Rare century-old Bermuda scenes richly captured in an early photographic technique have gone on display at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

The creations are from Karl Struss, the American photographer, cinematographer and inventor who worked with some of the greatest stars of the 20th century, including Cecil B DeMille and Charlie Chaplin.

In 1912, Struss visited and fell in love with Bermuda, exposing thousands of negatives during his stay, and by 1914 the Bermuda Trade Development Board had offered him work taking photographs for a tourists’ guidebook, Bermuda: Nature’s Fairyland.

Struss was present for, and tied to forever, the dawn of tourism in Bermuda. The pieces on display at Masterworks include a contemplative scene, set in a corner of the gallery’s mezzanine, in which the artist sits with his back to the viewer, gazing on to the City of Hamilton.

A three-dimensional streetlamp stands between the image and the viewer — a bright reminder that both the show and the museum aim to offer an experience far from one-dimensional. Tom Butterfield, the museum’s director, prefers the shows at Masterworks to be interactive and engaging.

For the works of Struss, the museum incorporates installation and interactive formats, along with the more traditional wall exhibit.

Struss was a formative figure in the development of pictorialism, a movement that favoured enhancing the dramatic or expressive elements of a photograph.

He became a master of the platinum print and achieved great contrast in the depths of shadow and light. His photographs were some of the first to be recognised as fine art rather than straight photography or documentary.

On display are 11 vintage platinum prints of Bermuda: ten from Masterworks’ own collection and a print borrowed from a French private collector. They are lined up on three walls, each sequence displaying a different level of contrast, texture and depth achieved by Struss’s masterful technique and artful eye.

Struss was a cultural luminary of the 20th century. He inspired and worked alongside famous photographers such as Alfred Steiglitz and Clarence White — and he believed that being an independent artist and a commercial photographer were not mutually exclusive. To assist in connecting visitors with that time, the Masterworks display has incorporated a variety of curious ephemera — a historical echo of what may be found stashed away in a suitcase after travelling to a foreign land.

Items include a picture book of Bermuda, circa 1905; an illustrated personal journal from 1900; a Sea-Gardens certificate stamped 1910, and a dinner menu from the Princess Hotel dated back to 1899.

Interactive elements include a striking Autochrome set in Bermuda, using another early technology that Struss employed, which reveals itself at the push of a button. The show contains one of the first processes of colour photography and invites guests to play tricks on their minds by looking through the stereoscope — an eyeglass device that renders scene in 3D, a technique that Struss helped to pioneer later in his cinematic career.

Struss’s interests turned from still to moving pictures. He won the first Oscar for cinematography, alongside Charles Rosher, moving on to a career spanning decades. Although his name has remained largely in fine print after all this time, the exhibit sets out to magnify his accomplishments and place in art history — all of which is tied to the Island’s own beauty forever.