Frederick Gutekunst (September 25, 1831 - April 27, 1917) was an American photographer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He opened his first photographic portrait studio with his brother in 1854 and successfully ran his business for sixty years. He grew to national prominence during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and expanded his business to include two studios and a large phototype printing operation. He is known as the "Dean of American Photographers" due to his high quality portraits of dignitaries and celebrities. He worked as the official photographer of the Pennsylvania Railroad and received national and international recognition for his photographs of the Gettysburg battlefield and an innovative 10-foot long panoramic photograph of the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

Early life and education

Gutekunst was born in 1831. His father was a

cabinetmaker A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...

and the family name Gutekunst means "good art" in German. Most sources list Gutekunst's place of birth as Philadelphia. However, his obituary in the Photographic Journal of America lists Gutekunst's birthplace as Germany. His father wanted young Frederick to become a lawyer and sent him to study law for six years under Joseph Simon Cohen,

prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

to the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

. Gutekunst found the study of law "dry and uninteresting" and instead became interested in the emerging photographic technique of the daguerreotype. He was a frequent visitor to

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's gallery and learned the craft of daguerreotype from photography pioneer

Robert Cornelius Robert Cornelius (; March 1, 1809 – August 10, 1893) was an American photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. He designed the photographic plate for the first photograph taken in the United States, an image of Central High Sc ...

. Gutekunst displayed an aptitude for chemistry and progressed the technique to convert a dagurerreotype image unto a printable electrotype plate. Frederick's father noticed his son's interest in chemistry and found an internship for him with a pharmacist, Frederick Klett. Gutekunst undertook a four year apprenticeship with Klett and graduated from the

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...

in 1853.

Career

He worked for two years at a drug store in Philadelphia and began to collect parts to build a camera. He was able to purchase a lens and battery and his father built a box to house the camera. He joined the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

and used their laboratory facilities to conduct scientific experiments. He created his own photographic plates coated with

collodion Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of nitrocellulose in ether and alcohol. There are two basic types: flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings in place. When painted on the skin, ...

and made ambrotypes of his friends in the back of the drug store. Gutekunst's brother, Louis, was a barber and helped financially support Frederick's interest in photography. In 1856, the two brothers opened a photography studio named Gutekunst & Brother. They worked together until 1860, when Louis went back to work as a barber. The business grew quickly due to strong demand for photographs. The Civil War turned Gutekunst photography studio into an extremely popular destination. Philadelphia was a major center for military deployment and soldiers would have their portraits made in their uniforms as a memento for their families before going off to war. Generals

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and

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

also came to have their photographic portraits taken by Gutekunst The portrait of Grant in particular raised national interest and set Gutekunst apart from his contemporaries. Gutekunst took photographs of numerous dignataries and celebrities including

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, Carl Schurz and

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. He kept detailed listings of those he photographed and one of the ledgers is housed at the

Library Company of Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a library, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of hist ...

. He worked as the official photographer of the Pennsylvania Railroad and in 1875 photographed structures and scenery which were printed as a collection of stereo views. Gutekunst became known as the "Dean of American Photography" and was recognized for his photographs of the Gettysburg battlefield. He created a ten-foot wide and 18 inch high panoramic photograph of the 1876

made from seven negatives. It was described as the largest photograph in the world at the time. His panoramic photograph won him medals from Austria, France and Italy as well as two gold-lined bronze vases from Japan. Gutekunst was as much artist as businessman and on a visit to Germany in 1878 he purchased the rights for the Phototype process. One year later upon visit to Philadelphia, J. H. Fitzgibbons, the editor of the ''St. Louis Practical Photographer'', noted that Gutekunst was manufacturing thousands of prints every day. Eventually, this new factory needed to move out of Arch Street and up to 813 Girard Ave where a staff of forty under the supervision of the engraver, James P. Harbeson, kept up with demand for reproduction for publications, etc. Girard Ave was a perfect location for this endeavor since this part of Philadelphia was more industrial and less retail than Arch St. Some of the products of this venture were illustrations for books such as the ''Biographical Album of Prominent Pennsylvanians'', ''Artistic Houses, and Artistic Country Seats'' published by D. Appleton & Co. of New York. Also, Gutekunst began to use what we would now call a panoramic camera which took a photo of one hundred and eighty degrees and from which the studio could produce a print thirty-six inches in length. In 1885, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. On the morning of January 26, 1886, a fire started at 715-719 Arch St. which burned down the five-story building at that address. Additionally, the fire spread across the street to the Gutekunst establishment and caused approximately $10,000 in damage. By 1893 Gutekunst had been in business almost forty years and an additional studio was needed for the growing enterprise. The new studio was established in an upscale part of Philadelphia at 1700 N. Broad St. with William Braucher as manager. The success early in his career meant that he could move his home out of Center City Philadelphia and own a home on Pulaski Avenue in Germantown in Philadelphia. A year before his death Gutekunst incorporated his business and some of the older employees became stockholders, but Mr. Braucher resigned at that time. Gutekunst had successfully run his photographic studio for sixty years. Frederick Gutekunst grave

Frederick Gutekunst died April 27, 1917. Eight weeks earlier he fell down the steps of his N. Bouvier residence returning to his studio after lunch at home. This fall and

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied ...

seem to have caused his death. He was interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia.

Gallery

Citations

Sources

External links

Frederick Gutekunst Papers at the Eastman MuseumSalt Prints at Harvard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutekunst, Frederick 1831 births 1917 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American photographers American pharmacists American people of German descent Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Businesspeople from Philadelphia Members of the American Philosophical Society Photographers from Philadelphia Pioneers of photography University of the Sciences alumni War photographers