A leader of Pictorialist photography in Europe, Kühn belonged to both the Vienna Camera Club and the Kleeblatt, a trio of photographers that included Hans Watzek and Hugo Henneberg. Exhibiting together until 1903, the three made very large pictures with broad, rich tonal masses that involved a high degree of handwork. This photograph belongs to a slightly later part of Kühn’s career, when, without sacrificing the breadth of his vision, he turned to more intimate motifs—portraits, domestic still lifes, and views of the countryside surrounding Innsbruck. With their hazy outlines and sensitive rendering of light and shade, such images belong to the world of late Impressionism.
