Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1913 (Heft 42-43))

photography for many years. Dr. Juhl, of Hamburg, and Matthies-Masuren, of Halle,
are close acquaintances and photographic advisers of his. What he found at “291”
was a perfect revelation to him, he said. Nothing could be found in Europe to compare
with it. He even went so far as to say that had he seen nothing else in New York, his
trip to America would have been made worth while by what he had seen at “291;” Until he
came to its little garret, he says, he really had had no idea of what was going on or what had
been actually accomplished in photography. Amongst other things he discovered Camera
Work. He had heard of it but he had never seen a copy. He at once recognized its potential
importance and expressed the desire to procure a complete set for the Museum. And he
offered two thousand marks for such a set. We ourselves do not measure recognition and value
by money standards. We dislike to influence the readers of Camera Work through introducing
the idea of money value, although we are fully aware that money is still, in reality, the only
standard by which the general world measures the value and the success of things. Dr. Jessen’s
offer to spend two thousand marks of the German State’s money for a set of a magazine, a
photographic one at that, is matter for reflection. Especially is this so when one knows with
what efficiency Germany spends its official funds. This item should also encourage the deeper
thinkers in the photographic world.
*****
And while we are on this subject of recognition of photography we might note that the
Syracuse University of our own country, last January, created a chair for photography—not
pictorial—and appointed as professor Mr. E. J. Wall, of England. Mr. Wall is an authority
on photo-chemistry, theoretical and practical.
This is the first university chair of its kind in the United States. It is an encouraging
step. Germany, about thirty-five years ago, made the first official step in recognizing photog-
raphy’s claims as a science. The Berlin Polytechnic at that time built a laboratory for
practical work and scientific research for H. W. Vogel — the virtual father of photography
as a science — appointing him to a full professorship. Several Polytechnicums and Uni-
versities in Switzerland, Austria and Germany gradually followed Berlin’s lead.
At Syracuse the photographic course is to extend over two years. The laboratories are
to be very comprehensive.

EDITORIAL NOTE
The second instalment of “The Evolution of Form,” by Marius de Zayas,
is held over and will appear in the next issue of Camera Work.

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