Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert: The German Lady and Her Big Adventure in Early Photo-History
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
8-3-2025 8:00 PM
Description
Dr. Hans Gummersbach, Director of different Adult Education Institutions and Chief of School Management City of Münster/Germany.
Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert: The German Lady and Her Big Adventure in Early Photo-History
This presentation features a biography of the underappreciated Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert (1815-1901), the first woman in Germany to become a professional photographer in the early 1840s. As a very young woman Bertha Beckmann went 1842 to Prague to learn the new technique of daguerreotype from the famous photo-pioneer Wilhelm Horn. She came back and started her journey as a travelling daguerreotypist in and around Dresden and Leipzig.
She met another daguerreotypist, Eduard Wehnert. They married in 1845 and worked together until he died only two years later. Beckmann-Wehnert decided to emigrate to America in 1849, and opened an atelier on Broadway Street in New York City, surrounded by many well-known and successful daguerreotype studios. So she offered something very new at that time: she made calotypes! Many prominent people including U.S. President Millard Fillmore, founder of Texas Samuel Houston, U.S. Senator Henry Clay, and singer Jenny Lind came to her studio to get their calotype portraits taken. After some successful years in America, she came back to Leipzig in 1851 and again she opened another photo studio where she worked up to 1882.
Dr. Hans Gummersbach; Studies: Art, History and Political science; Director of different Adult Education Institutions and Chief of School Management City of Münster/Germany. Collector and photohistorian of 19th century photography since 52 years.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Gummersbach, Hans, "Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert: The German Lady and Her Big Adventure in Early Photo-History" (2025). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025. 57.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2025/schedule/57
Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert: The German Lady and Her Big Adventure in Early Photo-History
Dr. Hans Gummersbach, Director of different Adult Education Institutions and Chief of School Management City of Münster/Germany.
Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert: The German Lady and Her Big Adventure in Early Photo-History
This presentation features a biography of the underappreciated Bertha Beckmann-Wehnert (1815-1901), the first woman in Germany to become a professional photographer in the early 1840s. As a very young woman Bertha Beckmann went 1842 to Prague to learn the new technique of daguerreotype from the famous photo-pioneer Wilhelm Horn. She came back and started her journey as a travelling daguerreotypist in and around Dresden and Leipzig.
She met another daguerreotypist, Eduard Wehnert. They married in 1845 and worked together until he died only two years later. Beckmann-Wehnert decided to emigrate to America in 1849, and opened an atelier on Broadway Street in New York City, surrounded by many well-known and successful daguerreotype studios. So she offered something very new at that time: she made calotypes! Many prominent people including U.S. President Millard Fillmore, founder of Texas Samuel Houston, U.S. Senator Henry Clay, and singer Jenny Lind came to her studio to get their calotype portraits taken. After some successful years in America, she came back to Leipzig in 1851 and again she opened another photo studio where she worked up to 1882.
Dr. Hans Gummersbach; Studies: Art, History and Political science; Director of different Adult Education Institutions and Chief of School Management City of Münster/Germany. Collector and photohistorian of 19th century photography since 52 years.
Comments
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