Umbo (Otto Maximilian Umbehr) - Umbo (MONOGRAPH) - 1996

IMPORTANT MONOGRAPH BY LEGENDARY BAUHAUS PHOTOGRAPHER AND ARTIST "UMBO" (1902-1980).

His pictures symbolised a kind of “big bang” in modern photography of the 1920s.

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) is considered one of the most important photographers of the avant-garde of the 1920s.
He was a protagonist of new German photography and experimented with new forms of image composition, particularly in the fields of portraiture and photojournalism.

The term avant-garde is used when an artist takes an innovative and experimental approach to one aspect of their art. The avant-garde in photography takes a critical stance towards existing aesthetic views.
It is important to understand that avant-garde refers to an artistic movement that challenges existing aesthetic norms and seeks new forms of expression.

You've come to the right place!
This is the newest edition of the SUPER POPULAR SINGLE-SELLER-AUCTION by 5Uhr30.com (Ecki Heuser, Cologne, Germany).
Presenting a personal best-of selection of INTERNATIONAL PHOTOBOOKS from my PRIVATE COLLECTION and from RECENT ACQUISITATIONS.

Published on the occasion of the same-named big exhibition tour ("Umbo. From Bauhaus to photojournalism.") at "Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen" (Düsseldorf), at "Bauhaus-Archiv" (Berlin), at "Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst" (Frankfurt am Main), at "Haus der Kunst" (München) and at "Centre National de la Photographie" (Paris) in 1995 and 1996.

Like always 5Uhr30.com guarantees detailed and accurate descriptions, 100% protection,
100% insurance and combined shipping worldwide.

Richter Verlag, Düsseldorf. Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf. 1996.
Second enlarged edition (originally published in 1995).

Paperback. 225 x 285 mm. 168 pages. 65 black and white photos. Photos: Umbo. Edited and text by Herbert Molderings, Cologne. Typography: Walter Nikkels, Dordrecht, Düsseldorf. Foreword: Raimund Stecker. Text in German.

Condition:
Inside and outside very fresh and flawless; clean with no previous owner marks and with no foxing. Very light trace of use only; no remarkable flaws or defects. Overall very fine, much better than usual condition.

Great monograph, showing the impressive work of this important German photographer and artist -
in wonderful fresh condition.

Umbo, born Otto Maximilian Umbehr (1902-1980), was a German photojournalist and artist who had studied in the Bauhaus and worked as a photojournalist for the Wehrmacht in World War II. After the end of it, he had to endure many years of financial hardships, which only changed after photography became accepted an own discipline of art and from 1975 onwards he had several exhibitions.
Otto Umbehr was born in Düsseldorf and is known for his photo journalism as well as artworks. Umbehr was the second of six children of industrial architect Karl Friedrich Umbehr. His mother Frieda died when he was a young boy. He was trained in Duisburg, Aachen and Düsseldorf. In 1921, he studied at the Bauhaus in Weimar where he attended classes by Johannes Itten. At the Bauhaus he became acquainted with Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Citroen, Wassily Kandinsky and Eva Besnyö and was influenced by László Moholy-Nagy. With Citroen's help, Umbehr took on the artist name of Umbo and started a photo studio in 1926. He made photo collages as a camera assistant for the 1927 film by Walter Ruttmann called Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis.
In 1928 he became one of the founding members of the agency Dephot (Deutscher Photo Service GmbH) where he was friends with Felix H. Man and Robert Capa. The agency was closed by the Nazis in 1933. During the Nazi period, Umbo worked as a photojournalist for the magazine Signal, which reported from the frontlines. In 1943 his photo archives, containing 50.000–60.000 negatives, were destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin. Only a few of his works from that period have survived.
After the war Umbo returned to Hanover with his wife, the graphic designer Imgard Wanders and their daughter. He lost his left eye, but that did not prevent him from continuing his art. He is known for photos of the ruins of postwar Hanover and later taught photography at the School of Applied Arts there. From 1975 onwards his photographs were more widely accepted by the art critics and he was able to take part in several exhibitions.