Paintings primarily consist of the components form and color. The photo reproduction of a work was correspondingly ambitious when the latter was not yet available. Josef Löwy mastered this challenge masterfully. In 1888, the court photographer was commissioned to photograph the works in the imperial collection of paintings before the move from the Belvedere to the new KHM. His pioneering work at that time is now being honored with the small show “Colour in Black and White”.
With this, the Kunsthistorisches Museum pays respect to the man who once photographed a good 600 paintings from the in-house collection in a hitherto practically unknown level of detail. To this end, Löwy set up a “photographic turntable” on the garden parterre of the Belvedere. This measured 14 meters in diameter and was able to position the valuable Old Masters in the best light depending on the sunlight. In order to reproduce the shades of the paintings authentically, the photographer cooperated with the photochemist Josef Maria Eder from the Teaching and Research Institute for Photography and Reproduction Processes.
How well the two pioneers in their field made progress here can still be seen today in the large-format collection catalog that arose from the collaboration. This is shown in the KHM alongside paintings, original prints, a model of the photographic turntable and numerous glass negatives. The purchase of 8,000 of these glass negatives last year finally represented the starting point for the current show, although the processing is still in full swing.
(SERVICE – “Colour in Black and White” in the KHM, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna until May 1, 2023. The catalog “Colour in Black and White. Josef Löwy’s photographic turntable (1888-1891)”, ed . Sabine Pénot and Hanna Schneck, 104 pages. www.khm.at/besuchen/ausstellungen/sichtssache-26/)