Rudolf Dührkoop (German, 1848–1918) was a portrait photographer and one of the early leaders of artistic photography in Germany. Born and based in Hamburg, he taught himself the craft and opened his own studio in the 1880s, rejecting stiff formal backdrops in favor of relaxed, character-driven portraits that emphasized personality and natural pose. His approach helped shift photography toward a more expressive, painterly style associated with Pictorialism.
