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Berlin: a photographic portrait of the Weimar years, 1918-1933
This collection of photographs aims to create a portrait of life in Berlin at the time of the Weimar Republic. It shows Berliners at work, at home, at play, and contrasts a diversity of social settings from the tenements of the very poor to the luxury apartments of the rich. The Weimar years were a time of social upheaval, political instability and great intellectual activity and conflict. This book aims to convey some of the excitement and strangeness of the time.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1991
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August 12, 2017
This is an essential photographic record of the Weimar Republic years in Germany. Everything you would expect to find is here, from the dark inner courtyards where sickles and swastikas compete for real estate, to the breadlines and the glowing movie palaces and neon-lit department stores. Like the best collections, though, Mr. Friedrich's book includes rarer images alongside the stock and iconographic ones even lay historians like myself have seen a million times. The accompanying text occasionally mentions a fact, scandal, or tidbit I hadn't previously encountered, as well, which is a plus.
But the photos are obviously the highlight of the work. My favorite were what the Germans would call the alltäglich, dealing less with the "Prussian Baroque" architecture or the city's history or the artistic Zeitgeist, and more with how people survived, passed time, and, when things were good, how they had fun from day to day. It's a photographic version of Heinrich Zille's sketches that recall apartments that smell more of laundry soaking than soup cooking. Jacob Riis in the nearest American equivalent I can think of off the top of my head. Others may be less interested in the mundane, though, and for them there's a hearty offering of images that give an idea of the artistic and architectural currents that were in vogue during this republic's short but endlessly fascinating efflorescence. Highest Recommendation.
But the photos are obviously the highlight of the work. My favorite were what the Germans would call the alltäglich, dealing less with the "Prussian Baroque" architecture or the city's history or the artistic Zeitgeist, and more with how people survived, passed time, and, when things were good, how they had fun from day to day. It's a photographic version of Heinrich Zille's sketches that recall apartments that smell more of laundry soaking than soup cooking. Jacob Riis in the nearest American equivalent I can think of off the top of my head. Others may be less interested in the mundane, though, and for them there's a hearty offering of images that give an idea of the artistic and architectural currents that were in vogue during this republic's short but endlessly fascinating efflorescence. Highest Recommendation.
Displaying 1 of 1 review