By Elin Spring
Whether or not you are fighting winter doldrums, here is a little show with big heart that’s sure to lift your spirits. It highlights a transformative slice of photographic history, the period following WWII. Feeling both relief and elation at having survived the war, unfettered European photographers invented an exuberant new genre that celebrated daily life. “Postwar Visions: European Photography, 1945-60” sheds light on this enduring burst of innovation at the MFA, Boston through June 23rd, 2019.
“Scanno, 1957” Gelatin silver print by Mario Giacomelli, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston.
“Luminogramm, 1952” Gelatin silver print, printed in negative by Otto Steinert, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
The horrors of war saw a robust backlash of humanism in the arts. For photography, the movement started in Germany with Otto Steinert, a former physician who created the collective known as “Subjektive Fotografie” (Subjective Photography). The group sought to elevate the ordinary and bring a sense of awe to the banal. This brought photography into the realm of abstraction, directly building upon tenets developed before the war at the Bauhaus, Germany’s legendary school of art, architecture and design founded by Walter Gropius a century ago in 1919 and shuttered by the Nazi regime just fourteen years later in 1933.
“Volkswagon Factory, 1953” Gelatin silver print by Peter Keetman, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
The aim of the Bauhaus was to create well-designed everyday objects that could be mass-produced for common use. The school emphasized collaboration across disciplines, aimed to integrate art and technology and aspired to harmonize form with function. Their philosophy gave rise to the modernist movement, whose abstract, powerful graphics can be appreciated in the drawings of a companion exhibit, “Radical Geometries”, in the adjoining gallery. The influence of the Bauhaus translated into “Subjektive Fotografie” that featured compositions with robust graphics, the integration of movement, unusual angles and perspectives, and a reverence for utilitarian objects and activities of daily life. Above all, it celebrated abundant experimentation.
“Drill Bit, 1960” Gelatin silver print by Peter Keetman, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
“Diver, 1951” Gelatin silver print by Antonio (Nino) Migliori, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
Italy produced another center of innovation, where the Neorealist filmmakers like Fellini and Rossellini and photographers like Giacomelli and Migliori found inspiration in the human moments of daily life. In France, photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Sabine Weiss sported handheld cameras whose speed and size allowed them to snag serendipitous “decisive moments” erupting in the streets. With the restoration of peace and resurgence of civilian industries, photographers rode a wave of unbridled optimism and unfettered inventiveness.
“Man Lighting a Cigarette, Paris, 1950” Gelatin silver print by Sabine Weiss, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
“Peas, 1950’s” Gelatin silver print by Gyula Holics, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
Photographers took spirited license with light and shadow, distortion and motion, angle and atmosphere. They created abstract odes to technology as well as everyday moments, as in Peter Keetman’s dynamic, sinuous “Volkswagen Factory” and graceful, exalting “Drill Bit”. With an emphasis on chance, they froze moments in time, as in Sabine Weiss’ dreamlike “Man Lighting a Cigarette” and Migliori’s playfully suspended “Diver.” Josef Sudek’s meditation on “Glasses and Eggs” reverberates with sunlit reflections while Gyla Holics’ “Peas” dance like notes in a musical score. Assiduous attention to detail, as well as fervent darkroom manipulations with light and chemicals produced pure abstractions like Peter Keetman’s “Oil Drops II”(feature image), Otto Steinert’s swirling “Luminogramm”, Jean-Pierre Sudre’s “First Matériographie” toned chemigram, and Marta Hoepffner’s psychedelic, solarized “Glasses with Rose.”
“Glasses and Eggs, 1952” Gelatin silver print by Josef Sudek, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
“Glasses with Rose, 1956” Color carbro print, solarized, by Marta Hoepffner, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
Although the subject matter may have been ordinary, even utilitarian, the visions of these post-war European photographers soared with inventive vitality. They greeted the prevailing spirit of freedom and opportunity with “adventures in the realm of optics,” as founder Otto Steinert put it – explorations that continue to impact the practice of photography today.
“First Matériographie, 1960” Toned gelatin silver print from chemically treated glass plate negative by Jean-Pierre Sudre, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
For more information about this exhibit, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/postwar-visions
Feature Image: “Oil Drops II, 1956” Gelatin silver print by Peter Keetman, Courtesy of the MFA, Boston (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies).
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