5000 negatives: the photographers Wanda and Marion Wulz.

This project has made it possible to reorganise, for the first time, the entire collection of documents belonging to the Wulz Photography Studio Archive, preserved at the Alinari Archives, and to share it online. The atelier was founded in the 1860s, in Trieste, by Giuseppe Wulz (1843–1918), and his son Carlo Wulz (1874–1928) who continued the business, followed by his granddaughters Wanda (1903–1984) and Marion (1905–1993). It is one of the most relevant historical photographic holdings in Italy, known worldwide due to Wanda’s futurist experiments.

Moreover, thanks to restoration and digitisation, the entire collection of negatives produced by the Wulz sisters, Wanda and Marion, has been safeguarded, studied, scanned, catalogued and made accessible online.

In addition to making unpublished materials available for photographic research and exhibitions, the project – through publication on the Foundation’s website and via outreach initiatives – enables the public to explore and understand an archive of great interest, not only for the history of photography but for Italian social history as well. The in-depth study of Wanda and Marion Wulz’s work also represents an important piece of knowledge, linked to the appreciation of women’s photographic production at large..

Reordering, describing and inventorying

The archives of the Trieste-based photography studio – founded in 1868 by Giuseppe Wulz (1843–1918) and continued by his son Carlo Wulz (1874–1928) and granddaughters Wanda (1903–1984) and Marion (1905–1993) Wulz – is comprised of plate negatives in various formats, b/w film negatives, vintage prints, documents of various kinds and photographic equipment that bear witness to the atelier’s entrepreneurial activity and photographic production, which is diversified according to the different personalities at work, from documentation of the city in the second half of the nineteenth century by Giuseppe Wulz, to the studio portraiture of Carlo and Wanda Wulz, whose important artistic experiments are also preserved, along with the wartime records of Marion Wulz.

The reorganised, conditioned and newly described holdings allow for consultation of the entire documentary collection, including originals – stored at the Art Defender repository in Calenzano, on the outskirts of Florence, as well as online. Their computerised description can be accessed online.

The work involved was reported on and shared by Marta Magrinelli and Emanuela Sesti in the event ‘WULZ PHOTOGRAPHY, NOVELTIES FROM THE ARCHIVE’S REVIEW’, as part of the ‘News from the Archives’ series of meetings, held on May 23, 2024 at FAF’s operational headquarters in Villa Fabbricotti, Florence. Its recording is available on our YouTube channel.

Study and cataloguing

The Foundation completed research into photographs in the collection attributed to Wanda and Marion Wulz, which began with the 2022 exhibition ‘Fotografe!’ with the goal of achieving complete authorial identification for vintage photographic prints and negatives alike. This study was made possible through archival work and the complete digitisation of their negatives, which made it possible to systematically verify if they matched up with vintage prints and, in many cases, enabled researchers to determine their authorship, or even attribute the shots differently. With outcomes resulting from research, the work of cataloguing the negatives began, and made it possible to better define or correct the dates, attributions and subjects depicted.

Conservation work

Following the inspection of the state of conservation of the 5,165 negatives belonging to the Wanda and Marion Wulz collections, 19 glass plates in a mediocre or very poor state of conservation – displaying damage to both the image layer and the supports – were restored. The restored plates were then positioned in four-ply envelopes, sometimes supported with 2 mm cardboard, and placed horizontally in bivalve boxes. In addition, all phototypes were dusted and their concretions and greasy patina removed. Adhesive tapes and adhesive residues were cleaned off, and broken or cracked glass supports were assembled and consolidated.

Digitalisation

Negatives belonging to the Wanda and Marion Wulz collection were then digitised: 5,251 negatives in formats ranging from 6.5 x 9 cm to 13.5 x 18.0 cm for glass plates and 6 x 6 cm for acetate films were scanned. Digitisation operations were carried out at Art Defender in Calenzano, where the Wulz Archive is currently stored along with the other Alinari holdings. Acquisitions were made by photographic shooting with a Fujifilm GFX 100s full frame camera (102 Mpx resolution) combined with a backlight system with calibrated colour temperature on a reproduction bench. 131 microfiches were also digitised.

The negatives (with their conversion to positive) are available HERE.

This project was made possible thanks to the contribution of Calliope Arts Foundation.

"5,000 Negatives" is Calliope Arts’ second project with the Alinari Foundation for Photography.

Calliope Arts’ mission is to raise public awareness of women’s often-overlooked contributions to the visual arts, literature, music and social history of Florence, London and the world.