Johan Hagemeyer

Who was Johan Hagemeyer?

Johan Hagemeyer was a Dutch born horticulturalist and vegetarian who is remembered primarily for being an early 20th-century photographer and artistic intellectual. His family came to California to grow fruit trees, but in 1916 he met photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who convinced him to devote his life to the then emerging world of artistic photography. In 1923 Hagemeyer opened a portrait studio in San Francisco and also built a summer studio in Carmel, California which soon became a meeting place for artists and intellectuals.

It was there that he met Edward Weston, who encouraged Hagemeyer to further his career in photography. Hagemeyer soon developed his own style, and from the 20s through the 40s he photographed leading figures of the day, including Albert Einstein and Salvador Dalí. However, he sometimes retouched or manipulated his photos, which went against the beliefs of Weston. His refusal to adhere to Weston's views was a major cause in a growing alienation of the two men. When Weston, Ansel Adams and others founded Group f/64, devoted to straight, unmanipulated photography, Hagemeyer did not join.