Zurich’s first female photographer

In its early days, photography was often seen as a male domain. However, some females were also among the pioneers of the new art form in the 19th century, including in Switzerland. One of them was Regula Rathgeb, who even wanted to set up her own studio.

Saro Pepe

Saro Pepe is an archivist and works for Baugeschichtliches Archiv Zürich. He guides the ‘Zurich is being photographed’ tour for Stattreisen.

In 1860, a ‘general directory of practising photographers in Germany, the Austrian Empire, Switzerland and the capital cities of the neighbouring countries’ came out in Leipzig. It was 140 pages long and listed an impressive number of people who were dedicated to the still new technology. Twenty years earlier, the presentation of Louis Daguerre’s invention had unleashed a photography mania throughout the world. Even back then, the directory had almost 100 entries for large cities like Berlin or Vienna. The city of Zurich had eleven names, ten of which were men plus ‘Mrs Rathgeb’. Thanks to various documents, which came to light following the ‘Fotoateliers in Zürich’ exhibition on the city’s photo studios, it became possible to trace parts of the life of the woman who was probably Zurich’s first female professional photographer.

**Extract from the Leipzig directory of photographers. Some sources claim it came out in 1863, not 1860.** State and University Library Dresden

A turbulent marriage

Regula Rathgeb was born on 20 June 1828 in Wallisellen, which was a farming village in those days. She moved to Zurich in 1859 and married plumber Georg Eiffert. The marriage hardly lasted a year and was difficult, as can be seen from the divorce records: “married on 17 May 1859; the marriage remained childless after the wife initiated divorce proceedings on 11 March 1860 due to abuse and defamation.” The records in the State Archives also report that Eiffert “threw [his wife] to the floor several times, knelt on her throat, hit her with a shoe and called her the worst kind of insults, such as whore, hussy, bastard and the like”. Eiffert pled guilty and had to pay Rathgeb 500 francs in compensation to “help her make a new start”. He also had to pay court costs of just under 50 francs.

**Extract from the property register for Spiegelgasse 16.** Stadtarchiv Zürich

Project beset by obstacles

After her divorce, Regula Rathgeb lived from 20 March 1862 to 16 April 1869 at Haus zum Schäfli, Steingasse (now Spiegelgasse 16). When she moved in, she was entered in the property register as a ‘photographer’. It is not known how long she had worked in the profession or where she had learnt photography. An interesting find in the building inspectors’ archives shows that the photographer set her sights high: Rathgeb planned to build a glass photo studio in the autumn of 1864. Spaces like these became more of a feature from the mid-1850s as professional people started to gravitate more towards the cities. It required a lot of natural light to achieve good photographic results, as there was no artificial light in those days. The small constructions made entirely of window glass looked like greenhouses and were erected at ground level or on the rooftops of houses several storeys high.

A photo studio on Kasernenstrasse, photo from around 1895.

There were more than 100 photo studios in the city of Zurich from 1855 to 1915. They were used mainly for people and portrait photography. e-pics

Rathgeb planned to build her photo studio on the roof of the building at Brunngasse 8. This property was one of the best known houses in the area and is still well known today for its wall paintings and important role in the history of the Jewish community in Zurich.

**Preconstruction drawing, 1864.** Baugeschichtliches Archiv Stadt Zürich

Jakob Linsi had only bought the property at Brunngasse 8 a few years earlier and had worked extensively on it. According to fire insurance records, the value of the property doubled from 35,000 to 70,000 francs. The preconstruction drawing for Rathgeb's photo studio dates from 8 November 1864. Some residents objected and blocked the project:

As you know, the owner Mr Linsi acquired house no. 341 while the building code was coming into force and, in the face of objections, he significantly exceeded the maximum height for his house. We do not know what was behind this; now we have Mrs Rathgeb, a person we don’t know, who is putting a structure on the top of the building in question, against which we believe we have every right to object […]

Letter from J. Widmer to the City Council, 4 November 1864.

The objections were not so much against Rathgeb’s studio, but against Jakob Linsi, the owner of the property. On 30 June 1863, the cantonal building code came into effect for Zurich and Winterthur. It’s possible that Linsi did the work on his house in 1863 to avoid having to conform to the new building code. The neighbours were obviously unhappy about the building becoming higher. And it was Regula Rathgeb who finally pushed them over the edge with her planning application.

**The roof terrace of Brunngasse 8 (left), 1988.** Baugeschichtliches Archiv Stadt Zürich

It was unfortunate for her, but fortunate for posterity, as – just like her divorce – it produced a raft of records. For example, there is an exchange of letters from October 1864 in which Rathgeb explains why the application was worthy of approval. She made a forceful case to the City Council about how much she needed the studio. Her “continued existence” depended on her being able to use the space as she had been unable to find another suitable location. She had already bought the glasshouse and said she didn’t know what to do with it. “Most esteemed gentlemen! I have credible witnesses who will confirm that I have always done my best to work tirelessly and at great cost to myself through difficulty and adversity, so as not to be a burden to others […] I beg you, please do not turn me down.” The planning application was ultimately rejected as the house was already too high. Rathgeb was really unlucky, because the building inspectors’ report had approved the plans, but the higher-ranking building commission issued a recommendation to the City Council to withhold approval. Last ditch attempts to find a solution by making the studio smaller or restricting the project to two years were launched by way of appeal against the decision, but in vain. Much like her photos, knowledge of Regula Rathgeb’s subsequent photography career and of whether she managed to find a studio somewhere else has disappeared into the mists of time. Although we do know that she was no longer listed among the ‘photographers’ in the 1867 Zurich directory, meaning she was probably employed by someone else instead of managing her own studio. She was listed as a ‘photographer’ again in records dating from 1868. From 1879, she appeared in the address book as a ‘tailor’. Regula Rathgeb died on 26 March 1899 in Zurich at the age of 71.

Women in the early days of photography

The story of Regula Rathgeb is not a one-off. There are many accounts of women who worked in photography and acquired studios following a divorce or the death of their husband. However, research into the role of women in the early days of photography in Switzerland is rather patchy and there are only some biographies that can provide a fuller account, for example that of Alwina Gossauer, who worked in Zurich and Rapperswil from 1864. There is not a lot of research about Marguerite Schneider (born in 1828), Maria Stelzer-Weilenmann (1848-1944) or Maria Zipfel (born in 1859), who all worked as photographers after Regula Rathgeb.

More of: Modern Age Society Women in history Culture Photography

Further posts

The Grenchen spy camera: a favourite of the Stasi and the CIA

Dominik Landwehr 07.09.2023 In 1960 an unusual camera came onto the market: the Tessina, made in Grenchen. It was the world’s smallest 35mm camera at the time. Although never a bestseller, it proved popular with some of the intelligence services.

Invented in Ticino, produced in Grenchen and used on secret missions worldwide: the Tessina camera.

Walter Mittelholzer – with a plane and a camera

Michael Gasser 20.07.2018 Walter Mittelholzer is still remembered as a pilot, aerial photographer and founder of Swissair. Mittelholzer himself worked hard to create this image, not least through the clever marketing of aerial photos of his homeland and images of foreign exotica.

Walter Mittelholzer – the flying adventurer and entrepreneur

A behind-the-scenes look at the National Museum circa 1973

Fabian Müller 28.06.2018 A 1973 photo gallery conserves an exciting insight into the National Museum’s workshops, offices, studios and collections.