Ernst Cohn-Wiener was a German art historian who received his doctorate degree in art history from the Heidelberg University. During travels in West Turkestan during two research exhibitions in 1924 and 1925, he photographed the architecture of the region. In 1933 he emigrated from Germany first to England then then to India in 1934. For health reasons he moved in 1939 to the United States where he died in 1941 at the age of 59 years in New York. The Ernst Cohn-Wiener Photographic Archive is housed at the British Museum and consists of 324 film negatives and 567 glass negatives.