Photographers

Anton Trixl, born 1878 in St. Ulrich am Pillersee, died 1954 in Zirl, was a Landsturm-Werkmeister of the Austro-Hungarian Army at the „Dolomitenfront“ in the East and South Tyrolean Mountains 1915–1918. In 366 photographs he documented the war’s daily life, different areas of the Southwest-front ranging from Kartitsch and Sexten to Col di Lana as well as the end of World War I in 1918. Anton Trixl is also the head and the „official“ photographer of Sepp Innerkofler’s excavation who died in a fight at the Paternkofel in 1915.

Jakob Sottsass, born 1926 in Stern – La Villa, died 2008 in Bozen – Bolzano, took care of the Panzenbacherhof in Olang – Valdaora in 1969 where he had moved as a child with his parents. After World War II he went into photography (education at Foto Fränzl/Bozen – Bolzano) and became a popular wedding and family photographer. He portrayed many villages and towns via postcards.

Hans Frisch, born 1930 in Bad Ischl/Austria, moved to Bruneck – Brunico/South Tyrol (Italy) at the age of 3. He became a baker by trade and took over his father’s firm that he expanded to a modern big company called „Frischbrot“.
But his favourite hobby from his years as a teenager on was rock climbing and mountaineering in the Dolomites – he was the first climber of more than a dozen routes, i.e. the north face of the „Kleine Zinne“ alone during winter. The famous pioneer, mountain guide, and mountain rescuer Hans Frisch has documented many of his tours with his Leica photo camera.

Franz von Kahler, born 1862 in Weckersdorf/Bohemia, died in 1950 in Klagenfurt, made his career as a military officer and troops commander in Klagenfurt. The collection includes rare panorama photographs of (the family’s stay in) Sillian 1912 to the outbreak of Word War I 1914 as well as of local troops‘ field exercises before the war (Feldjäger-Bataillon Nr. 6).

Carl Alexander Czichna (1807–1867) founded a lithographic company in Innsbruck in 1841 which he expanded with a photographic branch around 1861. He became a well-known landscape photographer, focussing on Innsbruck and surrounding. Above all, he published an album about the Brenner railroad during construction 1864–1867.