Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1904 (Heft 8))

into alcoves, in which were hung together the pictures which represented the
Photo-Secession, the Hamburg School, the Viennese, Dresden, British,
etc., etc., each group being segregated. It was delightful to see with what
feeling, taste and judgment the hanging of the Secession and of the Viennese
collections had been accomplished, and how effectively each picture stood out
by itself, at the same time harmonizing with the remainder of its group.
All this was due to Herr F. Matthies-Masuren, who had personally hung
these two groups.
What an opportunity to judge by comparison! Here on the one hand
were the Viennese, artistic, powerful, daring and broad in their treatment,
masterful in their knowledge of multiple-gumtechnique, sensuous in their
strength, yet displaying great taste; on the other, the comparatively tiny
Secession prints, full of subtle charm, delicacy and spirituality, unaggressive
in size, color and presentation, yet quite as masterful in their technique, and
covering a much greater range of media. Watzek, Henneberg, Kühn and
Spitzer, although each a strong individuality, were yet so complementary to
each other that the whole impression of their collective work was one of
uniformity. No doubt this impression was due mainly to the more or less
uniformity of size and medium. On the other hand, the work of the
Secession, while betraying a common school, was marked by an individuality
of conception, of technique and in the media employed.
It was clear at a glance that Hamburg had followed the Viennese lead,
but they could readily be differentiated by the grosser and more brutal
technique of the former. Though oftentimes poetic in conception, the
Hamburg photographers seem to revel in an orgy of color that often offends.
The Hofmeisters are not only the founders of but easily the foremost of the
Hamburg school.
In the British exhibit but two deserve mention — Hill, the painter-
photographer of fifty years ago, and J. Craig Annan. Their pictures will
always hold their own in the very best of company—sane, honest, tempera-
mental. Of the French, nothing can be said because France was not ade-
quately represented. After having spent several hours in careful study of the
photographs, I hied me to the “ real article." In the exhibition proper had
been gathered together no end of beautiful paintings, statuary — in fact, all
forms of art except photography, which Cinderella-like was left by itself in
the cold. Fairly has Dresden earned its title. It is not my purpose to
speak of aught but photography, but after surfeiting myself with the best
in painting and etching, and cloyed with an excess of beauty, I determined
to put photography to its crucial test — I returned to the photographs.
Another half hour with them convinced me finally and for all time that
the best photographs could be hung in juxtaposition to the best of other arts
without detriment to themselves or to those who might have the courage so
to place them.
That I am not alone in this enthusiastic judgment is proven by the
verdict of the management that photography has stood the test and would in
future years be housed with the other arts.

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