Street Photography

In the organizer's words:

Life on the streets of the big city has always fascinated photographers. They not only document urban upheavals, but also always bring individual passers-by out of the anonymity of the masses and put them in the spotlight. The city and photography have been directly linked since the 19th century through the idea of modernism. In the middle of the 20th century, street photography developed into an influential genre in its own right. This was also due to the development of handy 35mm cameras such as the Leica, which enabled greater mobility and discretion at the same time. Photographers could react quickly and anywhere without being discovered. They explored public spaces without interfering or posing, capturing authentic and spontaneous moments that were previously unworthy of a picture. The aim was to capture the "decisive moment" (according to Henri Cartier-Bresson) - that fleeting instant in which light, composition and event merge into a meaningful story.

The presentation in the photo rooms of the Museum Ludwig is dedicated to three protagonists from two generations of street photography: Garry Winogrand (*1928 in New York-1984), Lee Friedlander (*1934 in Aberdeen, Washington, lives and works in New York) and Joseph Rodríguez (*1951 in Brooklyn, lives and works in New York). All three are characterized by a decisive photographic approach that leads to different results despite the common subject matter. The presentation includes iconic photographs from the 1960s to 1980s alongside lesser-known examples from their respective oeuvres. The works come from donations from the Bartenbach family in 2015, a gift from Volker Heinen in 2018 and acquisitions since 2001.

Winogrand and Friedlander became known in 1967 through the groundbreaking exhibition New Documents at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. What was surprising about their photographs was that they broke with pictorial conventions, for example by dispensing with a straight horizon or a detail that places the actual motif in the center. Winogrand often worked with tilting horizon lines to provoke a new view of reality. The image detail appears fleeting, as do the deliberately accepted blurs, overexposures and underexposures or backlit shots. Friedlander, on the other hand, created compositions in which disturbing elements such as shadows, signs, poles and street lamps obstruct the view and irritating reflections make spatial orientation difficult.

In the works of Winogrand and Friedlander, which are presented in the presentation with twenty photographs each, photography is used in a self-reflexive way: Looking at the motifs brings the technical medium to mind. In this way, the formal aspects of photography come to the fore, sharpening the analytical view of what is depicted. In contrast, the emotional clarity of the motifs and the appeal for empathy recede. This was central to the idea of committed photography in the social documentary tradition in the USA. Rodríguez sees himself in precisely this tradition. He claims to give visibility to those who are shunned and ignored. To this end, he makes contact with the people photographed and tells their stories. Many of the photographs are accompanied by short commentaries that provide information about the situation in which they were taken. His photographs also feature special perspectives, surprising details and reflections that emphasize the subjectivity of his empathetic gaze over and above the momentary nature of the shot. Around twenty photographs from his cab series are on display.

This presentation is the first in the new, centrally located photo rooms on the second floor of the Museum Ludwig.