Joseph Knaffl

• Name — Joseph Knaffl • Born — 9 October 1861 • Birthplace — Wartburg, Tennessee, United States • Died — 23 March 1938 • Place of death — Knoxville, Tennessee • Resting Place — Old Gray Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee • Field — Photography • Works — "Knaffl Madonna" (1899) "The Young St. John" (1903) "The Prophets" (1904) • Spouse — Lula May Atkin

Knaffl was born in Wartburg, Tennessee, in 1861, the son of Austrian-born physician, Rudolph Knaffl, and his wife, Rosalie. Rudolph Knaffl had been a court physician at the emperor's court in Vienna before moving to the United States in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848. After serving as a Union Army physician during the Civil War, Dr. Knaffl moved his family to Knoxville, where he practiced medicine. • Illustration — Knaffl's Madonna, 1899 Joseph Knaffl attended schools in Knoxville and Nashville. He learned photography working at the studio of his brother-in-law, early Knoxville portraitist T.M. Schleier.

In 1884, he and his brother, Charles, formed their own studio, Knaffl and Brother. This studio, which eventually moved into a building on Gay Street, focused primarily on artistic photographs. Following Charles's death in 1904, Knaffl continued running the studio alone or with various partners.

In 1909, Knaffl formed a portrait studio with one of his protégés, James Brakebill (though he continued to manage Knaffl and Brother as a separate studio). Knaffl was in charge of the photography exhibit at the Appalachian Exposition of 1910, and Knaffl and Brakebill provided much of the portrait work for the National Conservation Exposition of 1913. He operated Knaffl and Brother until his death in 1938.

• Illustration — The Flower Seller, c. 1916 Knaffl's early portraits, which were influenced by classical art, were often based on religious iconography, such as "Knaffl Madonna" (1899) and "The Young St. John" (1903). After partnering with Brakebill in 1909, he began doing more character studies, such as "The Flower Seller." During the mid-1890s, the Knaffls made a series of photographs that poked fun at negative racial stereotypes, such as "A Skin Game" (1896), which depicts three African-American card players cheating at poker. One such Knaffl photograph would later appear as an ironic joke on the cover of an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson. Knaffl's best-known photograph, "Knaffl's Madonna" (originally entitled "Madonna and Child"), was exhibited at the Photographers' Association of America convention at Celoron, New York, and was the subject of a Brush and Pencil article written that year by sculptor Lorado Taft. The photograph, which is a representation of Mary holding Jesus, is actually Emma Fanz (the daughter of Knaffl's friend, Knoxville sausage magnate Ignaz Fanz) holding Knaffl's daughter, Josephine. Since Josephine, apparently frightened by the noise of Gay Street, cried continuously, it took three separate shoots to get the image Knaffl wanted. Knaffl's photographs were featured in magazines such as The Photographic Review, Photo-era Magazine, Photographic Times, Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, and Wilson's Photographic Magazine. Knaffl and Brother often placed first, second or third place in the Southern Division of contests held by the Photographers' Association of America, their primary competitors being fellow Knoxville photographer Frank McCrary (a partner of oil portraitist Lloyd Branson) and the New Orleans–based Moses and Son studio. In 1904, the Knaffl photograph, "The Prophets," won a gold medal at the St. Louis World's Fair.

Knaffl was married to Lula May Atkin, the daughter of Knoxville hotel and real estate magnate, Samuel T. Atkin.