Siegfried Lauterwasser

1913–2000

Trained as a photographer by his father in the late 1920s, Siegfried Lauterwasser (German, 1913–2000) attended the Frankfurt vocational school of graphics and design from 1929-31 and took over the family photography business in 1933 in Überlingen (Lake Constance). In 1949, he co-founded, among others, the group fotoform. In 1951 he participated in Otto Steinert’s subjektive fotografie exhibition held in Saabrücken. He became a stage photographer of the Bayreuth Wagner festival in 1953 and specialized in musician’s portraits in the early 1960s, portraying conductors and musicians such as Herbert von Karajan, and others. Another constant theme in his work has been the cultural landscape of his native Lake Constance region. Perhaps most known for his fotoform work, Lauterwasser’s work is shaped by the harmonious interaction of light, shadow and movement, particularly in the diverse manifestations of water.