904
MATTHIES-MASUREN, FRITZ
(1873–1938)
German photographer, collector, and publisher
Fritz Matthies-Masuren, born in Insterburg, East Prussia
on February 12, 187, was the son of the Superintendent
of construction Otto Friedrich Albert Matthies and his
wife Ida Johanna, and an important proponant and theo-
rist of pictorialism in Germany. He studied painting at
the Academy of Fine Arts for two years in Karlsruhe
but developed a particular interest in lithography and
the graphic arts. Between 1894 and 1902 he was active
as a photographer (mostly of portraits and landscapes).
Matthies-Masuren became an editor of and contributor
to photographic journals like Photographisches Cen-
tralblatt [Photographic Central Periodical], Photog-
raphische Rundschau [Photographic Review] and Das
Atelier des Photographen [Photograph’s Studio], where
he supported the new ideas of pictorialism. He published
on the theory of pictorial photography and curated
large exhibitions which travelled through Austria and
Germany around 1900. Although he continued to take
part in the developments of photography until the 1920s,
from 1910 he became less and less active in writing.
Matthies-Masuren resigned from his editorial work in
1938 and died on 10 September that year in Berlin. His
collection of pictorial photographs was bequeathed to
the Museum of Arts and Crafts library in Berlin, now
the Kunstbibliothek Berlin, in 1914.
Stefanie Klamm
MAULL & CO. (MAULL & FOX, MAULL
& POLYBLANK)
Henry Maull and his successive partnerships form one
of the most outstanding examples of Victorian pho-
tographic portrait work, and their publication of the
photographs of celebrities of the day, starting in 1856,
was the fi rst of its kind in the world. It was rapidly imi-
tated allover Europe during the succeeding decades, as
was the use of a brief biographical essay to accompany
each portrait.
The senior partner, Henry Maull (1829–1914) began
his career as an artist and printer in Bloomsbury, close
to his birthplace in Clerkenwell In 1854 he went into
partnership with George Henry Polyblank (1828–?)
in a studio at 55 Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London and two years later, in May 1856, began the
issue of “Photographic portraits of living celebrities
issued on a monthly basis, with biographical notes
for the fi rst four by Herbert Fry, thereafter by Edward
Walford. The fi rst number featured Richard Owen; the
entire sequence ran as follows: 1) May 1856, Richard
Owen; 2) June 1856, Thomas Macaulay; 3) July 1856,
Robert Stephenson; 4) August 1856, John Roebuck; 5)
September 1856, Sir Benjamin Brodie; 6) October 1856,
Edward Hodges Bailey; 7) November 1856, Samuel
Warren; 8) December 1856, Professor Thomas Graham;
9) January 1857, Edward Matthew Ward; 10) February
1857, Lord Campbell; 11) March 1857, George Crui-
kshank; 12) April 1857, Rowland Hill; 13) May 1857,
Sir William Fenwick Williams; 14) June 1857, William
Frith; 15) July 1857, Cardinal Wiseman; 16) August
1857 Lord Brougham; 17) September 1857, Martin
Farquhar Tupper; 18) October 1857, Michael Faraday;
19) November 1857, John Gibson; 20) December 1857,
Earl of Rosse; 21) January 1858, Charles Kean; 22)
February 1858, William Gladstone; 23) March 1858,
Sir Archibald Alison; 24) April 1858, William Stemdale
Bennett; 25) May 1858, David Uvingstone; 26) June
1858, Earl of Aberdeen; 27) July 1858, Daniel Maclise;
28) August 1858, Lord Stanley; 29) September 1858,
Dr. Tait, Bishop of London; 30) October 1858, Austen
Layard; 31) November 1858, Clarkson Stanfi eld; 32)
December 1858, Lord Panmure; 33) January 1859, John
Buckstone; 34) February 1859, Comte de Montalembert;
35) March 1859, Samuel Lover; 36) April 1859, Lord
John Manners; 37) May 1858, Bishop Samuel Wilber-
force; 38) June 1859, Sir John Lawrence; 39) July 1859,
Lord Colchester; 40) August 1859, Archbishop of Can-
terbury. In October 1859, the complete set was issued in
book form, distributed by William Kent & Co.
The series was an overwhelming success. The Lit-
erary Gazette (October 18, 1856) commented ‘We
acknowledge with unmixed satisfaction the excellence
of the portraits. They are as successful specimens of
the art as any that have yet appeared, both as to the
pose of the fi gures, and in sharpness and delicacy of
detail. They have also the advantage of being simply
printed from the negatives, and entirely free from any
after touches.” Their success was matched by a parallel
series of portraits collectively known as “Literary and
Scientifi c Portrait Club,” it was issued 1855–c 1858,
without text. Among those included were the cream
of the Victorian scientifi c world—Darwin, Playfair,
Lanchester, Lyell, Murchison, Bowerbank, De La Rue,
Gosse, etc. Several incomplete sets exist—one of 54
portraits, at the National Portrait Gallery, another se-
ries of 95 at the Linnean Society. The club itself “was
instituted for the purpose of attaining a uniform set of
portraits of the literary and scientifi c men of the present
age at a moderate cost.” The terms of admission to the
club being that each member having a photograph of
himself taken by the artists of the club, Messrs Maull
and Polyblank, at the cost of 10s. 6d’.
The success of these series enabled Maull and Poly-
bank to open a second studio at 187a Piccadilly, West-
minster in May 1857, and a third, at 252 Fulham Road,
Chelsea, in 1864, specialising in equestrian portraits. A
private album of similar portraits was issued in 1856,