quite relaxed, often in naturally
lit garden settings. In 1894 she had married Luis Diez,
a photographer from Malaga, Spain, from whom she
was divorced seven years later. After her father’s death
in 1918, Minya continued to manage both the Berlin
and Hamburg studios. In 1919 she became a member
of the Society of German Photographers.
Both Rudolf and Minya’s work as “commercial”
pictorialists was important in its infl uence on public
taste and in the growing recognition of photography as a
Fine Art. An obituary written for Rudolph in 1918 might
well apply to father and daughter, “The name Rudlolf
Dührkoop is fi rmly connected with the development of
modern photography...he will always be remembered
as a noteworthy man, who had the will, the power, and
the capability of leading his profession” (“Death of Herr
Rudolph Dührkoop,” The British Journal of Photogra-
phy 66, 1918: 286).
Katherine Hoffman
Biography
Rudolf Dührkoop was born on August 1, 1848, in
Hamburg, Germany. He spent his youth in Hamburg,
receiving only an elementary school education. He
was married on April 28, 1872, the same day his fi rst
child was born. His second daughter, Minya, who was
to become his photographic assistant at age 14, was
born June 21, 1873. He did not become interested in
photography until the late 1870s and opened his fi rst
studio in 1883. In 1893 the fi rst “Internationale Aus-
stellung von Amateur-Photographien” was held at the
Kunsthalle in Hamburg, and Dührkoop was introduced
to the aesthetics of Alfred Lichtwork. In 1899 he won a
silver medal at the “Siebte Internationale Ausstellung
von Kunstphotographien” at the Hamburg Kunsthalle.
In 1901 he began to publish a variety of articles on
the reform of portrait photography. In 1902 he had his
fi rst exhibit in the United States in Boston, and in 1904
received a stipend from the Hamburg Senate to visit the
St. Louis World’s Fair and thereafter traveled through
the United States, assembling a collection of American
commercial photographers’ works. In 1906 he opened
his Berlin studio. In 1907 he was elected to the post
of Photographic Advisor to the German government
to consult on issues related to a new copyright law. He
was elected to the Linked Ring and Royal Photographic
Society in 1908 and was made an honorary member
of the London Salon of Photography in 1910. He con-
tinued to work in various aspects of photography until
close to this death in Hamburg on April 3, 1918. His
daughter Minya continued to manage both the Berlin
and Hamburg studios. She died in Hamburg in 1929.
See also: Pictorialism; Hartmann, (Carl) Sadakichi;
Juhl, Ernst; and Germany.Further Reading
Allan, Sidney, “A German Pictorialist-Rudolph Dührkoop,” The
Photographic Times 39, (1907): 243–251.
Appel-Heyne, Odette, Rudolf Dührkoop: Commercial Pictorial-
ist, unpublished Masters Thesis, University of New Mexico,
1981.
Caffin, Charles, “Some Impressions from the International
Photographic Exhibition Dresden,” Camera Work, October
1909: 38.
“Death of Herr Rudolph Dührkoop,” The British Journal of
Photography 66 (1918): 286.
Dührkoop, Rudolph, “Lecture to the Photographer’s Association
of America, St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bulletin of Photography 23,
September 26, 1911: 153–159.
Faber, Monika and Frecot, Janos, Portraits of an Age, Photog-
raphy in Germany and Austria, 1900–1938, Germany: Hatje
Cantz Verlag, 2005.
Hoppé, E.O., “Rudolf Dührkoop,” Photo-Era, (June, 1909),
272–280.
Kempe, Fritz, ed., Kunstphotographie um 1900 in Deutschland
und ihre Beziehungen zum Ausland, Stuttgart, Bonn, 1982.
Lawton, Harry and Knox, George, eds. The Valiant Knights of
Daguerre: Selected Critical Essays on Photography and
Profi les of Photographic Pioneers by Sadakichi Hartman,
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
Matthies-Masuren, Fritz, Kunstlerische Photographie: