Portrait of Helmut Gernsheim
Artist
Fritz Henle
(American, born Germany, 1909 - 1993)
Date1978
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 8 × 8 in. (20.3 × 20.3 cm)
Support: 9 1/2 × 8 in. (24.1 × 20.3 cm)
Support: 9 1/2 × 8 in. (24.1 × 20.3 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of the Roberta Coke DeGolyer Estate, 1995
Object number1995.33.21
DescriptionMan sitting on chair w/L arm resting on its back. His R leg crossed over L leg. He has white hair and goatee. He wear dark short sleeved shirt and has round pendent around neck. Black statue on table over his R shoulder. Pictures on wall.eMuseum Notes
Helmut Gernsheim (1913-1995) was a prominent photo-historian, collector, and photographer. At the suggestion of Beaumont Newhall, Gernsheim and his first wife Alison began collecting historic photographs in 1945 and eventually built a major collection. The Gernsheims are credited with rediscovering the photography of Lewis Carroll in 1947 and for finding in 1952 what is considered the world’s first surviving photograph from nature by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. In 1955, Gernsheim published “The History of Photography,” which became an important reference on the subject. The historic collection is housed at the Harry H. Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin while more contemporary works are at the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen in Mannheim, Germany.
On View
Not on view
