© Sammlung Dietmar Siegert
The Münchner Stadtmuseum is to stage an exhibition entitled ‘From Biedermeier to the Wilhelminian era. Germany in early photographs 1840-1890 from the Siegert Collection’, compiled of a selection of 250 original photographs from the Dietmar Siegert private collection, Munich.
This is the first broad-based exhibition of photographs chronicling the early decades of this medium. The private collection exhibited by the museum has been painstakingly compiled over a period of more than 30 years. The exhibition displays the photographs by topic, showcasing different uses of photography in the 19th century: selected portraits provide a snapshot of German society; documentary style captures the social realities of inner cities and historical events; topographical views create an imaginary map of Germany from Flensburg to Munich, Alsace to Gdansk. And international travel photographers create an image of Germany by basing German identity on the topos of Rhine travel.
© Sammlung Dietmar Siegert
The exhibits include incunabula from the infancy of photography such as Carl August Steinheil’s early daguerreotypes around 1864 as well as an exceptionally comprehensive collection of nature studies for painters, masterfully depicted with light by the photographer Georg-Maria Eckert, and Ludwig Belitski’s photographic atlas containing images of items for an arts and crafts museum. In addition to the fabulously costumed characters in Joseph Albers’ fairy tale ball pictures, rare portfolios and travel albums, the exhibition also features early images of urban landmarks from Munich and Berlin by well-known photographers such as Franz Hanfstaengl and Leopold Ahrendts.
Other hidden gems are the anonymous portraits and, most especially, Georg Koppmann’s pictures of Hamburg depicting not only the architectural but also the social structure of an entire district of the city.
Schirmer/Mosel Verlag is to publish a comprehensive catalog (368 pages, 350 illustrations) providing a wide-ranging portrayal of the country and society of Germany during the 19th century and a living testimonial of photographic and cultural history. Well-known photography historians from German-speaking regions, including Bernd Stiegler, Monika Faber, Timm Starl, Ulrich Pohlmann and Bodo von Dewitz have contributed introductions to the different topics.
© Sammlung Dietmar Siegert
More information on http://www.muenchner-stadtmuseum.de/
Photos et vignettes © Sammlung Dietmar Siegert