The World is Beautiful
Albert Renger-Patzsch
Albert Renger-Patzsch was a radical photographer for his time, who depicted reality and the world as it appeared in real life. He rejected many forms of photography that didn't focus on realism, such as pictorialism (which imitated paintings).
Patzsch was part of the 'New Objectivity' (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement, created in Germany following The First World War. New Objectivity rejected sentimentality and idealism, instead representing things as they really were - clearly and precisely. This movement often focused on certain subjects such as wildlife, botanical studies, landscapes, commercial still lives, mechanical equipment etc. New Objectivity emerged following The First World War, the war causing a radical shift in art. Due to the horrors and brutality of the war, artists wanted to create war with more strength and realism and movements such as Pictorialism became less popular. |
"The secret of a good photograph—which, like a work of art, can have esthetic qualities—is its realism ... Let us therefore leave art to artists and endeavor to create, with the means peculiar to photography and without borrowing from art, photographs which will last because of their photographic qualities." - Albert Renger-Patzsch
Patzsch was part of a new way of thinking of how to photograph the world. He focused on rhythm, pattern and texture particularly in his photographs, with strong tonal contrast and variety. Many of his photos were ordered symmetrically and orderly, giving his photos a sense of repetition and uniformity. In particular, Patzsch loved the photographer's ability to show reality in the best or highest possible quality - 'high fidelity'.
There were a number of similar photographer's to Patzsch, who shared some of his views and photographic style, such as: Karl Blossfeldt, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, August Sander, Helmer Lerski and Edward Weston.
There are more recent photographer's who were also influenced by Patzsch, such as: Bernd & Hiller Becher, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, William Eggleston, Peter Fraser etc.
There were a number of similar photographer's to Patzsch, who shared some of his views and photographic style, such as: Karl Blossfeldt, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, August Sander, Helmer Lerski and Edward Weston.
There are more recent photographer's who were also influenced by Patzsch, such as: Bernd & Hiller Becher, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, William Eggleston, Peter Fraser etc.
Gallery of Albert Renger-Patzsch's Photography
Analysis
These two photographs by Albert Renger-Patzsch share some considerably differences, however both share Patzsch's recognisable style.
Similarities:
• Neither image has any real context that we could use to find out when the photograph was taken. In both photographs, Patzsch focuses only on, and isolates the subject. Patzsch often focused closely on the subject itself, capturing the subject's detail rather than including large amounts of background context.
• Both photos are shot in monochrome, and both are constrasty with strong contrast between the dark and light areas. Patzsch's photographs are often sharp and detailed, with strong contrast and clarity.
•Both photos are close-ups and both are tightly framed. In the picture on the left, Renger-Patzsch, has closely focused in on a section of the plant. On the right, Renger-Patzsch has also focused in on a section of the subject, only framing a section of the building (the edges of the building disappear off the page).
Differences:
• The photograph on the left is a Natural, organic form whereas the subject on the right is an industrial, man-made building, a couple of examples of subject matter Patzsch focused on.
• the subject on the left feautures only curved, rounded lines whereas the image on the right features only straight, geometric lines and sharp, pointed edges.
• Although both images have strong contrast between darks and lights, the plant on the left has more diffused light and less definite areas of light and shadow (more graduated shadow). However the building on the right hand side has definite, sharp lines between illuminated walls and walls thrown into shadow.
Similarities:
• Neither image has any real context that we could use to find out when the photograph was taken. In both photographs, Patzsch focuses only on, and isolates the subject. Patzsch often focused closely on the subject itself, capturing the subject's detail rather than including large amounts of background context.
• Both photos are shot in monochrome, and both are constrasty with strong contrast between the dark and light areas. Patzsch's photographs are often sharp and detailed, with strong contrast and clarity.
•Both photos are close-ups and both are tightly framed. In the picture on the left, Renger-Patzsch, has closely focused in on a section of the plant. On the right, Renger-Patzsch has also focused in on a section of the subject, only framing a section of the building (the edges of the building disappear off the page).
Differences:
• The photograph on the left is a Natural, organic form whereas the subject on the right is an industrial, man-made building, a couple of examples of subject matter Patzsch focused on.
• the subject on the left feautures only curved, rounded lines whereas the image on the right features only straight, geometric lines and sharp, pointed edges.
• Although both images have strong contrast between darks and lights, the plant on the left has more diffused light and less definite areas of light and shadow (more graduated shadow). However the building on the right hand side has definite, sharp lines between illuminated walls and walls thrown into shadow.
My Response
After studying and looking at the work of Albert Renger-Patzsch, I have created a set of 100 photographs inspired by his work. This project is in response to his work, especially based around Patzsch's book 'The World is Beautiful' (Die Welt ist schon). 'The World is Beautiful' was Albert's most famous photo book, it contained 100 photographs based on the principles and ideas of the New Objectivity movement.
Evaluation
Overall, I am quite happy with outcome of my set of 100 images entitled 'The World is Beautiful' showing inspiration by Albert Renger-Patzsch as well as the New Objectivity Movement. Overall, I tried to particularly focus on emulating taking inspiration from the types of compositions, subject matter and look of many of Albert Renger-Patzsch's photographs and images typical of the New Objectivity movement. However, we were give then task to produce a set of 100 images inspired by our research (giving our own interpretation), rather than directly reproducing the style of these photographs. In my photos, I mostly tried to focus on the subject matter and frame the subject close-up and in detail. I tried to think about uniformity and repetition in these photos, with some uniform face-on framings (for example with the poppy head). Also when editing these photographs, I particularly increased contrast and clarity and well as sharpening a few of these images. I also converted these images to monochrome, experimenting with the Black & White colour controls to vary how light/dark or contrasty the images were.
< This photograph of the top of the poppy head was one of my favourites from the 100 that I took. I think it shows inspiration from the 'New Objectivity' movement and Albert Renger-Patzch's style of photography, the composition is quite uniform and symmetrical. The organic subject matter is similar to some of Renger-Patzsch's subject matter, and also the composition I have used (it is quite similar to this photograph of a mushroom by Patszch). Also, the contrast between the dark background and poppy head is quite stark. However the depth of field is quite shallow (as I was quite close to the subject at quite a wide aperture - f5.6), whereas Albert Renger-Patzsch tended to use wide depth of field.
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> Although this image of distorted window reflections is quite interesting, with some unusual shapes and effects created in the distorted glass, I don't think that it fits with the New Objectivity Movement's principles or Albert Renger-Patszch's style of photography. The New Objectivity Movement and Patzsch were always focused on photographing and presenting the world as realistically and as close to what we really see, as possible. however this photo focuses on distortion and an abstracted view of reality, not presenting it uniformed or realistically.
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