Sibylle Binder, Munich, c. 1933 by Josef Breitenbach
Looking through the current issue of Photograph, I stumbled across an advertisement for an upcoming Josef Breitenbach exhibition at Gitterman Gallery in New York City.
Montparnasse, Paris, 1937 by Josef Breitenbach.
Needless to say I was beyond curious about the image in the ad (shown below). The photograph is dated c. 1935 but in my mind it could easily have been made yesterday or something like that using photoshop. I had never heard of Josef Breitenbach before but definitely wanted to find out more.
Annabella, Munich, c. 1935 by Josef Breitenbach
Turns out that Josef Breitenbach (1896-1984) was born in Germany to a Jewish wine merchant family. He opened his first photographic studio in 1931. Fleeing the Nazis in 1933 he arrived in Paris where he set up another studio. He eventually made his way to New York where he taught at places like Black Mountain College and The New School.
Sculpture Academy, Paris, 1935 by Josef Breitenbach
I guess he’s most well know for his avant-garde work from the 30′s and 40′s. I’m not surprised as the work still holds up. He made friends with and exhibited his work alongside people like Man Ray, Brassai and Kertesz but his early use of vivid saturated color definitely set him apart. I love the expressive quality of the work (which includes both photographs and collages), not to mention the experimentation and of course the color.
Here are a couple more great images found at Stephen Daiter Gallery:
Portraits with Make-up, New York, c. 1945 by Joseph Breitenbach
Ski’s Carnival in the Tyrol, C. 1933 by Joseph Breitenbach
The Gitterman Gallery exhibition opens on Wednesday, September 17 and there will be a reception from 6-8pm celebrating the artist as well as a new publication of his work.
So glancing over the work of Joseph Breitenbach I get the obvious sense of manipulation. As pointed out by the person who posted these images, it gives a blurred sense of timeframe for when this work was created. I suppose that for the 30′s color manipulation was less used, seeing as Steiglitz and Steichen ruled the day with fashion photography and an almost documentary style procurement of work. I look at these images and see obvious elements of the 30′s but get this manipulated sense of neo-dada punk or photoshop “glam”. This split in time referencing really messes with me, and I’m curious if this photographer is still alive. What would he do with a heightened amount of control over image manipulation? Probably just get frustrated and go back to the darkroom (I know all the bells and whistles of photoshop confound me for the most part at least).
What I am enjoying most about Mr. Breitenbach is his exploration of different methods and media. His visionary palette seems to branch out in many different directions, but the one thing that holds true to his work is his way of presenting a classy oddity. His images are clean and neat in appearance, but hold this sort of deep, deranged conundrum. I would like to walk around in the thought process of Josef.
At first glance I really enjoyed the aged look to the images, and appreciated the subject matter. It’s kind of endearing. It’s obviously manipulated, but looking closer at the textures, it begins to appear overly so. I wish the textures were more in tact like in the snow. I enjoy the spirit however.
I really enjoy the pure weirdness of the first photo/collage piece. I also like that it it so creative and I enjoy looking at it. Reminds me of the ” glam rock era” which is of course my favorite era of music…