He was one of the first "editeurs" (if not the very first) to sell postcards depicting the Ottoman Empire. Orientalism was still in vogue when Fruchtermann began creating cards and his depictions became very popular. His early postcards (1895) are hand colored, but he began to produce color cards in 1897 that were printed by Emil Pinkau. In addition to his view-cards he produced a large series of figure studies and types in native costumes. The disruption of the First World War caused his bankruptcy, and he died in 1918. His son Paul continued to run his postcard shop until 1966 when the entire remaining inventory was sold off.