The La Jolla Historical Society opened “Leopold Hugo: La Jolla as Muse in Pictorialist Photography” on Sept. 1 — an exhibit featuring a photographic timeline and biography of La Jolla’s first professional photographer, according to the society’s historian Carol Olten. Despite some mystery surrounding facts of his life, like the exact date and location of his birth, one thing is certain — Leopold Hugo was instrumental in capturing the history and natural beauty of La Jolla in his photography of the coastline in the early 20th century. The Prussian-born artist first came to La Jolla in 1907 when he established a dry goods store in the heart of present-day La Jolla Village. Much of Hugo’s early work focused on photographic postcards taken at surrounding beaches — many originals of which are currently on display at the Historical Society’s exhibit. He later elevated his technique from mere snapshot photography to a level of photographic art, Olten said. “He was one of the California pictorialists of the early 1900s who photographed landscapes, seascapes and nature, but then altered it in their techniques and their developing process,” she said. The height of Hugo’s progression in this style of photography is illustrated at the exhibit through a group of 15 photographs that were donated by Ray Clarke Rose, a New York author and writer who compiled “La Jolla California, the Little Town of Heart’s Desire,” a promotional pamphlet featuring photographs with striking scenes of waves crashing against a rocky shoreline, dramatic scenes of light piercing through foreboding clouds and Cathedral Rock near present-day Casa de Manana which crashed into the sea in 1906. The exhibit also showcases photographs from a period of time when Hugo sporadically disappeared to locations in northern California where he continued his work before eventually returning to La Jolla in 1929. Researcher Sandy Spalding at the La Jolla Historical Society scoured newspaper collections, tracked down relatives and acquired copies of photographs in order to uncover many of the mysteries surrounding Hugo’s life. Several unknowns, however, remain. The final plaque at the exhibit reads: “As an individual, Hugo remains somewhat of an enigma. He died after having a heart attack on a driving trip with his wife to visit relatives in Belton, Texas in 1933. He could have been 67 — or 62 or 63? He could have been German — or Austrian? But what really matters, after all, is his eye for the world and how he wished others to see it.” “Leopold Hugo: La Jolla as a Muse in Pictorialist Photography” will be on display until Nov. 20 at Wisteria Cottage, located at 780 Prospect St. Hours of operation are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, visit www.lajollahistory.org or call (858) 459-5335.
