Art and About

Where's Heinrich? Kühn exhibition at MFAH leaves lots of tantalizing clues

Heinrich Kühn, Austrian, "Wiese in Birgitz" (On a Meadow in Birgitz), "Hans undMary Sitzend" (Hans und Mary sitzend), c. 1908
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Violets," c. 1908
Heinrich Kühn, "Lotte and Mary in a Meadow," c. 1908
Heinrich Kühn, "Im Atelier" (In the Studio)
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Karaffe mit Blumen" (Carafe with Flowers), 1907
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Miss Mary Sitting," c. 1908
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Mary Warner and Edeltrude," c. 1908
Heinrich Kühn, "Sommertag" (A Summer Day), 1898
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Mrs. Schwind," c. 1908
Heinrich Kühn, "Walter und Lotte an der Staffelei" (Walter and Lotte at theEasel), 1909
© Diether Schönitzer
Heinrich Kühn, "Wilhelm Schwind," c. 1908

I love photography.

As someone who cannot draw at all, the ability to capture images and control the things I know how to manipulate gives me a sense of artistic accomplishment.

If I screw something up, there is always software to help me alter variables digitally. Though I am not an expert at taking or editing images, I have enough tools in my arsenal to entertain myself for days.

We tend to think of this kind photographic image manipulation as a Photoshop-era phenomenon. But at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's recent opening of Heinrich Kühn: The Perfect Photograph, I discovered that the practice can be traced to the Austrian pictorialist.

And he did not have a Mac to do so.

This inspired an "Art and About" adventure.

As a scientist, Kühn knew how to work his materials and processes to have the freedom of painting and get the exact color tonalities he sought. The negative was just the beginning — unlike Ansel Adams, who attempted to capture everything in the negative and even devoted a book to this philosophy.

Kühn preferred gum bichromate printing, a technique new for his time. Using pigment in lieu of silver as the light sensitive element (the same pigment that was use for drawings), Kühn would hand-apply the substances to achieve his desired effect. Only the way the pigment was attached to the paper was completely photographic, giving the work the feeling of a charcoal drawing or etching.

His works elevated the stature of photographs as an accepted artistic medium, similar to painting.

The exhibition gives viewers a chance to appreciate Kühn's control, also gaining insights into his thought and creative processes.

Kühn might change the paper, process, color, crop the picture, remove part of the picture or a person, change the sofa, add a highlight or blur a section, and he continued to do so long after he took the negative.

Here is the challenge. Almost like a game of Where is Waldo?, perusing the exhibition is akin to a fun detective game, exercising your power of observation.

Can you find the changes?

Joel Luks gains insights into Heinrich Kühn's works with the help of Anne Tucker, MFAH curator of photography, and Monika Faber, chief curator of photography at the Albertina, Vienna.

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In the spotlight

Houston reels in new rank among 10 best cities for filmmakers in 2026

Photo by Kyle Loftus on Unsplash

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Houston has just snapped up new recognition as the No. 10 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America, according to MovieMaker Magazine's annual report, "The Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2026."

The Bayou City has made improvements after ranking 12th in the magazine's 2025 list.

The annual list ranks the best cities in the U.S. and Canada for individuals to live while working in the film industry, based on production spending, tax incentives, cost of living, the prevalence of "local film scenes," and additional factors. The list is divided into two categories: 25 big cities and 10 smaller cities or towns.

The spotlighted cities are the places where the publication believes filmmakers "have the best chance of both succeeding in the famously difficult entertainment industry, and making [their] own art."

For up-and-coming filmmakers that want to live in Texas, MovieMaker says doing it in Houston is "more sustainable than ever" thanks to incentives like the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, which increased its production grant rebate from 22.5 percent to up to 31 percent for qualified in-state spending. The report also said Houston has an "arms-wide-open" approach for filmmakers.

"As the biggest city in Texas, and fourth biggest city in America, Houston has nearly every type of location, from cityscapes to piney woods to rolling hills to nearby farmland," the report said. "It’s close to Galveston Island and the Gulf of Mexico, and car commercials love the absence of billboard advertising."

MovieMaker also highlighted Houston's diversity, its low cost of living compared to the national average, and its local festivals like the Houston Cinema Arts Festival and Houston Latino Film Festival.

"The city has enough film crew for two to three sizable features, and recent shoots have included the thrillers Eleven Days, with Taylor Kitsch, and A Love, from director Courtney Glaude, Tyler Perry Studios’ executive creator of Scripted and Unscripted," the report said. "Houston is also notable for a strong contingent of films with budgets under $1 million."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked as the No. 5 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America. Dallas ranked seventh, while neighboring Fort Worth ranked 12th. San Antonio appeared as No. 14, and El Paso landed 25th on the list.

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