Michael Schmidt - Photographs. 1965-2014 - 2020

Take the opportunity to purchase the signed photobook 'Photographs 1965-2014' (2020) by the prominent Berlin photographer Michael SCHMIDT (1945-2014) as an unopened original copy!

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Background information about the photo book 'Photographs 1965-2014' by Michael Schmidt

About the Berlin photographer Michael SCHMIDT (1945-2014)

The Berlin photographer Michael Schmidt

Michael Schmidt (1945–2014) holds a unique position in contemporary German photography. Born in Berlin, he discovered photography as an artistic expression in the mid-1960s as a self-taught artist.
His first solo exhibition was in 1973. During his teaching activities at two adult education centers, he organized workshops, lectures, and exhibitions, including those by Robert ADAMS, Diane ARBUS, Lewis BALTZ, Larry CLARK, John GOSSAGE, William EGGLESTON, Larry FINK, Frank GOHLKE, and Lisette MODEL. Alongside Bernd and Hilla BECHER, he was thus responsible for the opening of German photography towards the 'New Topographics' movement from the USA.
To date, about two dozen photo books featuring his works have been published.

About the retrospective for which the photo book was published: The retrospective at the Hamburger Bahnhof presents the complete body of work for the first time and is the first overview exhibition of the Berlin photographer in his hometown after 25 years. 'Michael Schmidt's work is considered one of the most important pillars of photography within 20th-century German art history. The National Gallery is very proud to honor this significant and outstanding artist with a comprehensive retrospective,' said Udo Kittelmann, former director of the National Gallery.

Following the exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof (2020/21), the retrospective was shown at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (2021), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2021/22), and the Albertina Museum, Vienna (2022).



About the exhibition

For each of his series of works, Michael SCHMIDT developed an individual photographic approach to reality. They include portraits, self-portraits, cityscapes, landscapes, and still lifes. In addition to the series 'Waffenruhe' (1987), 'Ein-heit' (1996), 'Lebensmittel' (2012), and other original photographs, the exhibition presented the development of his artistic work through unpublished contact prints, book drafts, and archive materials, highlighting his constant critical revision and innovation, which serve as a model.

The retrospective showcased his life's work in eight focal points and adopted the presentation formats developed and tested by Michael SCHMIDT himself as much as possible. It begins with photographs from the districts of Kreuzberg and Wedding, taken between 1969 and 1981, depicting the everyday life of the residents. Later, he developed a style that combined documentation and abstraction.

In the mid-1970s, the project 'Waffenruhe' depicted a subjective and multifaceted image of the then-divided city through condensed, fragmentary, and high-contrast black-and-white photographs of urban landscapes, natural details, and portraits. His photography no longer primarily employs documentary methods but instead presents, in surprising visual contexts, the dystopian sense of life of a generation just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The body of work 'Ein-heit' (1991-94), created during German reunification, deals with the history and the universal symbolism of the political social systems that have governed Germany since 1933: National Socialism, socialism, and democracy.

At the end of the 20th century, Michael SCHMIDT photographed a series of young women (Women, 1997–1999), which thematizes the leveling of individuality through socially mediated norms and ideals. For the body of work 'Food, 2006–2010,' he photographed in food processing plants and for the first time also employed color photography. The foods in the photographs are no longer characterized by individuality, traceability, and regional connection, but by standardization, alienation, and internationalization.

In the mid-1990s, Schmidt discovered his archive as a source to subject his early work to a critical revision. Already seriously ill, he assembled images from the archive in 2013/14 for his artist's book 'Natur'.

Content of the catalog volume for the retrospective.

The catalog for the retrospective of Berlin photographer Michael SCHMIDT (1945-2014) presents the artistic development of his work in chronological order. The work groups are shown through a selection of representative pieces. Numerous images of working materials such as test prints and book designs, as well as archival materials like invitation cards, posters, and exhibition views, provide information about his working methods in the realization of his book and exhibition projects.
The catalog essays by Ute Eskildsen, Janos Frecot, Peter Galassi, Heinz Liesbrock, and Thomas Weski are texts by curators who closely collaborated with the artist on various projects during his lifetime. This book is the first publication to encompass the artist's entire body of work.



Publisher of Buchhandlung König, Cologne 2020. English edition, first and only edition.

Hardcover with dust jacket, 296 x 240 mm. 400 pages. ORIGINAL UNOPENED COPY!