Photography in Luxembourg
Encyclopedia
Photography in Luxembourg is often associated with two figures who were born in Luxembourg
but left when very young: Edward Steichen
(1879–1973) was an American who made outstanding contributions to fashion
and military photography
during the first half of the 20th century; while Gabriel Lippmann
(1845–1921), a Frenchman, was awarded the Nobel prize in physics
for his achievements in colour photography
. There are however many Luxembourg nationals who are remembered for recording the development of the city of Luxembourg
and the country as a whole from the 1850s to the present.
(1824-1878), who established the first photographic studio in Luxembourg City, had studied art at the academies in Paris
, Antwerp and Munich
before turning to photography to supplement his income. Thanks to his careful composition and lighting, having one's portrait taken "chez Brandebourg" became increasingly popular. Brandebourg also took a number of photographs of Luxembourg's evolving industries in the 1860s, some of which are stored in the publicly accessible archives at Luxembourg's Photothèque
.
Paul Kutter
(1863–1937) was one of Luxembourg City
's early photographers. Born in Flums
, Switzerland, he opened his first studio in 1883, close to Luxembourg's Bock
. Both his son Edouard
and his grandson, also called Edouard
, continued to run the family business in Luxembourg City for many years.
Charles Bernhoeft
(1859–1933) took portraits of the Grand Ducal court as well as numerous landscapes, which he turned into postcards. In 1895, he was instrumental in launching Luxembourg's first illustrated weekly magazine, Das Luxemburger Land in Wort und Bild, which however could only publish nine issues. He has left a number of luxurious photo albums, illustrated magazines and above all several series of postcards, one of which contains 1,600 different images. An advertisement indicates that some 20 people were employed by his firm, Editions photographiques Bernhoeft. Much of his commercial success resulted from his appointment as court photographer in 1891. His degree of success meant that by 1900 he was in a position to construct impressive new three-storey premises for what he called Atelier Bernhoeft at the corner of rue de l'Arsenal (Grand-Rue) and boulevard Royal. For his portraits, he used the widely available carte de visite
and cabinet card
formats.
(1877–1958) was a dentist in Luxembourg City, but he is best remembered for his collection of some 10,000 photographs that richly document the development of the town from the end of the 19th century until the 1950s. Many of these document the development of the city's buildings, particularly facades and artistic finishings, in which he took a special interest. His shots often convey an unusual liveliness as he managed to catch his subjects in the course of their normal activities, sometimes amusingly portraying their leisure moments. Unlike other extant photographs of Luxembourg from the same period, those taken by Fischer are unusual in their number and continuity. Every weekend when he was free to walk around the town, Fischer would take the most recent examples of his work to the local authorities and receive a few hundred francs on condition he wrote a short description of the historical context on the back. In this way, Fischer left a full record of how the town evolved over a lengthy period, from the Belle Époque
to the post-war years.
(born 1955) has both worked as a freelance photojournalist and completed a number of international reportages on societal issues. In 1990 and 1991, he spent long periods in Naples
, which led to his first book, Naples, un hiver (1993). From 1993, he travelled to several Central European countries. In 1995, under the project: D'est en ouest, chemins de terre et d'Europe (From east to west, roads through Europe's farmlands) organized by the Centre Georges Pompidou
in Paris
, he was responsible for photographing rural scenes in Romania
. His work was subsequently presented at the Pompidou Centre. The same year, participating in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Vevey, he received the Prix du Grand Format for his Histoires de Frontières. In the autumn of 2004, Lambert spent five weeks in New York photographing life in the city streets. This led to an exhibition at the Maison du Luxembourg à New York titled Chroniques New-Yorkaises.
Marianne Majerus
(born 1956), now based in London
, specializes in portrait and garden photography. She has contributed to a number of books on gardening and has received several awards. In 2010, Majerus was one of three people named "International Garden Photographer of the Year" for her picture "Layered landscape: a moment captured".
Patrick Galbats
(born 1978) is a freelance photographer and photojournalist who has completed a number of artistically presented reportages. From 2002 to 2006, he worked for the Luxembourg weekly magazine Revue. Since 2007, he has been a freelance photographer.
In 2001, Galbats took a series of photographs at Luxembourg's Centre Pénitentiaire. In 2003, he completed an assignment on street people
and drug addicts
which was exhibited at the main railway station
. In 2004, the National Audiovisual Centre published his work DOïNA, a collection he created during three trips to Romania (2001–2003). In 2004, he presented the reportage Un autre regard sur Haïti for Objectif Tiers Monde which reveals the conditions in Haiti
after the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide
.
in the Cloche d'Or district houses several large collections of photographs of the city taken between 1855 and today, comprising a total of some four million images. The first acquisitions (1985), considered the most important, consist of Bernard Wolff's collection with historic views taken by various photographers during the final period of Luxembourg's fortifications, Batty Fischer's collection of photographs documenting the city's development in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a precious series of originals taken by Edward Steichen. All the archives in the Photothèque are freely accessible to the public on weekdays during office hours, and paper copies of the images are available.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
but left when very young: Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
(1879–1973) was an American who made outstanding contributions to fashion
Fashion photography
Fashion photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items. Fashion photography is most often conducted for advertisements or fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, or Elle...
and military photography
War photography
War photography captures photographs of armed conflict and life in war-torn areas.Although photographs can provide a more direct representation than paintings or drawings, they are sometimes manipulated, creating an image that is not objectively journalistic.-History:Photography, presented to the...
during the first half of the 20th century; while Gabriel Lippmann
Gabriel Lippmann
Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference....
(1845–1921), a Frenchman, was awarded the Nobel prize in physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
for his achievements in colour photography
Photochromy
Photochromy is the art or process of reproducing colors by photography.[Note] Not to be confused with Photochromism . See Photochromism...
. There are however many Luxembourg nationals who are remembered for recording the development of the city of Luxembourg
Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...
and the country as a whole from the 1850s to the present.
Early contributions
Pierre BrandebourgPierre Brandebourg
Pierre Paul Brandebourg, also Peter Brandenbourg was a Luxembourg painter and photographer. He was the first to open a photographic studio in the city of Luxembourg.-Early life and family:...
(1824-1878), who established the first photographic studio in Luxembourg City, had studied art at the academies in Paris
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
, Antwerp and Munich
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...
before turning to photography to supplement his income. Thanks to his careful composition and lighting, having one's portrait taken "chez Brandebourg" became increasingly popular. Brandebourg also took a number of photographs of Luxembourg's evolving industries in the 1860s, some of which are stored in the publicly accessible archives at Luxembourg's Photothèque
Photothèque (Luxembourg)
The Photothèque in Luxembourg City in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg houses several large collections of photographs of the city taken between 1855 and today...
.
Paul Kutter
Paul Kutter
Paul Robert Kutter was one of Luxembourg City's early photographers. Born in Flums, Switzerland, he opened his first studio in 1883 at 6, rue Wiltheim, close to Luxembourg's Bock...
(1863–1937) was one of Luxembourg City
Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...
's early photographers. Born in Flums
Flums
Flums is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.It is close to a large shopping complex and also is the gateway to a large skiing resort called Flumserberg.-Geography:...
, Switzerland, he opened his first studio in 1883, close to Luxembourg's Bock
Bock (Luxembourg)
The Bock is a promontory in the north-eastern corner of Luxembourg City's old historical district. Offering a natural fortification, its rocky cliffs tower above the River Alzette which surrounds it on three sides. It was here that Count Siegfried built his Castle of Lucilinburhuc in 963,...
. Both his son Edouard
Edouard Kutter (1887)
Edouard Frédéric Henri Kutter was a Luxembourg photographer, the son of Swiss-born Paul Kutter, who had established a studio in Luxembourg City in 1883.-Early life and family:...
and his grandson, also called Edouard
Edouard Kutter (1934)
Edouard Kutter is a Luxembourg photographer and publisher. The son of the photographer Edouard Kutter , he was appointed court photographer in 1966. In 1963, he took over his father's photographic business...
, continued to run the family business in Luxembourg City for many years.
Charles Bernhoeft
Charles Bernhoeft
Charles Bernhoeft was a photographer in Luxembourg where he took portraits of the Grand Ducal court as well as numerous landscapes which he turned into postcards.-Early life and family:...
(1859–1933) took portraits of the Grand Ducal court as well as numerous landscapes, which he turned into postcards. In 1895, he was instrumental in launching Luxembourg's first illustrated weekly magazine, Das Luxemburger Land in Wort und Bild, which however could only publish nine issues. He has left a number of luxurious photo albums, illustrated magazines and above all several series of postcards, one of which contains 1,600 different images. An advertisement indicates that some 20 people were employed by his firm, Editions photographiques Bernhoeft. Much of his commercial success resulted from his appointment as court photographer in 1891. His degree of success meant that by 1900 he was in a position to construct impressive new three-storey premises for what he called Atelier Bernhoeft at the corner of rue de l'Arsenal (Grand-Rue) and boulevard Royal. For his portraits, he used the widely available carte de visite
Carte de visite
The carte de visite was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero...
and cabinet card
Cabinet card
The Cabinet card was the style of photograph which was universally adopted for photographic portraiture in 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph that was generally mounted on cards measuring 4¼ by 6½ inches.-History:...
formats.
A dedicated amateur
Batty FischerBatty Fischer
Jean-Baptiste Fischer was a Luxembourg dentist and amateur photographer. He is best remembered for his collection of some 10,000 photographs that richly document the development of Luxembourg City from the end of the 19th century until the 1950s.-Early life and family:Batty Fischer was born on 24...
(1877–1958) was a dentist in Luxembourg City, but he is best remembered for his collection of some 10,000 photographs that richly document the development of the town from the end of the 19th century until the 1950s. Many of these document the development of the city's buildings, particularly facades and artistic finishings, in which he took a special interest. His shots often convey an unusual liveliness as he managed to catch his subjects in the course of their normal activities, sometimes amusingly portraying their leisure moments. Unlike other extant photographs of Luxembourg from the same period, those taken by Fischer are unusual in their number and continuity. Every weekend when he was free to walk around the town, Fischer would take the most recent examples of his work to the local authorities and receive a few hundred francs on condition he wrote a short description of the historical context on the back. In this way, Fischer left a full record of how the town evolved over a lengthy period, from the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
to the post-war years.
Contemporary photographers
Yvon LambertYvon Lambert
Yvon Pierre Lambert is a retired Canadian ice hockey forward.Yvon started his National Hockey League career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1973. He would spend nine years in Montreal before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres...
(born 1955) has both worked as a freelance photojournalist and completed a number of international reportages on societal issues. In 1990 and 1991, he spent long periods in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, which led to his first book, Naples, un hiver (1993). From 1993, he travelled to several Central European countries. In 1995, under the project: D'est en ouest, chemins de terre et d'Europe (From east to west, roads through Europe's farmlands) organized by the Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, he was responsible for photographing rural scenes in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. His work was subsequently presented at the Pompidou Centre. The same year, participating in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Vevey, he received the Prix du Grand Format for his Histoires de Frontières. In the autumn of 2004, Lambert spent five weeks in New York photographing life in the city streets. This led to an exhibition at the Maison du Luxembourg à New York titled Chroniques New-Yorkaises.
Marianne Majerus
Marianne Majerus
Marianne Majerus, born 1956 in Clervaux, Luxembourg, is a garden and portrait photographer based in London. She is one of Europe's leading specialist garden photographers. After taking her international baccalaureate at the Lycée Hubert Clément she studied in England graduating in Economics and in...
(born 1956), now based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, specializes in portrait and garden photography. She has contributed to a number of books on gardening and has received several awards. In 2010, Majerus was one of three people named "International Garden Photographer of the Year" for her picture "Layered landscape: a moment captured".
Patrick Galbats
Patrick Galbats
Patrick Galbats is a freelance Luxembourg photographer and photojournalist who has completed a number of artistically presented reportages.-Biography:Galbats completed his schooling at the Lycée Technique des Arts et Métiers in Luxembourg City...
(born 1978) is a freelance photographer and photojournalist who has completed a number of artistically presented reportages. From 2002 to 2006, he worked for the Luxembourg weekly magazine Revue. Since 2007, he has been a freelance photographer.
In 2001, Galbats took a series of photographs at Luxembourg's Centre Pénitentiaire. In 2003, he completed an assignment on street people
Street people
Street people are people who live a public life on the streets of a city. Street people are frequently homeless, sometimes mentally ill, and often have a bohemian lifestyle...
and drug addicts
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
which was exhibited at the main railway station
Luxembourg railway station
Luxembourg railway station is the main railway station serving Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is operated by Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois, the state-owned railway company....
. In 2004, the National Audiovisual Centre published his work DOïNA, a collection he created during three trips to Romania (2001–2003). In 2004, he presented the reportage Un autre regard sur Haïti for Objectif Tiers Monde which reveals the conditions in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
after the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
.
Photothèque
Luxembourg City's PhotothèquePhotothèque (Luxembourg)
The Photothèque in Luxembourg City in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg houses several large collections of photographs of the city taken between 1855 and today...
in the Cloche d'Or district houses several large collections of photographs of the city taken between 1855 and today, comprising a total of some four million images. The first acquisitions (1985), considered the most important, consist of Bernard Wolff's collection with historic views taken by various photographers during the final period of Luxembourg's fortifications, Batty Fischer's collection of photographs documenting the city's development in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a precious series of originals taken by Edward Steichen. All the archives in the Photothèque are freely accessible to the public on weekdays during office hours, and paper copies of the images are available.