Steidlville

Otto Steinert’s view of Paris didn’t concern itself much with the people and their bustling businesses; in the city he saw structures, rhythms and the subtle play of light and shadows. Building facades lining the avenues tell the story of the Paris of that time, but the blurred people and vehicles moving against this backdrop look strange and fleetingly intangible. A series of multiple exposures and luminograms (object-less “light sketches”), which were created at the Place de la Concorde and elsewhere, show how Steinert’s interests ultimately concentrated on alienation and abstraction.
This volume contains numerous previously unpublished photographs taken by Otto Steinert in Paris between 1948 and 1956. The collection impressively reveals the development of a genuine visual language: The most important protagonist of “subjective photography” intensely sought out shapes that went beyond illustrating reality.