4003 - Anschütz, Ottomar

Anschütz, Ottomar Bears. 1889. 3 albumen prints from glass negatives. 19 x 14,8 cm and 14,5 x 19,8 cm. Each signed, located and dated "Ottomar Anschütz, Lissa (Posen) 1889" in the negative; with imprint "Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin. Selbstverlag." or "Ottomar Anschütz, Lissa (Posen). Selbstverlag." on verso. Anschütz was among the pioneers of instantaneous photography. During the 1880s, he used a rapid focal-plane shutter to photograph living animals at the Breslau Zoological Garden and outdoors, achieving a sharpness and naturalness rarely seen in earlier zoological photography. Issued by the photographer as independent studies, these images were valued both as technical demonstrations and as models for artists, thus forming an important part of Anschütz’s work at the threshold of chronophotography. – Some foxing, surface soiling, handling creases and slight buckling; one print with more pronounced foxing and small losses along the edges, otherwise in good condition.