Figurev 1.--Karel Egermeier was born in what is now Czechia, but worked primarily in France. Some of his photographs are not readily identifiable as French, but some are quintessentially French like this one taken about 1935. A reader wries, "What a fantastic image. The three purely oramental buttons on the side of the shorts of the two boys on the bench are visible. his was was common with 19th century knee pants, but continued into the early 20h century with short pants. They were an artifact of 18th century knee breeches, used to close the pants at the knee hem."

Karel (Charles) Egermeier was a photogapher focusing on children and youth. We have been unable to find much biographical information about him. He was born in Teplitz, Bohenia, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1903). It is now part of Czechia. He attended German-language schools, where he gradually acquired the language. His father was cobbler. His mother died when he was young. He was to young to serve in World War I. He moved to France after he War and settled in Paris. He worked in a series of part-time jobs. He did not take a photograph until a trip to Switerland (1931), but then fell in love wih the medium. Many of his photographs are not readily identifiable as French, but some are quintessentially French like this one taken about 1935 (figure 1). He was active in the Scouting movement wih the nick name Aiglon--the Eaglet,m ostly before the War. He began publishing some of his photogrphs in the calendar of the Ligarts (1936). He capturd some fascinating French images before the War. Afer World War II he worked the magazine Les Lut and then for a sports teaching publication Les Vives. He illustrated 'Olympic landscape' by Henry de Montherlant. One surce suggets he was inolved wih the Czech Government in exile, but we cannot confirm that. He subsequently collaborated with Daniel Rops to illusrate seveal books with his photographs. He illustrated Roger Peyrefitte's From Vesuvius to Etna. At the same time, he devoted himself to least to photographic adventures. He ceased to be active (1960s). He died in Paris (1991).

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Created: 12:53 AM 1/20/2025
Last updated: 12:53 AM 1/20/2025