Klaus Honnef

This is the first book on the history, influences and impact of the Werkstatt f r Photography (Photography Workshop), founded by the Berlin photographer Michael Schmidt at the Volkshochschule Kreuzberg in 1976. In the midst of the Cold War, the Werkstatt initiated a democratic field of experimentation beyond the pale of traditional vocational and political-institutional standards. Those same years witnessed the establishment of infrastructures in West Germany that paved the way for the emancipation of photography as an art form: Documenta 6 (1977), the first photo galleries and photography journals and a number of pathbreaking exhibitions. Berlin, Hanover and Essen played important roles in that process. This book presents the story of German photography in the 1970s and '80s, its international ties, its protagonists and its networks.

It was no more than eight years after the surrender of the Nazi government when Josef Heinrich Darchinger set out on his photographic journey through the West of a divided Germany. The bombs of World War II had reduced the country’s major cities to deserts of rubble. Yet his pictures show scarcely any signs of the downfall of a civilization. Not that the photographer was manipulating the evidence: he simply recorded what he saw. At the time, a New York travel agency was advertising the last opportunity to go and visit the remaining bomb sites. Darchinger’s pictures, in color and black-and-white, show a country in a fever of reconstruction. The economic boom was so incredible that the whole world spoke of an “economic miracle.” The people who achieved it, in contrast, look down-to-earth, unassuming, conscientious, and diligent. And increasingly, they look like strangers in the world they have created. The photographs portray a country caught between the opposite poles of technological modernism and cultural restoration, between affluence and penury, between German Gemütlichkeit and the constant threat of the Cold War. They show the winners and losers of the “economic miracle,” people from all social classes, at home, at work, in their very limited free time and as consumers. But they also show a country that looks, in retrospect, like a film from the middle of the last century. For this revised edition, we have digitally remastered all photographies in a new, full-frame format that captivate with their highly pigmented colors and fine press varnish.

With their collection, Cologne-based couple Ute and Eberhard Garnatz impressively demonstrate just how inspiring and contemporary a private art collection can actually be. Over decades they have assembled a body of work that celebrates painting just as much as photography. Sculptural works also form part of the collection. The Garnatz Collection bears witness to their enthusiasm and keen sense of quality. And, amidst all this, the ­proximity to the artists has always been important to them. Rather than owning a singular work, they follow the artistic development, and in some cases remain in exchange for years. This publication ­focuses on the photographic aspect of the Garnatz Collection and juxtaposes selected posi­tions with those from the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur. Particularly interesting in this respect is the documentary-conceptual ­direction, as represented by Bernd and Hilla ­Becher. The Cologne institution is entrusted with the Becher Archive, and the Garnatz Collection also contains distinctive photographs by the artist couple. Works related stylistically by Candida H fer, Thomas Ruff, and Thomas Struth have been included in this context.

Meet Gerhard Richter, the German artist who redefined painting. Between abstract works and photography-based paintings, Richter pushes the mediumâ??s boundaries and reminds us of its urgency and importance in a world overwhelmed by digital images. This introduction to one of the greatest artists of our time explores his entire career.

An encounter with Gerhard Richter, the German artist who widened horizons in the relationship between painting and reality. From early photographic paintings, along with his famous RAF cycle, to late abstract paintings, experiencing Richter’s work always offers us the unexpected and unseen. Where he once set out to liberate the medium from ideological ballast, today, faced with the overwhelming presence of digital images, he shows us the unsurpassed impact and intensity of painting. A definitive introduction to one of the greatest artists of our time spanning not only his entire career, but also 50 years of cultural, economic, and political events.

An encounter with Gerhard Richter, the German artist who widened horizons in the relationship between painting and reality. From early photographic paintings, along with his famous RAF cycle, to late abstract paintings, experiencing Richter’s work always offers us the unexpected and unseen. Where he once set out to liberate the medium from ideological ballast, today, faced with the overwhelming presence of digital images, he shows us the unsurpassed impact and intensity of painting. A definitive introduction to one of the greatest artists of our time spanning not only his entire career, but also 50 years of cultural, economic, and political events.

An encounter with Gerhard Richter, the German artist who widened horizons in the relationship between painting and reality. From early photographic paintings, along with his famous RAF cycle, to late abstract paintings, experiencing Richter’s work always offers us the unexpected and unseen. Where he once set out to liberate the medium from ideological ballast, today, faced with the overwhelming presence of digital images, he shows us the unsurpassed impact and intensity of painting. A definitive introduction to one of the greatest artists of our time spanning not only his entire career, but also 50 years of cultural, economic, and political events.

Peaking in the 1960s, Pop Art began as a revolt against mainstream approaches to art and culture and evolved into a wholesale interrogation of modern society, consumerism, the role of the artist, and of what constituted an artwork. Epitomized by Warholâ??s Campbellâ??s soup cans, Pop Art drew on mass-market sources and products as well as the banal and kitsch.

Peaking in the 1960s, Pop Art began as a revolt against mainstream approaches to art and culture and evolved into a wholesale interrogation of modern society, consumer culture, the role of the artist, and of what constituted an artwork. Focusing on issues of materialism, celebrity, and media, Pop Art drew on mass-market sources, from advertising imagery to comic books, from Hollywood's most famous faces to the packaging of consumer products, the latter epitomized by Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans. As well as challenging the establishment with the elevation of such popular, banal, and kitschy images, Pop Art also deployed methods of mass-production, reducing the role of the individual artist with mechanized techniques such as screen printing. With featured artists including Andy Warhol, Allen Jones, Ed Ruscha, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Roy Lichtenstein, this book introduces the full reach and influence of a defining modernist movement.

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity. Drawing on contemporary advertisements, comic strips, consumer products, and Hollywood’s most famous faces, Warhol proposed a radical reevaluation of what constituted artistic subject matter. Through Warhol, a Campbell’s soup can and Coca Cola bottle became as worthy of artistic status as any traditional still life. At the same time, Warhol reconfigured the role of the artist. Famously stating “I want to be a machine,” he systematically reduced the presence of his own authorship, working with mass-production methods and images, as well as dozens of assistants in a studio he dubbed the Factory. This book introduces Warhol’s multifaceted, prolific oeuvre, which revolutionized distinctions between “high” and “low” art and integrated ideas of living, producing, and consuming that remain central questions of modern experience.

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity. Drawing on contemporary advertisements, comic strips, consumer products, and Hollywood’s most famous faces, Warhol proposed a radical reevaluation of what constituted artistic subject matter. Through Warhol, a Campbell’s soup can and Coca Cola bottle became as worthy of artistic status as any traditional still life. At the same time, Warhol reconfigured the role of the artist. Famously stating “I want to be a machine,” he systematically reduced the presence of his own authorship, working with mass-production methods and images, as well as dozens of assistants in a studio he dubbed the Factory. This book introduces Warhol’s multifaceted, prolific oeuvre, which revolutionized distinctions between “high” and “low” art and integrated ideas of living, producing, and consuming that remain central questions of modern experience.

Discover the artist who put soup cans in MoMA and movie stars in the Met. This introduction to Andy Warhol presents his prolific and radical oeuvre and its relentless interrogation of consumerism, materialism, and the role of the artist. The title includes more than 100 images of Warholâ??s work in top-quality reproductions that retain all of the originalsâ?? pop.

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity. Drawing on contemporary advertisements, comic strips, consumer products, and Hollywood’s most famous faces, Warhol proposed a radical reevaluation of what constituted artistic subject matter. Through Warhol, a Campbell’s soup can and Coca Cola bottle became as worthy of artistic status as any traditional still life. At the same time, Warhol reconfigured the role of the artist. Famously stating “I want to be a machine,” he systematically reduced the presence of his own authorship, working with mass-production methods and images, as well as dozens of assistants in a studio he dubbed the Factory. This book introduces Warhol’s multifaceted, prolific oeuvre, which revolutionized distinctions between “high” and “low” art and integrated ideas of living, producing, and consuming that remain central questions of modern experience.

Sich als Künstler mit berühmten Kollegen auseinanderzusetzen, ist an sich eine besondere Situation und sicherlich die existenziellste Form des Künstlerporträts. Birgit Kleber hat internationale Fotografen porträtiert, die für die Geschichte der Fotografie prägend sind und deren Bilder das Sehen auf die Welt verändert haben. Ihre Porträts sind immer inszeniert: Sie gibt Regieanweisungen, fordert statische Körperhaltungen, geht dabei dicht an die Gesichter heran und will für eine paar Minuten die volle Konzentration ihres Gegenübers. Sie sucht dabei genau jenen Moment, wo sich der andere dagegen zu wehren beginnt. Und gerade damit betont und verstärkt sie die schon bestehende Spannung der fotografischen Situation. Das Konzept wird bis auf die Spitze getrieben, denn sämtliche Tricks und Techniken sind beiden Seiten, der Fotografin, aber auch ihrem Modell, bekannt: ein Ausweichen ist nicht möglich. Das Ergebnis sind Künstler-Porträts von schonungsloser Offenheit und eindrücklicher Menschlichkeit. Mit einem Vorwort von Klaus Honnef.