Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Hugo Höffert (25 October 1832 – 8 April 1901) was a German photographer, who ran studios in numerous German cities.
Life
Höffert's parents were actors. He was born during a theatre engagement of his parents in Stralsund. The mother was the actress Emilie Wilhelmine Johanna Louise Höffert (1808–1857), née Devrient, the daughter of the actor Ludwig Devrient. The father was the actor and director Wilhelm David Höffert. As a child, Höffert was probably accompanied by his mother, his brother Louis and sister Elise. In 1840, she was engaged at the Grand Ducal Court Theatre in Schwerin. From 1845 to 1851, she was a court actress at the Oldenburg Court Theatre.
From Oldenburg, the 16-year-old Höffert went to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1848 to be taught painting by Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Theodor Hildebrandt, who introduced him in particular to portrait painting. Hildebrandt assessed his achievements with the grade "very good". In 1850, Höffert left the art academy.
Whether Höffert had in fact subsequently spent time as a photographer in Warsaw and Russia, as his mother had assumed, is not known.
In 1860, he entered into a business partnership with the photographer and painter Moritz Unna in Gothenburg. Unna had opened a studio in Gothenburg in 1853 as a daguerreotypist, and from 1855, the address was Drottninggatan 68. The joint company traded as Unna & Höfferts Fotografiska Atelier with the address Södra Hamngatan 41. In 1863, the partnership was dissolved and Unna went to Copenhagen, where he bought the photographic studio of Rudolph Striegler.
Höffert presumably returned to Germany in the same year and opened a photographic studio in Dresden under his name. Höffert was one of the first photographers to become entrepreneurial, setting up photographic studios under the name "W. Höffert" in several cities and/or had them operated. The names of the operators/studio owners were in many cases not known, The business relationships do not seem to have been clear. Only the photographer Georg Brokesch called himself managing director of the Leipzig studio from 1872 to 1875.
From 1872 to 1884, Höffert lived in Dresden at Pragerstaße 32 and until 1889 at Lüttichaustr. 18. According to the entry in the Dresden address books, he had given procuration to his wife Mila Höffert in 1876. She is first listed as a co-owner in the Berlin and Dresden address books of 1895. It is not known which area of responsibility she had in particular.
In 1892, Höffert entered the US via New York. He was married a second time and lived in Chicago. It is not known when he left the USA again.
Even though a large number of photographs still exist today on which the name "W. Höffert" was printed, neither much is known about Höffert's life and whereabouts, nor how long he photographed or portrayed himself.
Höffert was married to Bohumila (called Mila) Wehle. She was the daughter of the Sorbs writer Jan Wjela-Radyserb/ Johann Wehle (1822–1907). From this marriage came the son Ludwig, with whom she continued the business after Höffert's death in April 1901.<ref>Copy of a lapel "W. Höffert Inhaber Ludwig Höffert & Mila Höffert Hofphotographograph ... H. d. Prinzen Friedr. Leopold v. Preussen, Sr. Hoh. d. Prinzen Maximilian v. Baden, Hofphotographin Sr. Majestät d. König von Sachsen & Sr. Kgl. Hoh. d. Grossherzogs v. Mecklenburg..., Hannover Georgstrasse, Dresden Leipzig Hamburg Magdeburg (Online, University of Kassel), further source: Adreßbuch der Hoflieferanten im Königreich Sachsen, 1904, Höffert, P. Ludw., Hofphotograph Königreich Preußen, zugleich Sr. Majestät des Deutschen Kaisers, Schöneberg, (also of Prince Leopold of Prussia) page 12; Höffert, M. verw. Court Photographer of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Dresden, page 14; Höffert, P. Ludw., Court Photographer to the King of Great Britainn, page 18; (Numerized, SLUB).</ref> In 1903, presumably in the summer, Mila Höffert filed for bankruptcy. In July 1904, she was tried for fraud before the Dresden District Court. The son had evaded the proceedings by fleeing abroad.
Höffert died in Wiesbaden at the age of 68.