author
Emil Mayer
1871–1938
A Viennese lawyer who followed his passion for photography, he became known for vivid street scenes and portraits of everyday life in early-20th-century Vienna. His work is especially remembered for its skillful bromoil prints and its sharp eye for the people of the city.
1 Audiobook
Bromoil printing and bromoil transfer
by Emil Mayer
About the author
Born in Bohemia in 1871 and later based in Vienna, Emil Mayer trained in law and worked as a lawyer before turning more fully toward photography. He became an important figure in Vienna’s photographic world, combining artistic interests with technical curiosity as a photographer, inventor, and businessperson.
Mayer is best known for his photographs of Vienna around the turn of the century, especially candid studies of workers, street vendors, soldiers, and other city characters. Museums and reference sources also note his mastery of the demanding bromoil process, a technique that helped give his pictures their distinctive mood and texture.
His career places him at the crossroads of documentary observation and pictorial art. Today, his images remain a rich record of everyday urban life in old Vienna, preserving scenes and faces that might otherwise have been lost.