Every once in a while we
are surprised by some unexpected news regarding Leica and its history. Most Leica aficionados are familiar with Oskar Barnack. After all, he is the father
of the Leica and 35mm photography as we know it. Few, however, are aware that there are two
other Barnacks with a connection to the Leica, Oskar Barnack’s children Conrad
and Hana.
LEICA Barnack Berek Blog
reader Chris Dorley-Brown from London, UK, sent me the following email:
Dear Heinz,
I have been looking at the
Blog and wondered if you would be interested in this picture taken by my father
in 1947, the man on the left is Conrad Barnack, son of Oskar.
My dad met Conrad as a
British Army POW in WW2. Conrad was a prison orderly and taught my dad to speak
German. They remained friends and after the war got together frequently. He
gave dad a Leica and he shot one roll of Kodachrome but preferred his
Rolleiflex so he gave it back to Conrad!
I still have that roll of Kodachrome
which is in great
condition after nearly 70 years. I am a photographer myself and always feel a
connection with this part of the medium’s history, which I thought I would
share with you.
best wishes
Chris Dorley-Brown
London
Conrad Barnack (left) with
friends
That made me think of the
fact that I had never seen a picture of Conrad Barnack, and I decided to look a
bit further into this. An internet
search revealed a few more things. Oscar
Barnack had two children, Johanna, born in 1906, and Conrad, born in 1908. Searching further I found one more photograph,
published by liveauctioneers. It shows
Conrad Barnack together with his sister Johanna. They commented the following about this
picture:
Conrad and Johanna Barnack
Photo Used with permission
of liveauctioneers
Barnack was particularly
fond of Hanna’s blond locks; many photographs show her alone, several together
with Conrad. There are only a few images of Conrad alone. A comparison with
later pictures of the two indicates that these were taken in the summer of 1914.
Conrad had started going to school, which is when boys began to wear sailor
shirts. The gaze of the shy child is already mixed by the saucy expression of a
future rascal. The children knew to keep still when their father was taking a
photograph – this was true of the Ur-Leica too, as the film was not very
sensitive. This is apparent from the shadows, which are not very
differentiated. This is a very early image taken with the Ur-Leica.
Unfortunately their site
does not show any other pictures of Barnack’s children at all, and neither do
any other. But through the efforts of
Chris Dorley-Brown and liveauctioneers who gave us
permission to use these pictures of Conrad and Johanna, we are able to learn a
little bit more about his descendants.
___________________________________________________________________________
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