50 Years of Anton Bruehl: Master Photographer
Anton Bruehl, Peter Lorre, 1935, gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Hours
Fifty-nine photographs by Anton Bruehl (b. 1900 Hawker, South Australia; d. 1982 San Francisco, CA) representing the span of his career from the early 1920s to the present day, were exhibited in the Boca Raton Center for the Arts (to later become the Boca Raton Museum of Art).
The photographer, famous in his field for some of the most memorable pictures published over the years in leading magazines such as Vanity Fair, for photographs of stage and screen personalities and records of life on this continent such as Mexican Portfolio. This exhibition included some rarities, among them were six platinum prints of an extinct variety produced in the early part of his life as a photographer of the American scene.
Bruehl was a pioneer in color, regarded as a master of color photography although he first started out in the black-and-white medium. It was after he migrated to the United States in 1919 that he turned from engineering to photography, studied with Clarence White and ran the school while White was in Mexico. He made photographs of gorgeous women galore and of such mundane objects as gas pipes and smoke stacks, and photographs of scenes. He took his first picture at the age of ten, using a box camera and glass plates. He attended the Melbourne College of Engineering, but when he met up with two Americans in Australia who were photographer "bugs," he was bitten. They built their own cameras of aluminum and showed their pictures in little exhibitions.
From the very beginning of his American experience was success -- one good job after another. First, he was commissioned by the J. Walter Thompson agency to make a picture of Lorna Doone Biscuits. He confessed he never had to struggle for assignments, never signed a contract, and "never had any trouble money-wise." When he retired from his commercial studio he moved to Delray Beach, Florida. At the time of this exhibition he was known to lend a hand at the Boca Museum when needed.
Exhibition organized by Maria Lawton, Director
Boca Raton FL, 33432
Additional Sponsor Text
This exhibition of Anton Bruehl's work was made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mr. Hillard Rentner. It was his hope and expectation that the show will encourage private citizens as well as business to support the arts.
Boca Raton has a splendid future in Mr. Rentner's view, and he believes it is important to keep pace with its growth by expanding its cultural opportunities.
