Further Information about Photographia zu Wetzlar
When he found out that I was writing about Kurt Kühn and Photographia, our friend Lars Netopil from the German Leica Historica notified me that he had some related materials. What he has sent me included scanned images of several cameras and accessories which Kurt Kühn had produced in the early 1950’s in association with other Wetzlar business entities, and which Lars now holds in his collection. In addition there were a few specifically Photographia-related materials that Lars obtained from the estate of someone who had worked at Photographia during its short life in the late 1940’s.
I am sharing two images from the latter group. The first is of a hand loupe, made either from wood or plastic, which has the Photographia logo on its handle. It was likely available as a deluxe accessory to look at Photographia’s nicely-printed images.
The second image is one from a group of photosof Photo- graphia personnel that shows a truck, presumablya delivery vehicle, with its driver or a company representative posing at its door. On the door panel, there is again the Photographialogo.
I wanted to share these images because they show the substance and quality of Kurt Kühn’s endeavor with Photographia, even apart from their elegant image portfolios. No detail was spared despite the difficult economic conditions at the time.