✨AI Reimagines the Masters✨ Helmut Gernsheim|55/1000

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Introduce briefly

Helmut Gernsheim (1913-1995) was a renowned photographer, historian of photography, and collector. He made significant contributions to the field of photography through his research, writings, and collection of historic photographs.

Early Life and Education:

Helmut Gernsheim was born on March 1, 1913, in Munich, Germany [1].

He studied art history at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich [1].

In 1934, at the urging of his brother, he took up photography as a more practical profession, considering his partially Jewish background and the political situation in Nazi Germany [1].

Gernsheim graduated from the State School of Photography in Munich after two years of study [1].

Second World War:

At the beginning of World War II, Gernsheim was deported to Australia on the HMT Dunera and interned as a "friendly enemy alien" for a year [1].

While interned, he lectured on the aesthetics of photography and wrote his critique on photography, "New Photo Vision," which was published in 1942 [1].

Gernsheim earned his release from internment by volunteering to work for the National Buildings Record and returned to London in 1942 [1].

Photo Collector and Historian:

In 1945, Gernsheim and his wife Alison started collecting the works of historic photographers, especially British ones, which were disappearing [1].

They amassed a significant collection containing works by Julia Margaret Cameron, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Hill & Adamson, William Henry Fox Talbot, and Louis Daguerre [1].

Gernsheim's collection, along with extensive notes on the subject, led to his writing the book "The History of Photography," which became a classic and a definitive reference work for historians of photography [1].

He continued to publish numerous articles and books on various aspects of photography and collaborated with other photographers and historians [1].

Rediscovery of Important Photographs:

In 1952, Gernsheim rediscovered the long-lost world's first surviving permanent photograph from nature, created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1827 [1].

He also stumbled across an album of Lewis Carroll's portraits in a junk shop, rediscovering Carroll's long-lost hobby [1].

Later Life and Legacy:

Gernsheim continued to support the establishment of photographic galleries and museums in the USA and Britain [1].

He died on July 20, 1995 [1].

His vast collection of photographs, books, and research notes was sold to the University of Texas at Austin in 1963, forming the basis of a new Department of Photography at the Humanities Research Center [1].

Gernsheim's collection of modern photography was retained by him and ultimately passed to the Forum Internationale Photographie (FIP) at the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim [1].