Hermann Mahl - Pioneer of color photography in Puster Valley

Inauguration: 15th of December 2017 at 7 p.m.

Exhibition period: 16th December 2017 – 28th January 2018

Opening hours: Tue - Fri 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. & Sat – Sun, public holidays 10 a.m. - 12 a.m.

Closed: 24.12.2017

Immerse yourself in the past, slip into the role of the attentive observer, owner of theprinting office named Mahl'sche Buchdruckerei, publisher of the Pusterthaler Bote and committee member of the cultural association Museumsverein founded in 1912 and see the city of Bruneck and the surrounding area through the eyes of the cosmopolitan and art-loving amateur photographer Hermann Mahl.

The first autochrome color photographs were presented in Paris to the world public on 10^th June 1907 by the inventors, the Lumière brothers from Lyon, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of journalists and photographers.
Almost four months later, the first exhibition of color photographs by the amateur photographer Hermann Mahl took place in his bookstore in the so called alley Brunecker Stadtgasse. How Mahl came to these "revolutionary" autochromes within such a short time can no longer be determined. But it is clear that as a representative of the educated middle classes, he was very cosmopolitan, interested in art and traveled extensively and evidently maintained good contacts with the European art and photography scene.

In collaboration with the Verein für Kultur und Heimatpflege Bruneck, the Mahl Archive – dipdruck and the Municipal Archive Bruneck, the cultural association Museumsverein Bruneck presents a selection of these valuable color photographs of Bruneck and the surrounding area in the city museum and shows atmospheric nature impressions, cityscapes and social events of the late 19th and early 20th century.