Johannes Jaeger (1832–1908) was the photographer à la mode among the social and economic elite of the late 19th century. In addition to high society portraits, Jaeger worked with more experimental photography. He was also one of the first commercial photographers. In this small exhibition, we showed examples of how he explored the possibilities of the photographic medium.

Johannes Wilhelm Jaeger was born in Berlin in 1832 and died there 76 years later. At sixteen, Jaeger enrolled at Berlin’s Academy of Art, where he first studied the new medium of photography. He visited Sweden for the first time in 1857, and established a photographic studio on Fredsgatan 13 in Stockholm a few years later. His studio soon became famous and attracted members of Sweden’s high society, who wanted their portraits taken.

In addition to portraits, Jaeger devoted time to exploring the potential of photography. His practice included panoramas and cabinet, stereoscope and topographical photography. In 1865, he was rewarded with an appointment as Royal Court Photographer. In that capacity, he attended the stately inauguration of the General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm in 1866. King Karl XV had a cold and was unable to preside over the official ceremony and was replaced by Prince Oscar and Queen Lovisa at the opening. But Jaeger was there and documented the event, and pictures of it all were delivered to the king four hours later. This is now regarded as the first Swedish photographic reportage.

Art print, the first standardised edition, cabinet format, albumen silver print, mounted on paperboard, advertising Jaeger on the reverse side, labels describing the motif at the bottom, c. 1880/Vintage Photos Art AB collection.

Molin’s Fountain, stereophotographic image of the General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm in 1866, albumen silver prints, mounted on yellow paperboard, label on reverse side, 1866/ Vintage Photos Art AB collection.

Nationalmuseum, photo No 18, albumen silver print, mounted on yellow-white paperboard, c. 1870–80/ Vintage Photos Art AB collection.

At the time, Jaeger had also been appointed photographer for Nationalmuseum, and he made photographic reproductions for the Museum’s exhibitions that could be ordered. He was also one of Sweden’s first commercial photographers and an early user of the new collotype technology that made it cheaper to print large editions.

At the height of his career, in 1890 when he was 57, he sold his business to a colleague, Valentin Wolfenstein, who kept the company going under its original name, Atelier Jaeger. Jaeger left Sweden and tried to establish a new business in Berlin. But he had not been able to keep up with photographic technology, and the venture was unsuccessful.

In Sweden, Jaeger is seen as a pioneer. This exhibition showed examples of his explorations of the new medium, which contributed greatly to the development of photography in the period up to 1890.

The exhibition was produced in cooperation with Vintage Photos Art AB. It was on display in the Old Library on the middle floor. Free admission.