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Spiratone

  • Spiratone was a photo company and photo supplier founded in 1941 by the Austrian émigré family Hans (1888–1944) and Paula Spira (?–?) and their son Fred Spira (1924–2007).
  • Spiratone
  • Photo Supplier
  • Spiratone was a photo company and photo supplier founded in 1941 by the Austrian émigré family Hans (1888–1944) and Paula Spira (?–?) and their son Fred Spira (1924–2007).

    Word Count: 24

  • It began as a film developing supplier and small portrait studio in the family's apartment, catering mainly for Austrian émigrés, but quickly grew into a huge company specialising in the distribution of photo accessories such as filters, lenses and extension rings. After the death of Hans Spira in 1944, his son Fred took over Spiratone. An advertisement in Minicam magazine, as well as others in the following year, reveal that the company was located at 49 West 27th Street, near 6th Avenue. The photo equipment shop can be seen in the network of other photo service suppliers founded by émigrés as Leco, Modernage Photographic Service, Pavelle Laboratories, Photo Service Suppliers and JJK Copy-Art.

    Hans Spira, the father of Fred (formerly Siegfried Franz) Spira was an official at the Bodencreditanstalt bank in Vienna and later owned the Photohaus Spira-Ritz. On their arrival in New York, the family were keen to make a fresh start in the same business. As a Jew, Fred Spira had been forced to leave school in 1938 and was sent through a Kindertransport mission to Doncaster, Great Britain, where he was able to continue his schooling. In June 1940 he left Great Britain with his father and emigrated to New York, where his mother, Paula Spira, had already moved in February 1940.

    During the 1940s, after Fred Spira took over the shop on his father's death, he began selling new and used cameras and wide-angle and telephoto lenses in his shop and by mail-order. In addition, Spiratone offered services such as refilling 35mm film cartridges and film processing. Orders were placed and shipped by post, and customers were reached through advertisements in trade magazines. Furthermore, Fred Spira discovered the Japanese photo market and under the name Spiratone sold a variety of zoom lenses, low-cost 500mm mirror lenses, fisheye lenses and 400mm f/6.3 lenses, all imported from Japan and distributed in the U.S. (Keppler 2007). In addition, Spiratone's revolutionary extension rings were the first to ensure compatibility between lenses and cameras from different manufacturers.

    The level of the company's importance and success, both in the New York and the wider American photo market, can be seen in the full-page advertisements that appeared in such magazines as Minicam, Popular Photography, U.S. Camera, Camera and many more. Popular Photography was an important magazine for émigré photographers, who were able to publish both their images from their previous times in Europe as well as newer photographs from their exile in New York. Among the émigré photographers published were Lucien Aigner, Ruth Bernhard, Erwin Blumenfeld, Josef Breitenbach, Alexey Brodovitch, Rudy Burckhardt, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Andreas Feininger, Philippe Halsman, Fritz Henle, Ruth Jacobi, Lilly Joss, Clemens Kalischer, George Karger, André Kértész, Hermann Landshoff, Lisa Larsen, Herbert Matter, Hansel Mieth, Lisette Model, Martin Munkacsi, Fritz Neugass, Walter Sanders, Kurt Safranski, Xanti Schawinsky, Rolf Tietgens, Werner Wolff, Roman Vishniac and Ylla.

    During the Spiratone years, Fred Spira also became a photo-theorist and a collector of antique cameras and portraits and left a huge photographic collection. In 2001 The History of Photography as Seen Through The Spira Collection was published, in which Michael Hoffmann, the executive director of the Aperture Foundation, presented a history of photography using images from the Fred Spira Collection for his illustrations.
    In 2020 most of the collection was sold at auction to the Qatar Museum in Doha, for a planned photographic museum. It can be guessed that behind the auction was Sheikh Saoud, a Qatari prince and Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage. Today, the Fred Spira Collection is probably held in the Museum of Islamic Art or in the Qatar Museum.

    Word Count: 598

  • 49 West 27th Street, NoMad, Manhattan, New York City (1941–1980); 130 West 31st Street, Koreatown, Manhattan, New York City (1980–1990).

  • Logo and address of Spiratone in Popular Photography, June 1947, p. 104.
  • Advertisement in Minicam, vol. 5, no. 1, September 1941 p. 73; 84; 100
    Advertisement for Spiratone in Popular Photography, October 1949, p. 5.
  • Gilbert, George. The Illustrated Worldwide Who’s Who of Jews in Photography. G. Gilbert, 1996.

    Hevesi, Dennis. “Fred Spira, 83, Who Made Photo Gadgets Accessible, Dies.” The New York Times, 14 September 2007. Accessed 25 February 2021.

    Keppler, Herbert. “The Way It Is. Siegfried Franz Who?.” Photoreporter, vol. 15, no. 16, 14 September 2007. Accessed 25 February 2021.

    Spira, S.F., et al. The History of Photography As Seen Through The Spira Collection. Aperture, 2001.

    Word Count: 62

  • Helene Roth
  • 1941
  • 1990
  • New York
  • No
  • Helene Roth. "Spiratone." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2948/object/5145-11016864, last modified: 03-03-2022.
  • Black Star Agency
    Photo Agency
    New York

    The German émigrés Kurt S(z)afranski, Ern(e)st Mayer and Kurt Kornfeld founded Black Star in 1936. The photo agency established was a well-run networking institution in New York.

    Word Count: 31

    Rapho Guillumette
    Photo Agency
    New York

    Founded in 1940 by the emigrant Charles Rado (1899–1970), Rapho Guillumette was a picture agency.

    Word Count: 13

    Three Lions Inc.
    Photo Agency
    New York

    Little is known about this photo agency, which was founded by two German émigré brothers, Max Georg and Walter Löwenherz in 1937 in New York

    Word Count: 25

    Pavelle Laboratories Inc.
    Photo LabPhoto Supplier
    New York

    Pavelle Laboratories was found in 1936 by Leo and Carmen Pavelle and operated on East 42nd Street. It was specialised in the development of miniature camera film and one of the first labs working with colour film.

    Word Count: 36

    Service Photo Suppliers Inc.
    Photo Supplier
    New York

    Service Photo Suppliers was a photo supplier distributing a wide variety of photo equipment and opened by the German émigré Hans Salomon (1909–?) in 1945.

    Word Count: 23

    Hermann Landshoff
    Photographer
    New York

    Besides outdoor fashion shots, Hermann Landshoff was a portrait and street photographer. During his time in New York, he captured the cultural, artistic and intellectual émigré scene as well as his photographer colleagues.

    Word Count: 33

    Walter Sanders
    Photographer
    New York

    Walter Sanders was a German émigré photographer. In 1938 he arrived in New York, where he worked from 1939 until the end of his life for the Black Star agency and, from 1944, for Life magazine.

    Word Count: 33

    Kurt Safranski
    Picture AgentFounding MemberTeacherCartoonistPublisherIllustrator
    New York

    Kurt Safranski was one of the founding members of the Black Star photo agency, a teacher at the New School for Social Research and the author of photojournalistic articles and books.

    Word Count: 31

    Werner Wolff
    Photographer
    New York

    Werner Wolff was forced to leave Germany in 1936 due to his Jewish background and emigrated via Hamburg to New York, where he could follow his career as photographer and photojournalist.

    Word Count: 30

    Josef Breitenbach
    Photographer
    New York

    On arriving in New York in 1941, the German photographer Josef Breitenbach tried to restart as a portrait, street and experimental photographer, as well as a teacher of photo-history and techniques.

    Word Count: 30

    Andreas Feininger
    PhotographerWriterEditor
    New York

    Andreas Feininger, was a German émigré photographer who arrived in New York with his wife Wysse Feininger in 1939. He started a lifelong career exploring the city's streets, working as a photojournalist and writing a large number of photography manuals.

    Word Count: 39

    Ruth Bernhard
    Photographer
    New York

    Ruth Bernhard was a German émigré photographer who lived in New York from the 1920s to the 1940s. Beside her series on female nudes, her place in the photography network, as well as in the New York queer scene, is unknown and understudied.

    Word Count: 43

    Lisette Model
    Photographer
    New York

    Lisette Model was an Austrian-born photographer who lived in New York with her husband Evsa Model after emigrating from France. Her street photographs capturing the curiosities of everyday life quickly caught the interest of museums and magazines.

    Word Count: 37

    Alexey Brodovitch
    PhotographerArt DirectorGraphic Designer
    New York

    Alexey Brodovitch was a Belarus-born émigré graphic artist, art director and photographer who, from 1933, worked in New York for Harper’s Bazaar magazine and at the New School for Social Research.

    Word Count: 31

    Rolf Tietgens
    PhotographerEditorWriter
    New York

    Rolf Tietgens was a German émigré photographer who arrived in New York in 1938. Although, in the course of his photographic career, his artistic and surrealist images were published and shown at exhibitions, his work, today, is very little known.

    Word Count: 39

    Ruth Jacobi
    Photographer
    New York

    Ruth Jacobi was a German-speaking, Polish-born photographer who emigrated in 1935 to New York, where she opened a studio together with her sister Lotte Jacobi. She later had her own portrait studio.

    Word Count: 31

    Lilly Joss
    Photographer
    New York

    Lilly Joss was an émigré freelance photographer in New York. She worked for the Black Star photo agency and magazines and was also a portrait and theatre photographer.

    Word Count: 28

    Ylla
    Photographer
    New York

    Ylla was an Austrian-born photographer who emigrated to New York in 1941. Specialising in animal photography, she produced not only studio photographs, but also shot outside on urban locations in the metropolis.

    Word Count: 31

    Fritz Henle
    Photographer
    New York

    Fritz Henle was a German Jewish photographer who emigrated in 1936 to New York, where he worked as a photojournalist for various magazines. He also published several photobooks of his travels throughout North America and Asia.

    Word Count: 35

    Rudy Burckhardt
    PhotographerFilmmakerPainter
    New York

    Rudy Burckhardt was a Swiss-born photographer, filmmaker and painter who emigrated from Basle to New York City in 1935. He was well networked within the emerging Abstract Expressionist art scene of 1940s' and 50s'.

    Word Count: 33

    Leco Photo Service
    Photo Lab
    New York

    Leco Photo Service was a photofinishing lab, highly-frequented and a contact hub for émigré photographers and photo agencies during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a provider of employment for women in the photo industry.

    Word Count: 36

    Modernage Photographic Services Inc
    Photo Lab
    New York

    Modernage Photographic Services was founded in 1944 by the German émigrés Ralph and Leuba Baum and specialised in photofinishing services. In 1954 a second branch, Modernage Custom Darkrooms, was opened.

    Word Count: 29

    JJK Copy-Art
    Photo LabPhoto StudioPhoto Supplier
    New York

    JJK Copy-Art was a photo studio and photofinishing service founded in 1929 by the Jewish Austrian émigré James J. Kriegsmann (1909–1994) and was located at 165 West 46th Street.

    Word Count: 26