Valentin Wolfenstein (19 April 1845 – 3 February 1909) was a Swedish-American photographer who worked both in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He was one of the first photographers to use flash-lamps for photography. He owned the first successful photography studio in Los Angeles where he photographed many famous Californians in the 1870s in 1880s. After returning to Sweden, Wolfenstein owned Atelier Jaeger, the official court photographer's studio in Stockholm, from 1890 to 1905. He was a pioneer in his field and possibly the first in Sweden to make interior pictures in theaters using flash-lamp photography. He took pictures of theater scenes and actors' dressing rooms. A particular skill he developed was taking "look-alike pictures", a

double exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be id ...

technique that combined images of the same person in two different poses, for example, sitting and standing.

Early life

Wolfenstein was born August Valentin Wolfenstein on 19 April 1845 in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...

. His parents were Viktor Adolf Wolfenstein (1817–1881) and Anna Elisabeth Brostrom (1807–1851).Ancestry.com "Wolfenstein Family Tree" He emigrated to the United States during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and enlisted in New York City on 31 January 1865. After the war he worked as a photographer in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

, where he had a photography studio in 1867. He established a studio in Los Angeles in 1871 on the second floor of New Temple Block in

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

. Here he bought the services of Henri Penelon, a French painter, for color tinting portraits. He is also listed as still being at Temple Block in 1875 in the Los Angeles city directory.

Mid-life

Wolfenstein married Philopena Brown (1863–1884) on 26 February 1884 while he was in New Bedford. They had a daughter the same year, named Florentina. Philopena died later that year. He then married Clara Brown (1868–1892). They had two sons, Robert (1889–1977) and Walter (1890 – d. before 1909). When he failed at some Los Angeles side businesses in the 1880s, he sought new surroundings and went to Guatemala and Mexico where he ran photographic studios. He returned to Sweden in the 1890s, sometime after Clara died, and settled in Stockholm, where he became an employee of the royal photographer Johannes Jaeger at his studio, Atelier Jaeger. In the 1890s, Wolfenstein established a photographic studio at

Drottninggatan Drottninggatan (''Queen Street'') in Stockholm, Sweden, is a major pedestrian street. It stretches north from the bridge Riksbron at Norrström, in the district of Norrmalm, to Observatorielunden in the district of Vasastaden. Composition Fo ...

33 in Stockholm. When Jaeger moved back to Germany, his home country, Wolfenstein bought both of his studios for 60,000 kronor. Wolfenstein continued to call the studio of 30 employees by its original name "Atelier Jaeger", because of its already established reputation as the official court photographer.

Later life and death

Wolfenstein sold Atelier Jaeger in 1905 and returned to the United States.Ancestry.com "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820–1957" and "Passenger lists, 1869–1951 of Gothenburg, Sweden" Albin Roosval and Herman Sylwander, who took over his studios, kept the same original name for the studio. Wolfenstein died in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

on 3 February 1909 at the age of 63. He is buried at

Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery is a cemetery, located at 1831 West Washington Boulevard in the West Adams, Los Angeles, West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. History Located in the West Adams, Los Angeles ...

Central Los Angeles Central Los Angeles is the historical urban region of the city of Los Angeles, containing downtown Los Angeles, and several nearby regions in southwest Los Angeles County, California. Geographic designation by The City of Los Angeles The Los Ang ...

Photography work

File:Johannes Jaeger duppelgångarebild 1890.jpg, Wolfenstein's "look-alike"
of his boss John Jaeger
sitting and standing File:Svenska Teatern Orfeus 1894.jpg, 1894 flash photography of scene in

Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre () is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja () square, at the end of Esplanadi (). It was the first national stage of Finland. History The first theatre in Helsinki, '' Engels Te ...

taken by Wolfenstein File:Tiburcio Vasquez 1874.jpg, Wolfenstein took this photo of outlaw

Tiburcio Vasquez Tiburcio, the Spanish form of Tiburtius, may refer to: * Tiburcio Carías Andino (1876–1969), Honduran military strongman * Tiburcio de León, Filipino general (the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American War) * José Tiburcio Serrizuela ...

behind the Los Angeles jail on May 18, 1874. File:Barboncito.jpg, "Man holding rifle", 1868 Navajo chief Barboncito File:Chief Manuelito with his wife Juanita and their son.jpg, Navajo chief Manuelito with his wife and son, 1868 File:Barboncito mica se qui 1868.jpg, Daughter-in-law of chief Barboncito, "Mica se qui", 1868 File:Three Navaho.jpg, Manuelito, Barboncito, and Navajo boy and man, 1868

Personal pictures

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfenstein, Valentin 1845 births 1909 deaths American portrait photographers Union army soldiers Photographers from Los Angeles Artists from Stockholm Burials at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery People from Falun Swedish emigrants to the United States 19th century in Los Angeles 19th-century American photographers 19th-century Swedish photographers