Anton Bruehl was born in
Hawker, Australia in 1900, the son of German immigrants.[1] In 1919, he moved to the United States to work as an electrical engineer and was already "a skilled amateur photographer".[1] Bruehl was taught by
Clarence H. White for six months in 1923, then being asked to teach at White's school for summer sessions in Maine. After White's passing in 1925, Bruehl opened his own studio in New York, at first partnering with photographer
Ralph Steiner and then later with his older brother
Martin Bruehl.[2] Working in New York, Bruehl created colour photographs for advertisements in top American magazines such as Vogue and the Vanity Fair. Outside of advertising, Bruehl produced images of screen and stage stars, and other celebrities, and produced the award-winning documentary photo book Photographs ofMexico (1933).[3] Bruehl won top advertising awards for his photography throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s.[4] Working for
Condé Nast Publications, he developed the Bruehl-Bourges color process with color specialist
Fernand Bourges, which gave
Condé Nast a monopoly on color magazine reproduction from 1932 to 1935.[2] In 1931
Alma Reed exhibited Bruehl’s non-commercial photographs at her New York gallery,
Delphic Studios. Bruel retired from his photography studio in 1966.
Exhibitions
Contemporary American Photography, 1-31 March 1929, Ayer Galleries, Washington Square, Philadelphia.
Photography 1839-1937, 17 March-18 April 1937,
MoMA.[5]
Three Centuries of American Art, 24 May-31 July 1938,
MoMA.[6]
^Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection, New York: Bulfinch Press in association with the International Center of Photography, 1999, p. 210.
^Newhall, Beaumont (1937). Photography, 1839-1937. New York: MoMA. p. 6.
^Trois siècles d'art aux États-Unis. Paris: Musée du Jeu de Paume. 1938. p. 87.
^Levy, Julien, and David Travis. Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection: Starting with Atget / Essay and Catalogue by David Travis. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1976.