Biography

1859 – 1872 Childhood

Moriz Nähr was born on August 4, 1859 and grew up in poor circumstances. His father Johann Georg died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1872, when Moriz was only twelve years old.

Moriz Nähr was born on August 4, 1859 as the sixth child of a retailer family at Spittelberg no. 121 (today Neustiftgasse 11) and grew up in poor circumstances. Nähr's birthplace at Neustiftgasse 11, a two-storey Biedermeier house, had originally belonged to the retailer Franz Heilsam. After his death, the house passed to his wife Juliana. In 1828, Johann Michael Nähr took it over, from whom it passed to his wife Anna in 1830 and then to his son Johann Georg Nähr in 1845. His wife, Antonia Neumann, was a granddaughter of the former owner Franz Heilsam. Johann Georg and Antonia had seven children, including Johann Georg Nähr (1812-1872), Moriz Nähr's father. Johann Georg became a furniture dealer and married the retailer's daughter Antonia Neumann (1824-1899) in 1847. After the birth of five children - Karl (1848-1878), Leopoldine (1849-1930) and three children who died within a few months - Moriz Nähr was born. He had two more siblings: Friedrich (1861-1900) and Antonia (1865-1928).

His father Johann Georg died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1872, when Moriz was only twelve years old. After Johann Georg's death, his wife Antonia and the children (including Moriz Nähr) took over the house.

After elementary school, Moriz Nähr attended a lower secondary school. This was most likely the only lower secondary school in the 7th district, Bernhard Speneder's Private Haupt- und Unterrealschule at Kirchengasse 99. According to oral tradition in the Nähr family, Moriz then attended a secondary school but was unable to complete it because a stove in the classroom fell over due to his clumsiness or an unsuccessful prank and caused a fire. Moriz had to leave school.

1875 – 1877 Desired Profession: Painter

It was probably during his time at the School of Arts and Crafts that Moriz Nähr met Gustav Klimt. His training was interrupted and he assisted his brother Karl in a photo studio in Schemnitz.

Moriz attended the School of Arts and Crafts in the building of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry for a year and a half. It was there that he met Maximilian Lenz. Maximilian Lenz and Moriz Nähr, who were the same age, became close friends. Gustav Klimt did not attend the School of Arts and Crafts until 1876. It was probably here that Nähr and Klimt met and formed a friendship that would last until the artist's death.

In the same year, Nähr's older brother Karl married Karoline Edler in Vienna. Their son Karl Anton Moriz was born on January 6, 1877, and Nähr was his godfather.

September 1877 Nähr traveled to Schemnitz with his brother. Karl ran a photo studio there. The plan was for Moriz to help his brother in the photo studio and perhaps even become his partner later on. In October 1877, he wrote to his mother full of worry: “My hands are already so frozen that [I] can't even make a fist, I know that it will get so bad in winter that I won't even be able to retouch, much less copy what is actually my work.” He planned to return to Vienna on foot, as this was the cheapest option, but this plan was not realized.

1878 – 1886 Nurturing Ground for the Secession

Moriz Nähr left Schemnitz after the premature death of his brother. After his return to Vienna, he enrolled as a guest student at the General School of Painting at the k.k. Academy of Fine Arts. 

On February 16, 1878, Karl died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 30. It was no longer possible for Moriz to remain in Schemnitz and he returned to Vienna. In October 1878, he enrolled as a guest student at the General School of Painting at the k.k. Academy of Fine Arts. He attended lectures on style by Professor George Niemann and on general history by Professor Adalbert Horawitz. George Niemann taught perspective and architectural style and was at that time working on his manual of linear perspective for visual artists, the principles of which he familiarized his students with.

Nähr's colleagues at the k.k. Academy of Fine Arts included his good friend Maximilian Lenz, Friedrich König, Karl Pippich, Eduard Kasparides, Eugen Schroth and Julius Reisinger. They became the center of the Hagengesellschaft, a loose group of artists founded in 1880. They often met several times a week in the Blaues Freihaus and Café Sperl in Gumpendorfer Strasse. The Hagengesellschaft later became an important nucleus for the Secession and the Hagenbund - and for the Nähr network and lifelong circle of friends.

When the Vienna Voluntary Rescue Society was spontaneously founded after the shocking Ringtheater fire on December 8, 1881, in which several hundred people lost their lives, Nähr was a founding member. He was also a keen member of the First Viennese Gymnastics Club, where people met for gymnastics and fencing. Gymnasts were repeatedly called out to “accidental fires”. Nähr was even elected to the board in 1886.

1890 – 1894 First Public Recognition

During this time, Moriz Nähr became friends with the Wittgenstein family. Nähr received his first public recognition in 1891 with Waldinneres and Aus dem Prater at the “International Exhibition of Artistic Photographs” in Vienna.

Nähr first made contact with the Wittgenstein family around 1890. The contact was probably arranged by the painter Johann Victor Krämer (1861-1949), a friend from the Hagen society who had worked for a time as a drawing teacher with the Wittgensteins. Nähr was a welcome guest of the Wittgenstein family and was characterized by Hermine Wittgenstein (1860-1947) as “such a dear, fine person, with so much tenderness”. He had a particularly close friendship with Clara Wittgenstein. Nähr was repeatedly asked to photograph important family events and meetings at the Wittgensteins' various family residences.

Nähr never had his own studio, but always worked at home, where he had set up a darkroom behind a shed in the kitchen.

Nähr received his first public recognition in 1891 with In the Heart of a Wood and From the Prater at the “International Exhibition of Artistic Photographs” (May 4 to June 14, 1891) in Vienna. Following this success, Moriz Nähr registered as a photographer in the Vienna Trade and Commerce Address Book. He was registered as a new member of the Photographic Society in Vienna on May 16, 1893 and accepted without objection.

From January 10 to 30, 1894, Nähr and his younger brother Fritz (who ran a photo studio at 27 Floridsdorfer Hauptstraße) exhibited photographs at the Salon d'Art Photographique of the Photo-Club de Paris. Moriz Nähr's Vienna Woods was praised by the Parisian press as extremely fine and harmonious.

1895 – 1897 In the Service of the Habsburgs

In the late 1890s, Nähr met his partner Ludmilla Waas. Nähr was commissioned in September 1897 to take photographs at the imperial hunts in Hungary, to which the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I and the German Emperor Wilhelm II were invited to the great hunting grounds of Archduke Frederick of Austria-Teschen.

In 1895, Moriz Nähr moved out of his parents' house in Neustiftgasse and lived with Ludmilla Waas (née Maržik, 1860-1949) at Sigmundsgasse 5. They therefore lived not far from each other at the time they met and had probably met in the immediate vicinity. The relationship with Ludmilla Waas was extremely happy, but remained childless. Ludmilla had married Franz Joseph Waas in 1878 at the age of 17 and gave birth to their son Franz Ferdinand on January 4, 1879, who was only two years old.

On November 4, 1895, Nähr's younger brother Fritz was admitted to the Lower Austrian lunatic Asylum in Vienna due to progressive paralysis. On December 13, 1895, he was placed under curatorship; Moriz Nähr was appointed curator.

Nähr was commissioned in September 1897 to photograph the imperial hunts in Hungary, to which the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I and the German Emperor Wilhelm II were invited to the great hunting grounds of Archduke Frederick of Austria-Teschen. His relationship with Archduke Frederick and his wife Archduchess Isabella began sometime in the early to mid-1890s. Isabella, who was a passionate amateur photographer, took lessons from Nähr and was inspired by his pictorial language.

The Vienna Secession was founded in the same year, and Nähr photographed its exhibitions from the very beginning and beyond Klimt's departure. By the time the Vienna Secession opened its new exhibition space on the Wienfluss, Nähr had already become its most important exhibition photographer.

1898 – 1901 Continued Success

Nähr continued to gain public recognition and his photographs were shown in exhibitions such as the “Jubilee Exhibition” (to mark the 50th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I).

In 1898, the magazine of the booksellers’ association reported that Nähr had now shifted his activities “to photographing industrial establishments, interiors of living spaces, machine halls, factories and the like”. None of these photographs are known to date.

Nähr exhibited photographs between May 7 and October 18, 1898 at the “Jubilee Exhibition” (for the 50th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I). In the exhibition of professional photographers, Nähr shows Landscape near Klosterneuburg and Section of the Prater. He exhibits eight landscape photographs of the widow of Crown Prince Rudolf,  Stéphanie of Belgium, as well as photographs of archducal officials of the forests in Teschen, which he had enlarged. Also on display are Nähr's industrial photographs (shots of machine rooms).

On February 24, 1900, Moriz and Ludmilla moved to Burggasse 33/16. In July and August of the same year, Nähr exhibited the photograph Danube Landscape at the “Jubilee Exhibition of the Association for the Cultivation of Photography and Related Arts” in Frankfurt am Main. Fritz, Nähr's younger brother, died on December 1, 1900. The original illness could have been syphilis, similar to Egon Schiele's father, who died a few years later under similar circumstances.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Vienna Photographic Society, an exhibition was held from November 4 to December 6, 1901. Moriz Nähr was represented in the contemporary section.

1902 – 1907 Beethoven and Mahler

In 1902, Nähr photographed the famous “Beethoven Exhibition”. His friend from the Hagengesellschaft, Alfred Roller, who had been brought to the Court Opera in 1903 as head of set design, arranged for Nähr to photograph Gustav Mahler in 1907.

In April 1902, the XIV exhibition (the so-called “Beethoven exhibition”) of the Vienna Secession took place. Moriz Nähr also took photographs during the construction of the exhibition. Nähr's photos of the participating artists and a portrait of Klimt enthroned in a painter's smock are famous.

Between May and October of the same year, Nähr presented Old Vienna, Former Bridge Across the Wien River Near Stubenthor at the exhibition of the German Photographers' Association as part of the “Industrial and Commercial Exhibition” in Department XVI Polygraphic Trades in Düsseldorf.

Nähr photographed Anna Klimt, Gustav Klimt's mother, in an armchair that she had received as a gift from the Wiener Werkstätte on her 70th birthday on January 27, 1906.

In 1907, Nähr was awarded the Diploma of Appreciation for his overall achievement by the jury of the exhibitions of artistic photographs at the Archduke Rainer Museum of Arts and Crafts in Brno. In the same year, Nähr took the well-known series of portraits of Gustav Mahler in the loggia of the Vienna Court Opera on the occasion of Mahler's farewell as Court Opera director. His friend from the Hagengesellschaft, Alfred Roller, who had been brought to the Court Opera by Mahler in 1903 as head of set design, arranged the commission and was present at the shoot. Nähr was also elected to the board of the Photographic Society that year.

1908 – 1910 Court Photographer

Nähr's professional relationship with the Habsburgs continued when he was awarded the title of Court Photographer by the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1908. On July 8, 1909, Nähr photographed Gustav Klimt, presumably in one of the courtyards on the exhibition grounds of the “Vienna International Art Exhibition 1909”.

For his services, Nähr was awarded the title of Court Photographer by Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1908. The title was more of an honor and not necessarily associated with financial benefits. When Nähr arrived too late to take photographs, the Archduke is said to have asked why he had not come in a hackney carriage. Nähr replied that he could not afford it on his salary. From 1908, Moriz Nähr was a member of the German Association of Craftsmen.

On July 8, 1909, Nähr photographed Klimt, presumably in one of the courtyards on the exhibition grounds of the “International Art Show Vienna 1909”, before he also traveled to the Attersee for a summer retreat on July 12, 1909. Klimt wrote to Emilie Flöge “[...] was photographed this morning at the art exhibition by Nähr - I am curious! [...]”

From May 1 to mid-October 1909, Nähr showed Moriz Nähr landscapes, interiors, a reproduction of a painting, a portrait, snapshots and an advertising photograph including Dance at the Fair at the International Photographic Exhibition in Dresden.

From 1910, Nähr was listed in the imprint of the Secession's exhibition catalogs as the person responsible for the “photographs for the illustrations”. He also became an appraiser in the Photographic Society for landscape, industrial, architectural and flash photography. He received the Golden Society Medal en vermeil for longstanding and outstanding merits and achievements in artistic photography.

On the occasion of the 80th birthday of Emperor Franz Joseph I, the “First International Hunting Exhibition” took place from May 7 to October 16, 1910. Nähr's photographs were not only exhibited, but Nähr also photographed the exhibition itself.

1911 – 1918 Nähr and Klimt

In May 1911, Nähr took his most famous photograph: Gustav Klimt with a cat in front of his studio in Josefstädter Straße. He later photographed Klimt's studio and the garden in Feldmühlgasse, thus capturing the original scene for posterity. He also received a commission from Austria's last emperor, Karl.

Nähr took his most famous photograph in May 1911: Gustav Klimt with a cat in front of his studio in Josefstädter Strasse. The reason for the photos in Klimt's backyard studio was that the artist was forced to leave the studio due to demolition work.

In 1912, Nähr became a co-founder of the Austrian Werkbund. In 1914, Nähr captured Klimt on his way to the Tivoli dairy. Nähr met there regularly with Klimt and the “breakfast society”.

Moriz Nähr documented Klimt's studio and the garden in Feldmühlgasse photographically, thus capturing the original setting for posterity. This was also the last series of portraits of Gustav Klimt at the age of 54. In August, Nähr moved with Ludmilla to Siebensterngasse 30/1/4/14, where his younger sister Antonia Nähr lived.

In 1917 or 1918, Moriz Nähr was commissioned to photograph the five-year-old Crown Prince Otto of Austria. Photographs of the children of Emperor Karl and Empress Zita played a major role in the visual propaganda of the last imperial couple.

1920 – 1929 Ludwig Wittgenstein

Nähr's contact with Ludwig Wittgenstein was not only professional, although he received various commissions from the philosopher and his family. It was Nähr who took the famous photo of Wittgenstein and his siblings.

Nähr was on friendly terms with the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), as letters from 1920 and 1921 show. At the end of March 1920, Ludwig Wittgenstein wanted to move to Siebensterngasse 30 together with Nähr, Ludmilla Waas and Antonia Nähr. This was not possible due to the cramped living conditions. It was also Ludwig Wittgenstein who had Nähr take a composite photo of himself and his sisters, as he was very concerned about the issue of family resemblance.

When Maximilian Lenz married Ida Kupelwieser, a niece of Karl Wittgenstein, on December 7, 1926, Nähr was his best man.

At the age of almost seventy, Moriz Nähr photographed the Wittgenstein House in Vienna's 3rd district, which Ludwig Wittgenstein had designed together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1882-1958). As can be clearly seen from the vegetation, the photographs were taken on at least three different dates: summer 1928 when the building was almost complete, in late autumn 1928 and in spring 1929. With these photographs, Nähr created a unique documentation of the house and brilliant proof of his incomparable skill at the end of his career.

1930 – 1945 Twilight Years

Moriz Nähr's relationship with Ludmilla Waas was happy, and he made her his universal heir. He married her just a few weeks before his death. Moriz Nähr passed away in Lainz Hospital on June 29, 1945. His widow Ludmilla survived him by only a few years and died on January 7, 1949.

Moriz Nähr wrote his will on December 13, 1931 and named his “faithful life partner” Ludmilla Waas as his universal heir. He bequeathed four works of art to his nephew and baptized child Karl Nähr, which he was to receive after Ludmilla Waas' death: two portraits by the Graz painter Ernst Christian Moser (1815-1867), which show his mother Antonia Nähr (1824-1899) and his maternal grandmother Karolina Neumann (1798-1845), as well as a genre painting and a plaster sculpture with flying cupids.

Nähr's photographs were presented for the last time in an exhibition in June 1933. Moriz Nähr is represented in the exhibition “Austria’s Federal States in Photographs” with photographs of the federal state of Vienna, including Urbani Cellar, Courtyard 30 Years Ago, Ratzenstadl and a view of Schönbrunn.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1939, Moriz Nähr was remembered and an article with a photograph was published in the Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung.

In the early 1940s, Moriz Nähr was contacted by the painter, architect and writer Emil Pirchan (1884-1957), who was preparing his monograph Gustav Klimt. An Artist from Vienna. Nähr entrusted him with his memories of Gustav Klimt. Pirchan observed how Nähr “became young again when he talked about the many hours he spent with Klimt”.

Until the end, Nähr only had very modest financial means, which is why he sold parts of his archive of negatives at irregular intervals. The major Klimt exhibition in Vienna in 1943 brought Nähr back into the limelight, as his Klimt portrait was published in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt. In May 1943, he managed to sell around 200 glass negatives to the picture archive of the Austrian National Library.

He only married Ludmilla Waas a few weeks before Nähr's death. It is unclear why this happened so late - around 50 years after they first met. It can be assumed that a marriage was out of the question because Ludmilla was not yet formally divorced. However, it is more likely that she was already a widow and drawing a widow's pension, which she did not want to give up. In any case, Moriz Nähr wanted Ludmilla to be provided for before she died.

On June 29, 1945, Moriz Nähr passed away in Lainz Hospital. In the years that followed, his widow Ludmilla sold several collections from Nähr's estate to the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna, including private photographs and a puppet theater. She survived him by only a few years and died on January 7, 1949.