DOI article:
F. [Fritz] Matthies Masuren, Hugo Henneberg—Heinrich Kühn—Hans Watzek [translated from the German by George Herbert Engelhard]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30578#0031
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individually, independently of recipes mechanically concocted and slavishly
copied. He was a rare phenomenon among the amateurs in that he was
equally efficient in landscape, portraiture, and still-life."
The reproductions in this magazine do not give a complete idea of
Watzek'stalent, for they do not include his colored work, which, notwith-
standing certain defects, is very refined, a decided relief from the usual style
of color-photography. Using the underlying principles of color-etching
and lithography, in connection with Kühn and Henneberg, he attempted to
obtain colored effects through multiple printing from several negatives, and
through the employment of paper sensitized with different superimposed
pigments. He also experimented with the three-color process in connection
with gum-printing, endeavoring to produce pictorial effects. He realized,
however, that this process involved much trouble, and that the results did
not by any means fulfil his expectations. He was not the man to waste his
energies on what seemed to him a hopeless task. As soon as he realized
that a process with which he was experimenting would not lend itself to his
aims, he would abandon it and search for another. And he never failed in
his search. Even in his last days his mind was occupied with the idea of
attaining light and airy " mood" -pictures. Among the pictures reproduced
I would call special attention to the " White Sails.” In our exhibitions we
come across quantities of marine-pictures, but I know of none which has
the charm of this photograph. Simple in composition and in its tones,
remarkably delicate in its atmospheric effect and in its wealth and beauty of
light, it is to my mind one of those photographs which prove beyond
dispute the possibility of giving individual expression by means of photog-
raphy. His " Tyrolese Farm” and " Poplars and Clouds"are the reflection
of his education as a painter in Munich. They seem to have been evolved
out of the dark. " It looks as though he had kept some of the famous
‘Asphalt sauce’ of those days and had applied it in photography. Both
pictures are undoubtedly somewhat too heavy, but nevertheless they can be
readily understood; that is to say, one immediately grasps what he intended
to express. Of course, he intended to express such dark moods—but the
danger of blotchiness and of the silhouette effect has not been entirely
avoided. The pictures are interesting, but they might offer more to the eye;
they tend to that quality which is sometimes criticized as " too painter-like."
" Sheep" is another example of his endeavor, exhibited in " White Sails,”
to reproduce the correct values, the result being almost that of color. We feel
the warm sun which rests upon the slope. It is another picture which de-
serves to be called perfect in composition, arrangement of masses and lines.
Heinrich Kühn is the most productive of the " Three.” For the last
ten years his efforts have been and still are devoted to the development of
technique, improvement of the medium, and the obtaining of an increased
potentiality of expression. His name calls up the recollection of a number
of very effective landscapes distinguished by the bigness of their expression.
Prominent among these, besides the “Roman Campagna” and the " Washer-
woman on the Dunes,” both reproduced in this number, are " Before the
copied. He was a rare phenomenon among the amateurs in that he was
equally efficient in landscape, portraiture, and still-life."
The reproductions in this magazine do not give a complete idea of
Watzek'stalent, for they do not include his colored work, which, notwith-
standing certain defects, is very refined, a decided relief from the usual style
of color-photography. Using the underlying principles of color-etching
and lithography, in connection with Kühn and Henneberg, he attempted to
obtain colored effects through multiple printing from several negatives, and
through the employment of paper sensitized with different superimposed
pigments. He also experimented with the three-color process in connection
with gum-printing, endeavoring to produce pictorial effects. He realized,
however, that this process involved much trouble, and that the results did
not by any means fulfil his expectations. He was not the man to waste his
energies on what seemed to him a hopeless task. As soon as he realized
that a process with which he was experimenting would not lend itself to his
aims, he would abandon it and search for another. And he never failed in
his search. Even in his last days his mind was occupied with the idea of
attaining light and airy " mood" -pictures. Among the pictures reproduced
I would call special attention to the " White Sails.” In our exhibitions we
come across quantities of marine-pictures, but I know of none which has
the charm of this photograph. Simple in composition and in its tones,
remarkably delicate in its atmospheric effect and in its wealth and beauty of
light, it is to my mind one of those photographs which prove beyond
dispute the possibility of giving individual expression by means of photog-
raphy. His " Tyrolese Farm” and " Poplars and Clouds"are the reflection
of his education as a painter in Munich. They seem to have been evolved
out of the dark. " It looks as though he had kept some of the famous
‘Asphalt sauce’ of those days and had applied it in photography. Both
pictures are undoubtedly somewhat too heavy, but nevertheless they can be
readily understood; that is to say, one immediately grasps what he intended
to express. Of course, he intended to express such dark moods—but the
danger of blotchiness and of the silhouette effect has not been entirely
avoided. The pictures are interesting, but they might offer more to the eye;
they tend to that quality which is sometimes criticized as " too painter-like."
" Sheep" is another example of his endeavor, exhibited in " White Sails,”
to reproduce the correct values, the result being almost that of color. We feel
the warm sun which rests upon the slope. It is another picture which de-
serves to be called perfect in composition, arrangement of masses and lines.
Heinrich Kühn is the most productive of the " Three.” For the last
ten years his efforts have been and still are devoted to the development of
technique, improvement of the medium, and the obtaining of an increased
potentiality of expression. His name calls up the recollection of a number
of very effective landscapes distinguished by the bigness of their expression.
Prominent among these, besides the “Roman Campagna” and the " Washer-
woman on the Dunes,” both reproduced in this number, are " Before the
