Frank Eugene

(b New York, 19 Sept 1865; d Munich, 16 Dec 1936). American photographer and teacher, active also in Germany. After attending the Bayerische Akademie der Bildenden K?nste, Munich (from 1886), he began exhibiting his photography in New York. Around 1899 he came to the attention of Alfred Stieglitz and was praised by the critic Sadakichi Hartmann for the intelligent combination of painterly and photographic effects in his work. He became a member of the influential transatlantic photographic society, the Linked Ring (1900), and was a founder-member of Stieglitz's PHOTO-SECESSION.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Eugene, Frank (1865-1936), New York-born German photographer. After studying painting in Munich (1886-94) he became a leading American pictorialist, co-founding the Photo-Secession in 1902. Prominent as a portraitist, he extensively manipulated his negatives, treating photography essentially as a graphic medium. Although critics were appalled, his techniques, which included hand colouring and aggressive scratching, were widely imitated. In 1907 he settled in Munich, teaching photography and making artist portraits. In 1913 he became professor of photography at the Leipzig Academy of Graphic Art and Book Design, eventually acquiring Saxon citizenship.

— Philip Clark

Bibliography

• Pohlmann, U. (ed.), Frank Eugene: The Dream of Beauty (1995)