In Deutschland: reloaded (I)

EXHIBITION Feb 16 — Mar 11, 2016

AXEL HÜTTE (*1951)

Untitled (Staircase), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

29,7 x 23,4 cm

© Axel Hütte 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

AXEL HÜTTE (*1951)

Untitled (Staircase), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

31 x 23,5 cm

© Axel Hütte 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

AXEL HÜTTE (*1951)

Untitled (Staircase), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

30,2 x 23,6 cm

© Axel Hütte 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

AXEL HÜTTE (*1951)

Untitled (Staircase), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

29,1 x 23 cm

© Axel Hütte 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Industrial Area Gate), 1984

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1984

22,2 x 30,3 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Industrial Area Gate), 1984

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1984

21,1 x 32 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Köln, 1990

gelatin silver print, printed 1990

23,3 x 32 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Weidengasse Köln 1977, 1977

gelatin silver print, printed later

26 x 19,7 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn, Hochstadenring/ Ecke Bornheimerstrasse, 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22,5 x 28,2 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn, 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22,5 x 27,9 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn, 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22,1 x 28,3 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn (Hochstadenring/Ecke Bornheimer Str.), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22 x 28,5 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn (Stadthaus), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22 x 27,8 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Bonn (Oxfordstr.), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

22 x 28,4 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 31), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

30,7 x 40,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 290, Cologne-Kalk, Hackenbergerstrasse Ecke Taunusstrasse), 1982

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1982

27,4 x 37,4 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 309, Odenwaldstrasse and Corner of Lüderichstrasse), 1982

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1982

21,8 x 30,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 195, Leverkusen-Dünnwald, Berlinerstrasse 939), 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

30,9 x 40,7 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No.103, Düsseldorf, Höherweg), 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1982

30,9 x 40,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 20), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

30,6 x 40,6 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 6), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

30,7 x 40,6 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 10), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

31 x 40,7 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 37, Neuss, Niersenerstr. 11), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 205, Leverkusen, Gustav-Heinemann-Straße), 1979

gelatin silver print, mounted, printed ca. 1979

29,9 x 39,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 58, Duisburg-Rheinhausen, Grabenacker 82), 1978

gelatin silver print, mounted, printed ca. 1978

29,7 x 39,9 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

TATA RONKHOLZ (1940−1997)

Untitled (Trinkhalle / Refreshment Stand No. 17), 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

30,9 x 40,6 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

THOMAS STRUTH (*1954)

Remscheider Strasse, Düsseldorf, 1979

gelatin silver print

39,2 x 57,1 cm

© 2016 Thomas Struth / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

THOMAS STRUTH (*1954)

Stephanienstrasse, Düsseldorf, 1976

gelatin silver print

39,1 x 57 cm

© 2016 Thomas Struth / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

THOMAS STRUTH (*1954)

Kirchfeldstrasse, Düsseldorf, 1976

gelatin silver print

39,1 x 57,1 cm

© 2016 Thomas Struth / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

THOMAS STRUTH (*1954)

Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse, Düsseldorf, 1979

gelatin silver print

39,1 x 57,2 cm

© 2016 Thomas Struth / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MICHAEL SCHMIDT (1945−2014)

Untitled (from Berlin Wedding), 1976 - 1978

gelatin silver print, framed, printed ca. 1976-1978

20,4 x 27,9 cm

© Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ULRICH GÖRLICH (*1952)

Landschaft, 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

19,6 x 27,1 cm

© Ulrich Görlich / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ULRICH GÖRLICH (*1952)

Landschaft, 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

19,6 x 27,1 cm

© Ulrich Görlich / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ULRICH GÖRLICH (*1952)

Landschaft, 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

19,6 x 27 cm

© Ulrich Görlich / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Ratingen 1976, 1976

gelatin silver print, printed 1999

18,8 x 27,8 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Volksgarten Köln II 1974, 1974

gelatin silver print, printed 1999

18,7 x 27,8 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Weidengasse Köln III 1978, 1978

gelatin silver print, printed later

19 x 26,3 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Weidengasse Köln 1975, 1975

gelatin silver print, printed later

19,5 x 26 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

CANDIDA HÖFER (*1944)

Weidengasse Köln I 1978, 1978

gelatin silver print, printed later

19,2 x 27,1 cm

© Candida Höfer, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Rohrsen (Hameln-Pyrmont), from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

22,5 x 36 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Schladen (Wolfenbüttel), from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

22,5 x 36,1 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Hanstedt I (Uelzen) April 1979, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Klein Waabs (Schleswig-Flensburg), Juli 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,4 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Kalme (Wolfenbüttel), Juli 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,3 x 40,3 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Soltau (Fallingbostel), September 1976, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1976

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1976

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Intschede (Verden), Juli 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,3 x 40,2 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Wiersen (Schaumburg), November 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Immensen (Northeim), Oktober 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Rodewald (Nienburg), Oktober 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,5 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Tolk (Schleswig-Flensburg), Mai 1978, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Dörverden (Verden), April 78, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,5 x 40,2 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MICHAEL SCHMIDT (1945−2014)

Untitled (from Berlin Wedding), 1976-1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1976-1978

20,9 x 27,9 cm

© Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MICHAEL SCHMIDT (1945−2014)

Untitled (from Berlin Wedding), 1976-1978

gelatin silver print, framed, printed ca. 1976-1978

20,4 x 28 cm

© Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MICHAEL SCHMIDT (1945−2014)

Untitled (from Berlin Wedding), 1976-1978

two gelatin silver prints, printed ca. 1976-1978

16,3 x 23,9 cm

© Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MICHAEL SCHMIDT (1945−2014)

Untitled (from Berlin Wedding), 1976-1978

two gelatin silver prints, printed ca. 1976-1978

16,3 x 23,9 cm

© Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1938−2010)

Menschen im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969, 1969

portfolio of 21 gelatin silver prints, published 2007 by Kicken Berlin

19,7 x 13,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

THOMAS STRUTH (*1954)

Klosterstrasse, Düsseldorf, 1977

gelatin silver print

39,1 x 57,1 cm

© 2016 Thomas Struth / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1937−2010)

Heinum (Hildesheim), November 78, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1978

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1978

30,5 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINRICH RIEBESEHL (1937−2010)

Roydorf (Harburg) März 1979, from the series 'Agrarlandschaften', 1979

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1979

30,3 x 40,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Liege, 1977

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1977

22,4 x 31,7 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WILHELM SCHÜRMANN (*1946)

Herve, 1976

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1976

20,2 x 31,2 cm

© Wilhelm Schürmann / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

The end of the postwar era shook the Western half of divided Germany like an earthquake, with culture, rock music, and avant-garde art at the epicenter. By the 1960s, the waves had grown in intensity to shake politics, society, and day-to-day life as well. Photography was affected relatively late. It wasn’t until June 1979 that the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn’s exhibition In Deutschland revealed the effects the revolutionary changes had had on photographic aesthetics. This new photography questioned both the specific forms of visual language and the photographer’s stance toward visible reality, challenged the worn-out methods of approaching a subject and the formulas of photographic categories. And lest we forget: at stake was also photography’s precarious position within the fine arts. If artistic photography’s primary aesthetic interest until then had been in the “artistic” image of things – and the cult of the individual picture – a more sober, more exact and documentary gaze now came into focus. The most poignant sign of this shift was the clear rejection of the individual image in favor of the principle of the series. A small number of ambitious young photographers from all parts of West Germany and Berlin lent momentum to the movement.
The discerning photography quickly expanded across the country from Bonn, later traversing national boundaries to find allied initiatives in the US. These parallel movements abroad had a different genealogy but were headed in the same direction. In Germany, Bernd and Hilla Becher were the promoters and key figures of the development. Their typological representation of little-noticed industrial architecture – in the mode of a visual story without a plotline – paved the aesthetic way forward. Significant motifs of this new photography were empty urban streets, inconsequential everyday architecture, sometimes, though less frequently, people, dismal public and private interiors, rough and jumbled nature views, and many unsightly byproducts of industrial civilization. Fairly “unattractive material,” in Peter Galassi’s opinion, yet nevertheless a succinct commentary on the long ignored underbelly of modernity’s affluence, individual freedom, consumption, and glamour. “This movement” was “documented in two distinct but related exhibitions: New Topographics, organized in 1975 by William Jenkins in Rochester, New York […] and In Deutschland, [In Germany], organized in 1979 by Klaus Honnef in Bonn, which presented works by thirteen Germans, including Heinrich Riebesehl […], Schmidt, two of Schmidt’s students, four students of the Bechers, including Struth.“ (Peter Galassi,“Gursky’s World“, in: Andreas Gursky, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, 2001, p. 13.) The other three were Candida Höfer, Tata Ronkholz, and Axel Hütte – the first major appearance of the Becher School. Wilhelm Schürmann was responsible for lighting the first spark for In Deutschland, while Ulrich Görlich and Wilmar Koenig (the two Schmidt students), Johannes Bönsel, Hans-Martin Küsters, Martin Manz, and Hartmut Neubauer contributed in turn. Schmidt and the Bechers – the latter being the only Germans represented in New Topographics –, provided the earliest connections to the advanced US scene – to Robert Adams and Stephen Shore respectively.
With In Deutschland – the subtitle, Aspects of contemporary documentary photography (Aspekte gegenwärtiger Dokumentarfotografie), made plain its intentions – German photography was able to finally free itself fully from the cultural shackles of National Socialism. Photography’s complicity in the Nazi regime was long a decisive obstacle to its artistic recognition in Germany. It was no coincidence that, in the wake of the surprise success of In Deutschland, the speedy rise to stardom of photographers like Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Struth, Michael Schmidt, and others coincided with the rise of the medium. “German photography,” once almost a derogatory title, became a trademark of sorts.
With its compressed reprise of the In Deutschland exhibition – featuring images by Görlich, Höfer, Hütte, Riebesehl, Ronkholz, Schmidt, Schürmann, and Struth – Kicken Berlin kicks off a series of photography shows on the theme. The images of In Deutschland retrospectively reveal a country searching for its identity. War and the Nazi era were still lodged in the buildings and in people’s minds. The fragile mixture of conflicting notions is reflected in the photographers’ emphatically subjective yet no less authentically rendered views. The images are thus an expression of a “documentary style” (Walker Evans) in more ways than one. A style that attests to attitude.
(Klaus Honnef)