When photography was invented in 1839, it was related to the common portrait
paintings of the early 19th century, mainly produced for the upper classes. The painterly
stile of these pictures where not meant to document the real outlook of the portrayed
persons, but they transported automatically details of their physiognomy.
In the early 20th century many photographers used the medium to express
their interpretation of reality. In Germany two diverting tendencies evolved, Neue
Sachlichkeit/New Objectivity and Neues Sehen/New Vision. Photographers like
August Sander, Alfred Renner-Patsch, Karl Bloßfeld tried to document the reality
from a distanced, matter-of-fact view, whereas artists like Alexander Rodchenko,
László Moholy-Nagy, Hannah Höch experimented with the medium, in order to
create photography as an independent art form.
The movement was directly related to the principles of the Bauhaus. New Vision
considered photography to be an autonomous artistic practice with its own laws of
composition and lighting, through which the lens of the camera becomes a second
eye for looking at the world.
New Objectivity had a strong influence to the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, founder
oft he so called Becher school or Düsseldorf school of photography. Together, the
Bechers went out with a large 8 x 10-inch view camera and photographed
buildings from a number of different angles, but always with a straightforward & objective
point of view. Objects included barns, water towers, coal tipples, cooling towers, grain
elevators, coal bunkers, coke ovens, oil refineries, blast furnaces, gas tanks, storage silos,
and warehouses.
In 1976, Bernd Becher started teaching photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
where he remained on the faculty until 1996. Before him, photography had been excluded
from what was largely a school for painters. He influenced students that later made a name
for themselves in the photography world. Former students of Bernd's includedAndreas
Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, Elger Esser and me. Although New
Vision still was present in the work of Otto Steiner, Ludwig Windstosser or Gottfried Jäger,
the Becher school dominated the art scene for nearly three decades.
Now, especially younger photographers turn away from the influence of New Objectivity
and rediscover the experimental stile of Bauhaus and New Vision.
The works of Andreas Gefeller, Corina Gertz, Michael Reisch, Michael Schnabel, Daniel
Tobias Braun, Antje Hanebeck, Stefanie Seifert, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs are not
representing reality any more but are creating a new aesthetic universe.
When photography was invented in 1839, it was related to the common portrait
paintings of the early 19th century, mainly produced for the upper classes. The painterly
stile of these pictures where not meant to document the real outlook of the portrayed
persons, but they transported automatically details of their physiognomy.
In the early 20th century many photographers used the medium to express
their interpretation of reality. In Germany two diverting tendencies evolved, Neue
Sachlichkeit/New Objectivity and Neues Sehen/New Vision. Photographers like
August Sander, Alfred Renner-Patsch, Karl Bloßfeld tried to document the reality
from a distanced, matter-of-fact view, whereas artists like Alexander Rodchenko,
László Moholy-Nagy, Hannah Höch experimented with the medium, in order to
create photography as an independent art form.
The movement was directly related to the principles of the Bauhaus. New Vision
considered photography to be an autonomous artistic practice with its own laws of
composition and lighting, through which the lens of the camera becomes a second
eye for looking at the world.
New Objectivity had a strong influence to the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, founder
oft he so called Becher school or Düsseldorf school of photography. Together, the
Bechers went out with a large 8 x 10-inch view camera and photographed
buildings from a number of different angles, but always with a straightforward & objective
point of view. Objects included barns, water towers, coal tipples, cooling towers, grain
elevators, coal bunkers, coke ovens, oil refineries, blast furnaces, gas tanks, storage silos,
and warehouses.
In 1976, Bernd Becher started teaching photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
where he remained on the faculty until 1996. Before him, photography had been excluded
from what was largely a school for painters. He influenced students that later made a name
for themselves in the photography world. Former students of Bernd's includedAndreas
Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, Elger Esser and me. Although New
Vision still was present in the work of Otto Steiner, Ludwig Windstosser or Gottfried Jäger,
the Becher school dominated the art scene for nearly three decades.
Now, especially younger photographers turn away from the influence of New Objectivity
and rediscover the experimental stile of Bauhaus and New Vision.
The works of Andreas Gefeller, Corina Gertz, Michael Reisch, Michael Schnabel, Daniel
Tobias Braun, Antje Hanebeck, Stefanie Seifert, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs are not
representing reality any more but are creating a new aesthetic universe.