Gustav Ulrich - Altvaterland

The exhibition will last from April 2nd until May 4th, 2003
Opening hours: daily from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. except Mondays

When I first scanned photographs made off old glass negatives, found towards the end of 2000 in Odry, everything on them was strange to me - the countryside, the factory and the people, too. But then, when a few months later I was handing over some 600 of these pictures to Mrs Lisolette Klamt in the little German townlet of Bittburg/Eifel, those pictures were no longer anonymous. They were her home, her family and their country house "Bielidlo at Rejhotice", captured by her granddad - Gustav Ulrich.

On these photographs The World of Those Times appears as the ideal period, full of coziness - a bed of roses, so to say. However, it was an idyll in appearance only. Life to most people was filled with drudgery, renunciation and self-effacement. The beautiful but harsh landscape in the land "Below Mount Praded - Altvaterland" gave nothing free of charge. Yet, despite every obstacle, the people succeeded in eking out a living here, building houses, factories and improving everything "to their image". They cared for their home.

The enchanting pictures drawn on old glass negatives a hundred odd years ago were taken by Gustav Ulrich not only with his camera, but primarily with his heart. That is why he took pictures of what was closest to him: his family, friends, children, Bielidlo - his home. I wish you pleasant moments over the enchanting pictures by Gustav Ulrich - an amateur photographer, artist, but above all a Man.

At Odry, 11.3.2002
Zdenek Mateiciuc

Gustav Ulrich the Photographer

Gustav Ulrich (1860-1932) began to photograph at a happy period. The enormous advances in the photographic technique and the general technical progress had for result that towards the end of the 80s and 90s of the 19th century, more and more amateurs took to photographing. The camera came to be a diarist of their lives, a guide recording all that took place around the person being photographed. Initially, photographing was primarily reserved to enthusiasts from the well-to-do social strata, but with the organization of amateur photography that was preceded by financial accessibility of cameras and material, the mysteries of the photographic process also came to interest people of rather restrained means. A comparison of the production from Jeseniky with that from Krkonoše (the Sudetes Mountains) shows that the former has been relatively well investigated. As illustration we may mention the owner of the paper-mill in Rokytnica Rudolf Hous, the weaver Petr Kučera or the manager of the saw-mill at Janov and forester Jan Wagner - all of these were ordinary amateurs. However, Gustav Ulrich's photographic work bears comparison best with that of the Jilemnice physician Jaroslav Feyfar, M.D. who started photographing in 1904 Gustav Ulrich who belonged to the previous generation had began earlier, probably in the early 9%s of the 19th century. This derives not only from an analysis of the dress fashion, but it primarily evident in the life dates of the photographed children and parents. Thus, Gustav Ulrich was one of the first among the more significant amateur-photographers in this region.

In most cases he took pictures from a tripod, the people were aware that they were being photographed and thus posed in accordance with their disposition and the momentary conditions. there are really very few instantaneous takes in his collection, but most of them give a straightforward and lively impression. Those photographed do not show signs of being embarrassed or stiff which certainly speaks for an intimate relation existing between them and the photographer. True instantaneous takes are often the most interesting pictures, albeit not always quite perfect from the technical point of view. The practice of inconspicuous, furtive, stealthy photographing - the "hunting" type - was strange to Gustav Ulrich. Taking pictures from a tripod he also had time calmly to reflect on his take and for the most part he strove that the picture would impress as being harmonious, serene, balanced and, in the parlance of the times - "lovely". Orderliness, symmetry, balance, harmony - these are sensations emanating from Ulrich's photographs. This feeling is best perceived in his landscape photographs which constitute the major part of the five hundred odd preserved negatives. Alongside general pictures of a panoramic character, one of Ulrich's favourite motifs was also that of countryside roads which often created a significant compositional accent. Frequent motifs were likewise cottages which he used to photograph in spring when leafless trees revealed more of the architecture. He thus demonstrated his efforts at a documentary recording. The large number of photographs Ulrich devoted to winter motifs is rather surprising, as photographing in winter is generally held to present more difficulties.

The photographic work of the amateur Gustav Ulrich does not essentially deviate to any great extent from his times, nonetheless, it belongs among relatively rare compact wholes. As a matter of fact, not many hereditaments of photoamateurs from about 1890-1926 have been preserved in a fairly large quantity and a satisfactory state.

Pavel Scheufler