Dr. Emil Mayer FRPS
Portrait of Dr. Emil Mayer
Born	3 October 1871 Neubydzow, Bohemia
Died	8 June 1938(1938-06-08) (aged 66) Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Education	University of Vienna
Known for	Photography
Movement	Pictorialism
Spouse	Elisabeth Deutsch (18 March 1882 – 8 June 1938) ​ ​ (m. 1903; died 1938)​
Elected	Wiener Amateur-Photographen-Klubs (President, 1907 – 1927)[1] Royal Photographic Society (Member, 1926; Fellow, 1927)[2] Photographic Society of Philadelphia (Honorary Member, 13 December 1927) [3]

Dr. Emil Mayer FRPS (3 October 1871 – 8 June 1938) was an Austrian photographer, lawyer, inventor, and businessperson.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Emil Mayer was born on 3 October 1871 in Neubydzow, Bohemia (now Nový Bydžov, Czech Republic) to Leopold and Anna Mayer.^[4] In the summer of 1882, Mayer moved with his family to Vienna, Austria, where “his father set up business as a merchant.”^[5]

From 1891 to 1896, Mayer studied law at the University of Vienna, where he earned the Juris Doctor.

Personal life[edit]

While still a student, Mayer left the Jewish community and converted to Catholicism. On 8 March 1894 he was baptized at the Johann Nepomuk Church (Leopoldstadt) [de] under the name Robert Emil.^[4] The painter Max von Esterle [de] was his godfather.^[4]

Marriage[edit]

On 6 June 1903 he married Elisabeth Deutsch (18 March 1882 – 8 June 1938).^[6]

Death[edit]

To escape persecution from the Nazi regime after the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Mayer and his wife died by suicide in their home (BöcklinStraße 12) in Vienna on 8 June 1938.^[7][6]

Career[edit]

After Mayer completed his studies at the University of Vienna, he established a law practice at Salvatorgasse 10 in Vienna.^[4]

Mayer's first experience in photography was as an amateur, and he was a member of several Viennese photographer associations that focused on artistic photography. His artistic photos include documentary images of Wienerstraße images.^[8]

Mayer was an honorary member of many domestic and foreign photographers' clubs. He also authored a textbook and was awarded several patents for photographic devices.^[9]

DREM-Zentrale[edit]

Finally, Mayer left this he law firm and founded a photographic technology company DREM-Zentrale with Nikolaus Benedik.^[7] The company's name was an abbreviation of DR. E. Mayer. International branches of the company included, DREM Products Corporation in New York and DREM Products Ltd. in London, England.^[7][4]

Published works[edit]

• 1912 – Wurstelprater by Felix Salten with 75 photographs by Emil Mayer.
• 1912 – Das Bromöldruckverfahren. Halle a.S.: Knapp, 1912.
• 1923 – Bromoil Printing and Bromoil Transfer. Boston, Mass: American Photographic Publishing Co., 1923. Translated from the seventh German edition by Frank Roy Fraprie, FRPS (1874 – 1951), editor of American Photography.
• 1927 – Bromöldruck und -Umdruck. (Enzyklopädie der Photographie; 81). 10. und 11. ergänzte Auflage. Knapp, Halle (Saale) 1927.
• 1927 – "A Manual of Bromoil & Transfer." Practical Photography, no. 12, 1927. Translated by Joseph M. Bing.

Honors, awards and distinctions[edit]

• Photographic Society of Philadelphia – Honorary Member, 13 December 1927

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Stock im Eisen Platz, Vienna
• 
  Vor dem Juweliergeschäft, Graben 7, Vienna
• 
  Fiaker und Wasserer vor dem Kodak-Geschäft Graben 29, Vienna
• 
  Zugmensch, Ledererhof, Am Hof 11, Vienna
• 
  Plakatankleber, Vienna
• 
  Dienstbotin und Soldaten am Radetzkyplatz, Vienna
• 
  „Mistbauer“ bei der Müllbeseitigung, Vienna

See also[edit]

• Oil print process
• Street photography

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Auer, Anna (1997). Übersee: Flucht und Emigration Österreichischer Fotografen 1920-1940 = Exodus from Austria, Emigration of Austrian Photographers 1920-1940. Wien: Kunsthalle Wien. OCLC 1084850290.

• Brandstätter, Christian; Hubmann, Franz (1995). Damals in Wien: Menschen um Die Jahrhundertwende Photographiert von Dr. Emil Mayer = Back Then in Vienna: People Around the Turn of the Century. Wien: Jüdisches Museum Wien / Verlag Christian Brandstätter. ISBN 3-85447-532-2.

• Rosser, Edward (1999). Viennese Types = Wiener Typen. New York: Blind River Editions. ISBN 0-9672975-0-8.

• "The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain: List of Honorary Members, Fellow, Associates, and Members, 1937", The Photographic Journal, 77: 26, 1937

• "Photographic Society of Philadelphia". Camera Craft. Vol. 34, no. 3. March 1927. p. 148.

• Lenman, Robin (2005). "Mayer, Emil (1871–1938)". The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Oxford University Press.

Further reading[edit]

• Hanreich, Anna (2005). "Der Prater in Farbe. Ein wiederentdeckter Diavortrag Emil Mayers über den Wiener Wurstelprater" [The Prater in Color. A Rediscovered Slide Show by Emil Mayer About the Wiener Wurstelprater]. In Dewald, Christian; Schwarz, Werner M. (eds.). Prater Kino Welt: der Wiener Prater und die Geschichte des Kinos [Prater Cinema World: The Vienna Prater and the History of Cinema] (in German). Wien: Filmarchiv Austria. ISBN 9783901932700. (Catalog of the exhibition Prater Cinema World: Film Pleasures in the Old Prater at the Pratermuseum, Vienna, July 8-September 18, 2005).

• Hanreich, Anna (2005). "Zur Fotografie Emil Mayers, Die Wiener Typen und der 'Wurstelprater'" [On Emil Mayer's Photography, Die Wiener Typen and the 'Wurstelprater']. Fotogeschichte (in German). 25 (95). (Ein Vortrag Emil Mayers über den Wiener Wurstelprater wurde im Österreichisches Volkshochschularchiv [de] (ÖVA) wiederentdeckt).

• Walden, Gert (1989). Emil Mayer: Fotografien um 1910: 12. Mai-24. Juni 1989: Galerie Faber. Wien: Galerie Faber.

• Hubmann, Franz; Breicha, Otto (c. 1974). Dr. Emil Mayer, 1871-1938: Photographien aus dem Wien der Jahrhundertwende [Dr. Emil Mayer, 1871-1938: Photographs from Vienna at the Turn of the Century] (in German). Graz: Kulturamt der Stadt Graz. OCLC 62587728. Catalog of an exhibition at Kulturhaus, Graz; Museum des Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts (Museum of the Twentieth Century), Vienna; Galerie im Taxis-Palais, Innsbruck, 1973–1974.

• Auckland City Art Gallery (1930). Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Photographs by Members of the Camera Club of New York and Dr. Emil Mayer Shown in the Art Gallery, Auckland, N.Z., Sept. 23 to Oct. 14, 1930. New Zealand: Whitcombe & Tombs, Ltd.

External links[edit]

• Durstmüller: "Mayer, Emil". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 5, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1972, p. 420 f. (Direct links to "p. 420", "p. 421")
• The Royal Photographic Society. The Photographic Journal. vol. 65 (Nov. 1925, p. 498), vol. 66 (1926), vol. 67 (1927), vol. 68 (1928), vol. 70 (1930), vol. 74 (1934), 78 (1938), vol. 87 (1947).
• Emil Mayer at Albertina (Vienna, Austria)
• Elisabeth Mayer at Albertina (Vienna, Austria)
• Emil Mayer at Biobibliografie zur Fotografie in Österreich der Albertina (Vienna, Austria)
• Elisabeth Mayer at Biobibliografie zur Fotografie in Österreich der Albertina (Vienna, Austria)
• Emil Mayer at Austrian Theatre Museum (Theatermuseum Wien) (Vienna, Austria)
• Emil Mayer at Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut)
• Emil Mayer at George Eastman Museum (Rochester, New York)
• Emil Mayer at Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
• Emil Mayer at Lee Gallery (Winchester, Massachusetts)
• Emil Mayer at Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York)
• Emil Mayer at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (New York City, New York)
• Emil Mayer at Vienna Museum (Wien Museum) (Vienna, Austria)
• Emil Mayer at Österreichisches Volkshochschularchiv (Vienna, Austria). Color photograph in collection.