Background

He was born on July 16, 1881 in Baltimore, the son of David Bachrach, a pioneering photographer, and Frances Keyser.

Education

Bachrach's formal education scarcely extended beyond the elite Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated with honors in 1897.

Presumably he was to become an engineer, but reacting to the rigors and monotony of his first jobs in industry, he persuaded his father, in 1900, to accept him as an apprentice in his Baltimore studio. Two years later, he toured some of the better New York studios, while furthering his training in drawing at the Art Students League.

Career

He became manager of his father's Washington, D. C. , studio when he was twenty-one. Chafing under his father's direction and longing to escape Washington and Baltimore summers, Bachrach borrowed $2, 300 from his father and a family friend to purchase a small studio in Worcester, Massachussets, in March 1904. For four years he worked with some success. Then, about 1908, he began to offer sittings in homes in and near Worcester at no additional cost, an innovation made possible by the automobile. This device was to set him apart from his competitors and soon "Photos by Bachrach" became available to well-to-do families throughout New England.

Achieving a growing mastery of group portraits in relaxed domestic settings, in 1913 Bachrach began concentrating on the more lucrative Boston market. That year he established his first central processing plant in Boston, settling permanently in Newtonville, Massachussets By 1917 he owned four thriving studios and held another one jointly with his brother, Walter, on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

In 1925 Walter sold out to Louis, who now headed a chain of some twenty studios with sales exceeding $1. 5 million dollars. Reluctantly going along with the tide of big business, Bachrach expanded his studios to forty-eight and employed some six hundred people by 1929. His operations extended from Portland, Maine, to Indianapolis, Ind. Even during the bullish 1920's, when photography came of age in America, many Bachrach studios were losing money. Labor costs, high rents, and advertising costs outstripped sales.

The Depression and demands of creditors forced Bachrach to cut back the number of his studios to eight and to trim the staff to some two hundred by 1935. He thus improved communication among staff and restored quality control. From 1932 to 1960, when he delegated this responsibility to his sons, he insisted upon examining daily every proof submitted for client approval. Encouraged by annual sales that once again exceeded a million dollars, Bachrach opened a ninth studio, in Chicago, in 1944. In 1955 Bachrach relinquished the presidency to his elder son, Bradford, continuing as chairman of the board until his death.

In Bachrach's view, most subjects wished to be idealized rather than being given mere maps of their faces and these wishes should be respected: all men should be portrayed as "virile, intelligent and handsome, " and all women as either beautiful or having a "charming, graceful and aristocratic bearing. " Since photographing men and women posed different technical and psychological demands, Bachrach and his sons adopted the novel but effective practice of dividing their main branches into separate studios with separate staffs for male and female portraits. In the tradition established by his father, Bachrach photographed many famous personages, including American presidents from Taft to Kennedy. But he eschewed the professional limelight and cultivated both a rugged and refined individualism; he never lost the common touch.

He died in Boston.

Achievements

• He was respected for his devotion to high standards of portraiture and the merchandising thereof, and his ability to inspire his associates to work within these standards.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Photo: John Barrett, by Bachrach, Louis 1920's

    (Photograph Description: John Barrett, three-quarter lengt...)

  • Photo: Oliver Wendell Holmes, by Louis Bachrach

    (Photograph Description: Oliver Wendell Holmes, half-lengt...)

  • John F Kennedy JFK Portrait by Fabian Bachrach Poster Art Photo Iconic American Posters Artwork Photos 11x14

    (John F Kennedy JFK Portrait by Fabian Bachrach. High qual...)

  • Louis D Gibbs President Boston Ad Club by Bachrach 1931

    (6 1/2 x 8 1/2". Dated JUN 2 1931. Original photograph. In...)

Personality

Bachrach was a slight, wiry, intensely animated man with rapidly blinking gray eyes. He spoke quickly but precisely and enjoyed telling colorful stories drawn from an ever-present pocket notebook.

Interests

• Bachrach was a connoisseur and collector of art and historic objects and was an active outdoorsman, playing golf in the low 90's. His greatest pleasure, characteristically, was in confounding experts by growing certain flowers and shrubs in supposedly inhospitable New England soil.

Connections

On June 29, 1909, Bachrach married Dorothy Deland Keyes. They had three children. On November 9, 1957, the year following his wife's death, Bachrach married Marjorie Whitney Callard.

Father:

David Bachrach

photographer

Mother:

Frances Keyser

Brother:

Walter Bachrach

Wife:

Dorothy Deland Keyes

Wife:

Marjorie Whitney Callard