The Curators’ Quaderno - The Wulz Studio 8000 Negatives

the

curators’

quaderno

THE WULZ STUDIO

8,000 NEGATIVES

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the

curators’

quaderno

The Wulz Studio

8,000 Negatives

colophon

Published for the exhibition ‘Fotografia Wulz: Trieste, la

famiglia, l’atelier’ at the Magazzino delle Idee in Trieste

(December 2024 to April 2025) organised by the Ente

Regionale per il Patrimonio Culturale del Friuli Venezia Giulia

ERPAC FVG, in collaboration with Fondazione Alinari per la

Fotografia, with donor Calliope Arts Foundation

and thanks to the contribution of Fondazione CR Firenze,

which supported the Wulz Studio Archive restoration project

The Wulz Studio Archive is hosted at Archivi Alinari

of Florence

Publication sponsor Calliope Arts Foundation

Publisher The Florentine Press

tcq series editor Linda Falcone

Book design Marco Badiani

Book layout Leo Cardini

Printer Cartografica Toscana

ISBN xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2024 Bgruppo Srl, Prato

First Edition: December 2024

Series: The Curators’ Quaderno

© Calliope Arts Foundation

All rights reserved

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Printed in Florence, Italy

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the wulz studio

“‘Wulz Photography: Trieste, the Family, the Atelier’,

at the Magazzino delle Idee, is a temporary exhibition

supported by a solid scientific plan. It was developed

by two exhibition curators in conversation, who,

for the past year, have explored the Wulz family’s

contributions to historical photography, and their

holdings at the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia

in Florence. This exhibition is a story that visitors

are invited to experience by way of the ‘family album’

hall found at the beginning of the itinerary – where

generations of Wulzes are featured.

One of the exhibition’s intents is to recreate the Wulz

salon, through photographs bearing witness to the

many social and cultural figures that populated their

studio – and Trieste itself – a city we also see change

over time in the family’s photography. The show ends

with a picture of an elderly Marion Wulz by George

Tatge, as her voice echoes through our final hall, taken

from a selection of recorded interviews, a testimony

– like the exhibition itself – to the Wulz’s creativity and

their unique way of being.”

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Simona Cossu

Exhibition venue coordinator

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“Growing up in the Wulz household,

photography was a game, a constant

switching of costumes and scenes, but

in 1928, when Wanda (1903–1984) and

Marion Wulz (1905–1993) first stood at the

helm of the family studio, following their

father’s death, the whole of Trieste came

to be seen through their lens, against the

backdrop of a changing century.”

Linda Falcone

tqc editor

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Carlo Wulz, 1927

Marion and Wanda Wulz

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The Wulz Studio Archive is one of the most interesting collections

at the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, which is home to

170 holdings. Wanda Wulz’s Cat and I is one of our most iconic

photographs, with two overlaid negatives printed in the positive, but

there are many others… more than 8,000 negatives, which provide a

complete portrait of this family’s photographic journey. It represents

the evolution of a city, the evolution of a technique, and a shift in

how ‘sitters’ were represented – especially women. In Trieste, it is

the first time we are co-organising an exhibition as the final step

of a project, not its first phase. This project involved the complete

digitalisation of the Wulz Studio’s photographic archive and the

recognisance of their paper archive – including both personal and

company documents. Making an entire collection accessible is a

rarity, and it allows us to hone in on the creative process of this family

of photographers. The Wulz Studio project has become the prototype

of how we would like to proceed with all of our holdings.”

Giorgio van Straten

Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, president

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Carlo Wulz, 1907–1908, Portrait of his daughters Marion and Wanda

Giuseppe Wulz, 1895–1896, Complete family portrait,

from the left, Guglielmo, Antonio, Carlo, Anna, Giuseppe and Vittorio

Carlo Wulz, 1927, My daughter Marion

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Carlo Wulz, c. 1905, Wanda and Marion

Wulz during their bath

Marion Wulz, c. 1950, Portrait of Wanda

Wulz with Pippo the cat

Carlo Wulz, c. 1905, Portrait of his wife

Angela with their daughters Wanda and

Marion

“Carlo Wulz, Wanda and Marion’s father, is the author of many

beautiful portraits of his daughters from an early age, which is

natural for a father photographer. As they grow up, the Wulz’s

photo sessions become family ‘performances’, in which father and

daughters work together; all of them are active participants. From

the 1920s onwards, Wanda and Marion step into the scene as young

women – modern and mature. Carlo continues to be behind the

camera, but the final outcome stems from conceptual experiences

crafted in collaboration with his daughters.”

Federica Muzzarelli

Exhibition co-curator

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“The Wulzes continued to add to their

family album. As his father Giuseppe

had done with his four sons, Carlo

photographs his two daughters, who,

in turn, portray each other.

The results are not simply a record

of their closeness, for sisters Wanda

and Marion’s familiarity with the

world of photography sidesteps the

impediments of stereotypical poses

and gives way to original research and

interpretation, with excellent results.”

Antonio Giusa

notes

Carlo Wulz, c. 1920

Wanda and Marion Wulz

portrayed with a friend,

while leafing

108

through a book

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“The Wulz Studio spans 150 years of

history, from when Giuseppe Wulz first

opened his eyes in 1843, to when Marion

closes hers for the last time in 1993. That

is the story we are telling. After a year of

working with the Wulzes for the Trieste

show, they have become my family. I feel

like a nephew-of-sorts, an heir to the

family’s cultural legacy, passed down

from grandfather to father to daughter, or

granddaughter, and I perceive both their

continuity and their extreme modernity.

Giuseppe’s oeuvre was heavily influenced

by Romanticism; Carlo entered a new

world with his photography and brought

his daughters with him. In Trieste, there

were a plethora of possibilities, and ‘the

girls’ – as I call them – carved out a new

role for themselves. They brought in their

women artist friends and invented a novel

way of practicing their profession.”

Antonio Giusa

Exhibition co-curator

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“Wanda and Marion took

photographs, but they also

posed with their sitters,

creating a mix of female

characters, each of whom

excelled in their field, from

fashion, theatre and dance...

to photography.”

Emanuela Sesti

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“Wanda and Marion worked together, and they would

alternate, shooting their photographs behind the very same

camera, often with the same set. It is very difficult, in some

cases, to understand who took which photograph. There

were two points of departure for our research. The first was

to look at their negatives and re-compare them with the

vintage prints available, as we tried to successfully match

each positive with its corresponding negative. This process

enabled us to gain a better grasp of the sisters’ authorship,

as we looked for signatures or other clues gleaned from the

match-up process and, where necessary, corrected a number

of misattributions. Marion’s account of the archives provide

descriptions of the people the Wulz’s depicted, but in some

instances, she also clarified which sister was actually behind

the camera to capture a certain shot. This knowledge is

completely new. Our study also allowed us to see how Wanda

and Marion developed their photographs, because their

negatives provide us with a glimpse of the entire scene, prior

to the post-production phase. Once a print was matched to

its source negative, we were able to see the slant they gave

each picture, what they wanted its focus to be.”

Emanuela Sesti

Photography historian

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the wulz studio

Studio Wulz, 1932

Exercise

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Wanda Wulz, 1935

Etta Paulin

“When Wanda and Marion began managing the family studio in 1928, women

were still living in highly monitored closed spaces, so the body’s free

movement – and photographing it – was a precious piece in the mosaic of

women’s emancipation. Wanda and Marion’s photographs depict women and

sport – exercise, gymnastics or free-form dancing.

They sought to portray gesture and the theatrical nature of movement

within the female sphere, exploring values like taking care of one’s body and

beauty as a form of symmetry. Painters have always sought to interpret and

sublimate the body’s beauty, but photographers have preferred to portray

corporality as an ‘ordinary’ cultural phenomenon. The Wulz sisters did so in a

way that is both graceful and truthful.

Wanda and Marion’s interest in sport reflected a trend prevalent in Mussolini’s

Italy, but in their own lives, they rejected society’s model for women at

the height of fascism, choosing art and photography, over marriage and

motherhood. Theirs was a case of silent sabotage, because they needed no

one. The Wulz sisters were anti-system simply because they were ‘enough’ by

themselves.”

Federica Muzzarelli

Exhibition co-curator

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Wanda and Marion Wulz

worked largely with portraiture

and heavily modified their

photographs in the postproduction

phase

Ph. Marco Badiani, 2024

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“For the whole of the 1900s, prior to the advent of digital equipment,

dry-plate negatives were altered by adding varnishes, temperas

and graphite. The Wulz sisters would add or subtract elements

to and from their images, applying cut-out silhouettes in black or

red paper to areas they wanted to cover. They would also ‘make up’

their sitters, so to speak, with a preparatory varnish, using either a

greasy coloured impasto or a transparent solution. They improved

people’s skin, in tone and smoothness, by using these colouring

agents, which addressed the negatives’ colour contrasts. Another

option was for them to use a yellow, red or orange filter, on the

negatives’ glass side. The sisters often marked up their negatives

with a soft pencil – to cancel out wrinkles, improve a person’s profile,

or eliminate puffy cheeks, baggy eyes or a double chin. Today, we

use Photoshop digitally, but they did their work in the dark room. All

of this intervention aimed to improve the ‘positive’ and make their

clients happy.”

Eugenia di Rocco

Photography conservator

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Both Wulz sisters produced

signed portraits of Olympic

fencing champion Irene

Camber. According to

Marion’s memoirs, Camber

was the one to decide that

she wanted to point the tip

of her sword directly at the

camera lens, while Marion

would have preferred to see

more of her forearm. Camber

loved this picture, and

throughout her life, she was

photographed with Marion’s

image beside her.”

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Emanuela Sesti

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“The Wulz Studio archive contains varied materials

including signage for their atelier. This metallic sign

with one numeral ‘erased’ shows how they moved

from one floor to another because, in the early

twentieth century, Wanda and Marion merged their

home and studio.”

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Francesca Bongioanni

Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, conservator

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“I am fascinated by how

the Wulz’s sisterly dynamic

coloured their creative

process. Wanda has

always been remembered

as the more prominent

photographer, and Marion’s

artistic ambitions as a

painter were somehow

thwarted by her dedication

to the family business.”

Margie MacKinnon

the wulz studio

Wanda Wulz, 1936

Marion Wulz wearing

an outfit by designer

Anita Pittoni

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“It is possible to draw a parallel between the Wulz’s photographic

subjects and the portraits or self-portraits produced by early women

painters, because the sisters mostly worked within the confines

of their own studio producing posed or contrived portraits, which

nonetheless, were a way for women to express themselves in a new

and different medium. Photography, as an emerging art form, was

not constrained by the ‘weight of art history’ because there was

not yet a large body of academic criticism setting the standards of

what one could or couldn’t do. Wanda and Marion could make their

own standard, and although they were not activists, they authored

photographs at a time of great social upheaval, creating images of

who women are, what they can be and how they see themselves.”

Margie MacKinnon

Calliope Arts Foundation, president

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“The Alinari collection is primarily an archive

of negatives, and although we promote

and exhibit pictures printed through the

inversion of a negative into a more readable

positive image, negatives are our precious

raw material, the matrix. Wanda and Marion

used dry-plate negatives, where the image

is created using gelatine and silver salts

on glass, and these objects have their own

unique materiality, which is delicate and in

need of proper conservation, to prevent the

captured image from disappearing. Today,

photographs are principally considered

a digital image, but with a collection like

that of the Wulzes, we must remember

that photography is not just an image, it is

‘an object’ that must be safeguarded, and

then digitalised for public viewing, because

enjoyment is another critical factor, when it

comes to preserving culture.”

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Claudia Baroncini

Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, director

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Archivist Marta Magrinelli

explores the Wulz Studio

paper archive at Art

Defender, storage facility

Ph. Marco Badiani, 2024

the wulz studio

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“Documents forming part of the Wulz family archives are

‘promiscuous’, and by that I mean there is a strong connection

between company documents and private documents. They did not

keep the family’s budget separate from the studio’s book-keeping.

In several of their accounting books, dating from 1929 to 1940 – at the

height of Wanda and Marion’s management of the studio – they wrote

their expenditures in one of three columns on the same page: ‘home’,

‘other’ and ‘studio’. In these ledgers, their private and professional

spheres were viewed on the same plane. Among their records, we

find payments for photographic plates and sodium hyposulfite – a

chemical to fix developed prints. Then, we have the gas bill listed

along with garter stockings, lipstick and Marion’s paints – because

she was a painter before becoming a photographer. Sweets are

listed as a purchase, along with primroses, paper and pasta. This is

the first time the Wulz’s non-photographic documents have been

examined, and their archive contains what Marion, the family’s last

heir, managed and wished to preserve.”

Marta Magrinelli

Archivist

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“As with anyone’s archives, we

found the family’s identity cards.

Yet, in this case, their passport

photos are exclusively by the Wulz

Studio. As with anyone’s archives,

this one hosts countless examples

of correspondence, including the

personal letters and postcards they

decided to save. Wanda saved less

and Marion much more, including

correspondence addressed to them

both. The recurrent thing about this

archive is that Wanda and Marion were

perceived as one person, as if they

were a single unit, but for me, Marion

was a steadfast presence.

She is the one who organised and

codified these documents, through

her handwritten notebooks and

catalogue cards, in which she

describes their photographs and

makes her gift more accessible.”

Marta Magrinelli

Archivist

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Wanda Wulz, late 1930s

Portrait of Anita Pittoni

“Together with designer Anita Pittoni, Wanda and

Marion Wulz are protagonists when it comes to

identity exploration. They are pioneers of a plethora

of experiences, as they snub and overcome art’s

classic preoccupation, namely, ‘who did what’.

They are models, interpreters and makers.”

Federica Muzzarelli

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Photo credits

photo credits

All images from the Wulz Studio Archive: © Archivi Alinari, Florence

P. 3: Wanda Wulz, late 1920s to early 1930s, Marion Wulz

Pp. 5, 12, 16, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32:

Photographs of Marion and Wanda Wulz’s photography

at the Alinari Archives, Florence, while at Art Defender

by Marco Badiani, 2024

P. 7: Wanda Wulz, 1932, Cat and I, negative and positive

P. 17: Wanda Wulz, early 1930s, Signora Bosutti, negative and positive

Pp. 18–19: Negatives by Wanda and Marion Wulz

P. 20: Marion Wulz, 1952, Portrait of Irene Camber, Gold medallist at the

Helsinki Olympics; Marion Wulz, 1952, ‘On Guard’, Irene Camber

P. 25: Wanda Wulz, c. 1930, Portrait of Anita Pittoni in a dress designed by

painter Marcello Claris; Wanda Wulz, 1930s, Portrait

Cover photos: Negatives by Wanda and Marion Wulz

With special thanks to the ‘curators’ appearing in this edition,

whether as scholars, conservators, archivists or exhibition

organisers and managers: Giorgio van Straten, Federica

Muzzarelli, Giuseppe Giusa, Margie MacKinnon, Claudia

Baroncini, Emanuela Sesti, Marta Magrinelli, Francesca

Bongioanni, Eugenia di Rocco and Simona Cossu.

Heartfelt gratitude also goes to those responsible for

supporting and producing this quaderno, including Wayne

McArdle, Marco Badiani, Leo Cardini, Elisa Ghelardi, Giacomo

Badiani, Helen Farrell and Giovanni Giusti.

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Linda Falcone

tcq editor

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What is tcq?

The Curators’ Quaderno

is a collection of

notebook-style

publications, conceived

by the Calliope

Arts Foundation, in

collaboration with The

Florentine Press, to

raise awareness of

women’s contributions

to the fields of art,

science and culture.

Continued

Commitment

“Our ongoing collaboration with the

Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia,

focusing on the works of Wanda and

Marion Wulz, began in 2022 with our

support for the exhibition ‘Fotografe!’

at the Villa Bardini in Florence.

Since then, Calliope Arts has

sponsored research into the Wulz

Studio Archive and the restoration

and digitalisation of the extensive

collection of negatives from their

Trieste studio. The 2024–2025

exhibition at the Magazzino delle

Idee shines a spotlight on works

that represent a particular time and

place and provides insight into the

lives and working practices of two

early women photographers. We

are delighted to be part of the effort

to preserve their legacy for future

generations.”

Margie MacKinnon

Calliope Arts Foundation, president

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