Photography Collection

Annie Leibovitz, (*1949) Karen Finley, Nyack. 1992.

For a number of years the gallery owner Joerg Maass been collecting photographs which have evolved into a substantial group, but have never been shown publicly. A selection of them are now presented in the exhibition Selected photographs. From Brassaï to Cindy Sherman. The intentions are to provide a wide and representative cross section of the inventory, beginning in the late 1920s and continuing up to the present day. Mass focuses on American and European photography; black and white, as well as color. The works have been chosen – in addition to the significance of the individual artists according to certain central themes: the nude, landscapes, portraits and architecture, to name the most prominent. Brassaï and Cindy Sherman are representative of the chronology of the selection, the content of their work creating important points of reference. While the European photographer Brassaï stands for the most important period in photography between the two world wars, the American photographer Cindy Sherman is part of the radical change which took place in contemporary photography.
At the beginning of the 1930s, Europe, in particular, Paris, was the undisputed center of modern art. At this time, photography had already established itself as an important medium in the arts, and individual photographers had begun to elevate the theme of everyday life to a valid subject matter. Photographers began to stroll through the cities and critically observe political and social developments through the lenses of their cameras. Brassaï’s image of a streetwalker in the Quartier Italie in Paris is a notable example of social documentation, and of his interest in the various strata of society. This type of subject matter is also a focal point for the gallery program and of this exhibition. Corresponding to stylistic pluralism in art, photography at this time embraced the modern and experimental techniques which took Europe by storm between the two world wars, displaying influences from the Bauhaus, Surrealism and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movements. Some examples of artists who were proponents of the Neues Sehen or New Vision Photography are represented in the exhibition. After the Second World War, the center of modern art moved from Europe to the United States, where photography had been developing in a different direction. In the States, photography was less dependent on the fine arts and can be seen as a personal reaction to the trivial in everyday life – Street Photography und New Topographics being logical consequences of this development. This „Americanism“ or a type of „American way of Seeing“ is at the center of the interest from this point onwards.

Cindy Sherman, (*1954) Untitled Film Still #33. 1979

Cindy Sherman sets a new example with her staged photography, creating a transition to a series of postmodern and contemporary images in the exhibition. Sherman’s legendary Film Stills are ideally suited to this transition and made a significant contribution to the stature contemporary photography enjoys today. Her stagings focus on the contemporary image of women and its aesthetic, a theme taken up by numerous other artists in a variety of ways. The juxta position of elaborately staged star portraits on one hand, and the presentation of celebrities in intimate compositions on the other, is yet another focal point of the exhibition, followed by a vision of photography at the turn of the millenium. With the younger generation of inter national artists a return towards a social documentary narrative appears to be taking place. The works of highly regarded photographers Alec Soth and Esko Männikkö for instance present images of their countrymens’ loneliness and hopelessness in very similar ways.

Selected Photographs. From Brassaï to Cindy Sherman.
- June 26
Kunsthandel Jörg Maaß
Rankestraße 24, Berlin