Frederick Gutekunst
Frederick Gutekunst (September 25, 1831 – April 27, 1917) was an American photographer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He opened his first photographic portrait studio with his brother in 1854 and successfully ran his business for sixty years. He grew to national prominence during the American Civil War and expanded his business to include two studios and a large phototype printing operation. He is known as the "Dean of American Photographers" due to his high quality portraits of dignitaries and celebrities. He worked as the official photographer of the Pennsylvania Railroad and received national and international recognition for his photographs of the Gettysburg battlefield and an innovative 10-foot long panoramic photograph of the Centennial Exposition. Early life and education Gutekunst was born in 1831. His father was a cabinetmaker and the family name Gutekunst means "good art" in German. Most sources list Gutekunst's place of birth as Philadelphia. However, his obituary in the Photographic Journal of America lists Gutekunst's birthplace as Germany. His father wanted young Frederick to become a lawyer and sent him to study law for six years under Joseph Simon Cohen, prothonotary to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Gutekunst found the study of law "dry and uninteresting" and instead became interested in the emerging photographic technique of the daguerreotype. He was a frequent visitor to Marcus Aurelius Root's gallery and learned the craft of daguerreotype from photography pioneer Robert Cornelius. Gutekunst displayed an aptitude for chemistry and progressed the technique to convert a dagurerreotype image unto a printable electrotype plate. Frederick's father noticed his son's interest in chemistry and found an internship for him with a pharmacist, Frederick Klett. Gutekunst undertook a four year apprenticeship with Klett and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1853. Career He worked for two years at a drug store in Philadelphia and began to collect parts to build a camera. He was able to purchase a lens and battery and his father built a box to house the camera. He joined the Franklin Institute and used their laboratory facilities to conduct scientific experiments. He created his own photographic plates coated with collodion and made ambrotypes of his friends in the back of the drug store. Gutekunst's brother, Louis, was a barber and helped financially support Frederick's interest in photography. In 1856, the two brothers opened a photography studio named Gutekunst & Brother. They worked together until 1860, when Louis went back to work as a barber. The business grew quickly due to strong demand for photographs. The Civil War turned Gutekunst photography studio into an extremely popular destination. Philadelphia was a major center for military deployment and soldiers would have their portraits made in their uniforms as a memento for their families before going off to war. Generals George Meade, Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan also came to have their photographic portraits taken by Gutekunst The portrait of Grant in particular raised national interest and set Gutekunst apart from his contemporaries. Gutekunst took photographs of numerous dignataries and celebrities including