FRANKFURT.- His photographs are a journey through time. Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916) shaped the image of Frankfurt like no other photographer. From the Zeil, the Eschenheimer Turm, the Goethe Monument and the Römer to the banks of the Main, he captured the city’s most famous sights. In doing so, he became a pioneer of architectural photography more than 150 years ago.
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The Städel Museum is devoting the first major solo exhibition to Carl Friedrich Mylius, featuring some eighty works. The occasion is the donation of 180 photographs from a private collection, which perfectly complement the Städel’s historical holdings of Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs and make them accessible to a broad public.
In the 19th century, Frankfurt was an important destination for travellers as a historic site of imperial coronations, as a trade fair city and because of its geographical location near the Middle Rhine. With the rise of tourism, Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs of sights that are still famous today became popular souvenirs. Many of his views show a city in transition. At the time, Frankfurt was undergoing not only a political reorganization as a result of Prussian annexation, but also rapid economic and social development. Industrialization and urbanization led to drastic structural changes—entire streets in the old town and inner city disappeared. As a chronicler of this period, Mylius documented the historical sites of his city as well as new buildings, industrial plants and the modern infrastructure. He was also drawn to the areas around Frankfurt—the Feldberg in the Taunus mountains, the towns of Kronberg, Königstein and Gelnhausen—and left behind the first surviving photographs of some of these places. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 7.60 metre long view of the Main. It is the first photographic panorama in Germany.
“From the very beginning, the fascination with photography has remained unbroken. The photographs of Carl Friedrich Mylius, a native of Frankfurt, are a valuable visual legacy—artistically outstanding works and at the same time important documents of the city’s history. Mylius’s education and life are closely linked to the Städel Museum: he donated photographs to the Städel while he was still actively working. In 2023, this unique historical collection was expanded by a generous private donation. With this exhibition, we are able to present Carl Friedrich Mylius’s complete oeuvre comprehensively for the first time”, says Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum.
“Carl Friedrich Mylius was one of the first in the young Frankfurt photography scene of the late 1850s to specialize in architectural views. As a photographer, he was a neutral observer who captured his subjects objectively and impartially. At the same time, he used stylistic devices such as central perspective and balanced composition, demonstrating his keen sense of design. Even in these early days, photography was more than mere illustration—it was a means of capturing the city in an aesthetic dimension. This made Mylius an early pioneer of architectural photography”, explains Kristina Lemke, curator of the exhibition and Head of Photography, Städel Museum.
The exhibition is designed as an open tour through individual districts of Frankfurt and the surrounding area. The focus is on the years 1855–1880, when Carl Friedrich Mylius’s creative exploration of urban space is most evident. His photographs have been preserved in the Städel Museum’s collection since 1867. Thanks to a recent donation from a private collection, it is now possible to present a selection of photographs from his main creative period.
Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916) was originally trained as a lithographer, but the economic and artistic opportunities offered by the burgeoning profession of photography soon led him to a new path. In 1854, he opened his own studio at Biebergasse 3 in Frankfurt, initially specialising in portrait photography. Inspired by requests from wealthy citizens to photograph their town and country houses, he increasingly shifted his focus to architectural photography. He had no competition in this field, as outdoor photography was much more expensive than portraiture at the time. Heavy equipment had to be transported to each location, and each photograph had to be developed in a darkroom wagon.
Mylius’s photographs provide a unique view of Frankfurt in the second half of the 19th century. As a photographer, he preserved the memory of many places that no longer exist, while at the same time documenting the historical changes in the city. His clients included private individuals, municipal offices, foundations, societies and clubs. Frankfurt’s favourable geographical location and its political and historical significance opened up further markets for him. Diplomats and educational travellers found his photographs a popular souvenir. Mylius responded to this demand by photographing the most important sights on his own initiative. In addition to individual photographs, he also offered albums and portfolios that buyers could assemble themselves: views of the cathedral, the Römer and the monuments to Goethe, Schiller and Gutenberg were particularly popular.
Mylius’s photographs of Frankfurt’s old town are dominated by the historic landmarks of the cathedral and the Römer. Mylius frequently photographed the Römerberg square (1855), the town hall and central place of city politics since 1405. He also ensured the nationwide distribution of his photographs through his collaboration with the Leipzig newspaper Illustrirte Zeitung, which he regularly supplied with photographs for its reportages. A reproduction of his photograph View of the cathedral from the west (c. 1865) was published on 31 August 1867. The article reported on the cathedral fire that had occurred a few days earlier and showed the monument still intact.
The photographs of the city centre clearly show the massive structural changes in the urban fabric that Mylius himself witnessed. The photograph Zeil, view from Hauptwache (1864–66), in which the people are only vaguely recognisable, shows how busy the shopping street was even then. Due to the long exposure time, some of the people are only visible as streaks. Today, there are many more people on the street. The historic buildings have largely been replaced by modern shopping centres and high-rise office blocks. The photograph of Neue Mainzer Strasse towards the south (1874–76) shows the new buildings in the Neoclassicist style of the time. Built in the early 19th century as an elegant and quiet residential area for Frankfurt’s upper class, the street is now the centre of the city’s banking district and is lined on both sides with skyscrapers.
At the centre of the exhibition tour is the River Main, which played a special role in the legend of the city’s founding and in its development as a major commercial and trade fair centre. The river was also a key element in pictorial representations of Frankfurt. Mylius’s Main panorama (1860/61), for example, is exceptional and of outstanding importance in the history of photography. He photographed the northern and southern banks in thirty-one separate images. While painting made it relatively easy to capture vast landscapes on canvas, photography had its limitations due to
the constraints of recording and printing techniques. The production of several individual images remained the preferred method for many photographers. The effort Mylius put into his photographic panorama was enormous: to capture the 2.5- kilometre stretch with as little distortion as possible, he moved his camera about 100 metres for each image. Regardless of the gaps and inconsistencies in perspective, the panorama of the Main is an impressive testimony to the efforts made to create topographical views in the medium of photography.
In the 19th century, a new district of Frankfurt developed in the Westend. The houses of wealthy citizens there are evidence of this prestigious urban expansion. Mylius photographed them for their owners, as exemplified by the photograph Garden House in Kettenhofweg (before 1861). It was in this house that Adolph Knigge had written his book Über den Umgang mit Menschen (On Human Relations) a century earlier. In 1871, a new recreation and entertainment area was opened in the Westend, the Palmengarten, which Mylius also immortalised in numerous motifs sold at the entrance. The Gesellschaftshaus (Society House) was one of the most ambitious building projects of its time.
Sachsenhausen, on the other hand, has been part of Frankfurt since the Middle Ages. However, there are very few photographs of this city district in Mylius’s oeuvre. On the one hand, the neighbourhood was mainly inhabited by fishermen, poorer craftsmen and market gardeners who could not afford to hire a photographer. On the other hand, in Mylius’s time—unlike today—there was little tourist interest in this part of the city.
The exhibition concludes with photographs of the Frankfurt hinterland, including Höchst, the Taunus and Gelnhausen. As part of his strategic commercial orientation, Mylius had extended his sphere of activity to these regions. In Gelnhausen, for example, he produced a series of images of the Kaiserpfalz. In the background of the photograph Gelnhausen: Imperial Palace with a view of the Church of St Mary (1870) is St Mary’s Church, another important landmark of the medieval town centre. The inclination of the spire is not an error of the photographer, but an architectural fact at the time the picture was taken. It was not straightened until 1879, as part of a major restoration.
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