Kahlo, Guillermo (1871-1941)

The photographer Wilhelm (Guillermo) Kahlo was born in Pforzheim and emigrated to Mexico in 1890, where he worked as a photographer from 1898. From 1936 onwards he mainly took photographs of factories, churches and buildings, many of them commissioned by the Mexican government. Guillermo Kahlo was the father of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) who he introduced to the art of photography and helped develop a keen eye for observing nature.

Material:

• 1 case with 33 black-and-white photographs
• 6 black-and-white photographs of factories and machines (series “Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey S.A.”)
• 4 black-and-white photographs (series “Fábrica de Cerillos La Central”)
• 17 black-and-white photographs (indoor and outdoor shots of churches; some published in: “Iglesias de México”, Mexico 1924)
• 6 black-and-white photographs (series “Tabacalera Mexicana”)
• Provenance: The factory images were acquired by Hermann Hagen in 1926. In 1932 Esperanza Velázquez Bringas gave the Ibero-American Institute (IAI) of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation 13 church photographs.

Keywords: Mexico, history of photography