From 1903, Ludwig Gutmann was an employee in the studio of the photographer Nikolaus Stockmann in Vienna and from 1905 a licensed photographer with premises at Währinger Straße 18 in the 9th district, where he had an art studio for photography and painting, industrial photography, portraits in all sizes, and interior photos. He was unmarried and in the 1930s had a further studio at Wiener Straße 191 in Horn, Lower Austria. He joined the Österreichischer Photographenverein in 1903, worked as a portrait and theatre photographer and published his works in newspapers and magazines, such as Das Interessante Blatt and Sport & Salon: Illustrierte Zeitschrift für die vornehme Welt und Radio Wien. In the asset declaration for the Vermögensverkehrsstelle (Property Transaction Office) in December 1939 to calculate the Aryanization levy, he described his studio in the 9th district: darkroom, photo room, reception, office, stairway, small reception room, "two ground floor rooms". There was also a large amount of photographic equipment and a large photo plate archive. Because of his Jewish origins, he was subject to increasing persecution after the annexation of Austria to the National Socialist German Reich. His studio was officially closed down by the trade authorities on 21 December 1938 and in January 1939 evaluated by the assessor for the Vienna photography professional association, the photographer and publisher Robert Thiele, and Aryanized that month on the association's recommendation by the photographer Alfons Lindner. Gutmann lived until 1938 at Seegasse 2/12 in the 9th district and his last place of abode was the collective housing at Seegasse 9. He was deported from Vienna to Theresienstadt ghetto on 27 August 1942 and murdered there on 21 April 1943.

From the project Durch das NS-Regime aus Österreich vertriebene und ermordete Fotografinnen und Fotografen und der Verbleib ihrer fotografischen Sammlungen (Subsidized by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria. Conducted by Walter Mentzel).