Room Guide
Room 8
Living theatre: the post-war era
Between 1945 and 1968, street photography flourished as never before. Photographers such as Robert Doisneau, Garry Winogrand, Helen Levitt and William Klein sought to capture the poetry of everyday life, finding joy in the peculiarly urban choreography of people, matter and imagery. Doisneau often staged his anecdotal pictures, sometimes using actors, but other photographers preferred a more intuitive approach. ‘I would take long daily walks with my camera, leaving myself open to whatever happened around me’, explained Louis Stettner. ‘Each photograph was a way of reaching out, an act of discovery.’
Fashion photography also took to the streets. Magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar commissioned innovative street-based fashion shoots, with an exceptionally creative interaction between design, graphics, layout and photography. Paris Vogue commissioned William Klein’s vibrant arrangements in the street, as well as Irving Penn’s studio photographs of everyday tradespeople.
Studio photography flourished in parts of Africa. In Malick Sidibé’s studio in Bamako, Mali, young people posed playfully with their new possessions. These images show the euphoria of life after independence and the development of an African popular culture influenced by the west. Street photography was rarer in Africa. However, David Goldblatt has documented street life in South Africa for over fifty years. His images of black and white citizens of Johannesburg look as if they might have been taken in New York, belying the reality of the Apartheid regime.
- Other works in this room
- Cas Oorthuys (Casparus Bernardus Oorthuijs) (1908 Leiden, Netherlands – 1975 Amsterdam)
- Vlaglegging. Weteringplantsoente Amsterdam werd door de illegaliteit een vlag gelegd op plaats waar Nederlanders werden neergeschoten (The Resistance lay down a flag on the Weteringsplantsoen in Amsterdam where Dutch people had been killed),March1945, 21.4 cm x 20.2 cm
Rjiksmuseum, Amsterdam
X23574 - Louis Stettner (1924 New York, lives in Paris)
- Le Ménage (‘Household’, also known as ‘Family Walking’), Paris, c. 1950, 30.3 x 22.4 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen
X24880 - Robert Frank (1924 Zurich, lives in Nova Scotia and New York)
- Doll, 1949, 35.3 x 20.6 cm
Washington, 1961–6, 43 x 64 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen - Otto Steinert (1915 Saarbrücken, Germany – 1978 Essen, Germany)
- Ein-Fuss-Gänger (One-foot-passenger),1950, 28.5 x 39 cm
Gallery Kicken Berlin
X22657 - Appell (Roll Call),1950, 60 x 47 cm
Private Collection, Montana, USA
X22656 - Irving Penn (1917 New Jersey, lives in New York)
From the series Small Trades, Paris, 1950
Les Garçons-Bouchers (Butcher’s Boys), printed 1951, 32.6 x 24.8 cm,
Le Marchand de concombres (Cucumber Seller), printed 1951, 33.6 x 25.3 cm
Le Balayeur de rue (Street Sweeper), printed 1951, 34.2 x 23.8 cm
Télégraphiste (Telegraphist), platinum print, printed 1976, 48 x 35.9 cm
Le Vitrier (Glazer), platinum print, printed 1976, 43 x 27.6 cm
Les Pâtissiers (Pastry Cooks,), platinum print, printed 1976, 49.8 x 36.7 cm
Rempailleurs (Chair-rushers,), platinum print, printed 1976, 34.9 x 32.6 cm
Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris, Paris
X22752 - X22759 - Arturo Ghergo (1900 Macerata, Italy – 1958 Rome)
Isa Miranda, 1942, 22.5 x 16.7 cm
X22685
Marina Bert, 1946, 23.5 x 17.5 cm
X22682
Valentina Cortese, 1945, 22.4 x 16.3 cm
X22683 - Mariella Lotti, 1940, 22.8 x 16.6 cm
X22684 - Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo, Milano
- William Klein (1928 New York, lives in Paris)
Simone and Olympic Wrestlers, Rome, 1960, 39.8 x 29.8 cm
Simone and Sophia Loren, Rome, 1962, 39.9 x 34.3 cm
Mirrors and Roofs, New York, 1961, 43.3 x 35.5 cm p. 67
Haus der Photographie/Sammlung F.C. Gundlach, Hamburg
X23823 - X23825 - 2 Showcases
William Klein (1928 New York, lives in Paris)
Life is Good and Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Revels. Editions du Seuil, Paris 1956, 28.2 x 22.7 cm, 194 pp.
Z01005
Rome. Editions du Seuil, Album Petite Planète, Paris 1959, 28.4 x 22.7 cm, 192 pp
Z01006 - Moskau Nannen, Hamburg 1964, 35.2 × 26.2 cm, 184 pp
Z00973
Moscow, Crown Publishers Inc, New York 1964, 35.4 × 26,5 cm, 184 pp
Z01007
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen / Private Collection, Essen
Tokyo. Crown Publishers Inc.: New York 1964, 35.5 × 26.5 cm, 184 pp
Z01008
Haus der Photographie/Sammlung F.C. Gundlach, Hamburg
Joan Colom (1921 Barcelona, lives in Barcelona)
From the series Gente del Raval (People of Raval), 1958–61
Untitled (Woman on the Street), 23.3 x 12.2 cm
Untitled (Man Looking After a Woman) 23.2 x 17.5 cm
Untitled (Woman, Very Likely Prostitute), 23 x 12.6 cm
Collection of Foto Colectania Foundation, Barcelona
X22855 X22858 X22859 - Erwin Blumenfeld (1897 Berlin – 1969 Rome)
Red Cross, 1945, printed 2007; 40 x 30 cm
X23068
City Lights, 1946, printed 2007; 40 x 30 cm
X23069
C-Prints
© The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld - Norman Parkinson (1913 London – 1990 West Indies)
- Wenda, Times Square, NYC, September 1949, later print, 61 x 50.5 cm
Cibachrome
Courtesy Norman Parkinson Archive
X22764 - Leon Levinstein (1910 Buckhannon, West Virginia – 1988 New York)
Broadway and 42nd Street, c. 1974, 35.1 x 22.8 cm
Untitled (NYC), 1960, 34.1 x 25.9 cm
Bleekerstreet,1954, 35.3 x 27.7 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen
X22867- X22869 - Malick Sidibé (1935 Soloba, Mali, lives in Bamako)
From his studio portrait photographs
Monsieur Dembelé agent secret (Monsieur Dembelé Secret Agent), 1964
X22901
Voici ma montre et ma bague (Here Are My Watch and My Ring), 1964
X22907
Monsieur Ousman et sa bouteille (Mister Ousman and His Bottle), 1970
Modern prints from the original negatives, uncropped, 28 x 28 cm
Gwin Zegal, St Brieuc - David Goldblatt (1930 Randfontein, South Africa, lives in Johannesburg)
- From the series On Eloff Street Johannesburg, South Africa
Two photographs, 1966–7, printed 2008, 30 x 42 cm
Courtesy Goodman Gallery Johannesburg and the artist
X22944
X22945 - 1 Showcase
Malick Sidibé (1935 Soloba, Mali, lives in Bamako)
From his Portraits at Dance Evenings (Les chemises [hanging folders])
Babengo Club, Médina Coura, 26-12-64, 1964
Soirée Mariage, Seydou Doumbia, 2-11-68 (Evening Wedding, Seydou Doumbia, 2-11-68), 1968
Nuit du 31-12-69 (Night of 31-12-69), 1969
Nuit du 16-9-72 (Night of 16-9-72), 1972
Each 32 x 48 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen - Nuit du 1-1-73 (Night of 1-1-73), 1973
Nuit du 7-7-73(Night of 7-7-73), 1973
Each 32 x 48 cm
Gwin Zegal, St Brieuc - Tom von Wichert (1909 Riga – 1985 Munich)
New York – Volkswagen, c. 1954, printed 1983
Cibachrome, 31 x 41.8 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen
X24726 - Robert Doisneau (1912 Gentilly, Paris – 1994 Paris)
La plus stricte intimité (The Very Strict Intimacy), 1945, 32.2 x 21.7 cm
Lesamoureux du Vert-Galant (The Lovers from Vert-Galant), 1950, 29.9 x 37.2 cm
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen
X24879
X24878 - Helen Levitt (1913 New York, lives in New York)
- New York, c. 1940, 19.1 x 12.7 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase, 1942 - New York, 1940, 16.6 x 22.5 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Aonymous gift, 1941 - New York, c. 1945, 33.8 x 25 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the photographer, 1959 - New York(Foreign Legion), c. 1940, 22.6 x 33.6 cm
Courtesy the artist and Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
X22602 X22603 X22606 X22607 - Lee Miller (1907 Poughkeepsie, New York – 1977 Chiddingly, United Kingdom)
László Bardossy, fascist ex-prime minister of Hungary, facing the firing squad, Budapest, Hungary, 1946, 27.4 x 27.4 cm
Photograph by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives, England 2008.
All rights reserved.
X22973