Early Career
Otto Hugo Wilhelm Steinert, born in Saarbrücken on July 12, 1915, was the father of "subjective photography". Steinert studied medicine at various universities from 1934 to 1939 and was a medical officer during World War Two. The world view had been collapsed and tormented with waves of catastrophe. Artists redirected the turmoil and tried to channel it through various mediums; Steinert chose photography over medicine. He chose to express devastation through the obfuscation of traditional vehicles. He experimented with esoteric techniques and sloped into the valley of avant-gardism. Additionally when he returned to Saarbrücken, he began work as a portrait photographer.
Fotoform
Greatly interested in what the Surrealists, and afterwards in Germany, what the Bauhaus Movement had begun prior to the war (and what had been labeled “degenerate art” and banned by the Nazis during the war), Steinert aimed to pick up aesthetically where the movements had left off.
Peter Keetman, Ludwig Windstosser, Wolfgang Reisewitz and Siegfried Lauterwasser, who had participated in the first comprehensive post-war exhibit, “Die Photographie 1948”, were joined by Toni Schneiders and Otto Steinert and established the 'fotoform' group. The first Fotoform exhibit, held in 1950 in Cologne, Germany at the Photokina fair (then Photo-Kino), emphasized abstract form derived from patterns found in nature and from darkroom manipulation.
Steinert mounted three more highly influential photographic exhibitions, all named 'The Subjective Movement', in 1951, 1954, and 1958, which showcased the entire spectrum of West German photography since World War II, with an emphasis on abstraction. Photographers including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray were included in the 1951 show. Steinert referred to what he was doing in the movement as "Visual Research” and stated that the Subjective movement was concerned with "Humanized, Individualized Photography” and in reaction to the “objective” notions of photography as well as the propaganda-disguised-as-journalism use of the genre that preceded Fotoform.
What’s of particular interest to me is that like the young photographers coming out of the post-war Japanese photographic movements, there was a strong and instinctive shift away from using photography to describe anything that claimed to be “real” “objective” or “true.” Both Japan and Germany were mired in reconstruction not just of their cities but of a collective national identity in the face of being on the losing side of an epic world war. One of Japan’s most interesting answers, coming a little later in the 1960s, was the 'VIVO' and 'Provoke' movements, which sought to “provoke” collective thought, action and art by fusing and cross-pollinating ideas with artistic and political mediums and practitioners. Dance, politics, photography, literature and theater were all ingredients to foment revolution, art and change for the young in Japan. In contrast, Steinert’s avant garde called for a turning inwards through photography specifically, and using the medium to evoke personal and individual responses to the realities of the outside world. To comment on the inner state and claim only that authority, rather than to pretend to accurately reflect the outer state.
Later life
Steinert abandoned Fotoform in the late 1950s, but he continued to be an influential figure among photographers as a teacher at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, which helped him shape a generation. He taught and eventually became the director of the Staatliche Werkkunstschule, where he worked until his death March 3, 1978, in Essen.
The first Subjective Photography Exhibition
The first of three 'Subjective Photography' exhibitions opened on 12th July 1951, with 725 pictures by European and US photographers, it intended to show that, worldwide, photography was attuned to modernity in form and content. Bridging the gap between the modern avant-gardes and contemporary production, Steinert included works by Moholy-Nagy, Raoul Haussman and Herbert Bayer, all of whom émigrés who were active in Germany before the war. He also invited Man Ray to participate, thus contemplating in the exhibition's concept various artistic movements, from Bauhaus constructivism to surrealism. It was held in the still unfinished new building of the School of Arts and Crafts. Its design cleverly interacted with the unique architectural environment: photos were hung banner-like on posts, were affixed on poles suspended from high ceilings, or on panels at an angle from the walls. The catalogue's graphic design referred to publications from the 1920s had texts in German, English and French, including an essay by Franz Roh and an introduction by Steinert, where he stated that, by showing a selection of the “creative forces in present-day photography”, the exhibition attempted to “shed light on the efforts of contemporary photography”. The title, he wrote, referred to the “personal creative moment of the photographer (as opposed to “applied” photography serving everyday or documentary purposes)” and, thus, the “exhibition concentrates essentially on the photography that has been moulded in form and content” and as such also “molds the visual consciousness of our age”.
Otto Hugo Wilhelm Steinert, born in Saarbrücken on July 12, 1915, was the father of "subjective photography". Steinert studied medicine at various universities from 1934 to 1939 and was a medical officer during World War Two. The world view had been collapsed and tormented with waves of catastrophe. Artists redirected the turmoil and tried to channel it through various mediums; Steinert chose photography over medicine. He chose to express devastation through the obfuscation of traditional vehicles. He experimented with esoteric techniques and sloped into the valley of avant-gardism. Additionally when he returned to Saarbrücken, he began work as a portrait photographer.
Fotoform
Greatly interested in what the Surrealists, and afterwards in Germany, what the Bauhaus Movement had begun prior to the war (and what had been labeled “degenerate art” and banned by the Nazis during the war), Steinert aimed to pick up aesthetically where the movements had left off.
Peter Keetman, Ludwig Windstosser, Wolfgang Reisewitz and Siegfried Lauterwasser, who had participated in the first comprehensive post-war exhibit, “Die Photographie 1948”, were joined by Toni Schneiders and Otto Steinert and established the 'fotoform' group. The first Fotoform exhibit, held in 1950 in Cologne, Germany at the Photokina fair (then Photo-Kino), emphasized abstract form derived from patterns found in nature and from darkroom manipulation.
Steinert mounted three more highly influential photographic exhibitions, all named 'The Subjective Movement', in 1951, 1954, and 1958, which showcased the entire spectrum of West German photography since World War II, with an emphasis on abstraction. Photographers including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray were included in the 1951 show. Steinert referred to what he was doing in the movement as "Visual Research” and stated that the Subjective movement was concerned with "Humanized, Individualized Photography” and in reaction to the “objective” notions of photography as well as the propaganda-disguised-as-journalism use of the genre that preceded Fotoform.
What’s of particular interest to me is that like the young photographers coming out of the post-war Japanese photographic movements, there was a strong and instinctive shift away from using photography to describe anything that claimed to be “real” “objective” or “true.” Both Japan and Germany were mired in reconstruction not just of their cities but of a collective national identity in the face of being on the losing side of an epic world war. One of Japan’s most interesting answers, coming a little later in the 1960s, was the 'VIVO' and 'Provoke' movements, which sought to “provoke” collective thought, action and art by fusing and cross-pollinating ideas with artistic and political mediums and practitioners. Dance, politics, photography, literature and theater were all ingredients to foment revolution, art and change for the young in Japan. In contrast, Steinert’s avant garde called for a turning inwards through photography specifically, and using the medium to evoke personal and individual responses to the realities of the outside world. To comment on the inner state and claim only that authority, rather than to pretend to accurately reflect the outer state.
Later life
Steinert abandoned Fotoform in the late 1950s, but he continued to be an influential figure among photographers as a teacher at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, which helped him shape a generation. He taught and eventually became the director of the Staatliche Werkkunstschule, where he worked until his death March 3, 1978, in Essen.
The first Subjective Photography Exhibition
The first of three 'Subjective Photography' exhibitions opened on 12th July 1951, with 725 pictures by European and US photographers, it intended to show that, worldwide, photography was attuned to modernity in form and content. Bridging the gap between the modern avant-gardes and contemporary production, Steinert included works by Moholy-Nagy, Raoul Haussman and Herbert Bayer, all of whom émigrés who were active in Germany before the war. He also invited Man Ray to participate, thus contemplating in the exhibition's concept various artistic movements, from Bauhaus constructivism to surrealism. It was held in the still unfinished new building of the School of Arts and Crafts. Its design cleverly interacted with the unique architectural environment: photos were hung banner-like on posts, were affixed on poles suspended from high ceilings, or on panels at an angle from the walls. The catalogue's graphic design referred to publications from the 1920s had texts in German, English and French, including an essay by Franz Roh and an introduction by Steinert, where he stated that, by showing a selection of the “creative forces in present-day photography”, the exhibition attempted to “shed light on the efforts of contemporary photography”. The title, he wrote, referred to the “personal creative moment of the photographer (as opposed to “applied” photography serving everyday or documentary purposes)” and, thus, the “exhibition concentrates essentially on the photography that has been moulded in form and content” and as such also “molds the visual consciousness of our age”.