[Return] Photography in the Weimar Republic

Altona Museum
June 7 to August 13, 2018

As part of the 7th Triennial of Photography, entitled Breaking Point. Searching for Change, the exhibition explores the potential of photography to momentarily freeze the passage of time—and thus potentially initiate change. The exhibition [RETURN] Photography in the Weimar Republic examines, among other things, roots, heritage, and learning from the past. The exhibition is also part of the City of Hamburg's program of events commemorating the 1918/19 anniversary: The Dawn of Democracy .

The turbulent years of the Weimar Republic were characterized by revolution and innovation not only in politics and society, but also in diverse fields such as fashion and dance, or technology and industry. Photography accompanied the young republic in all its developments, transforming itself as a medium and reinventing itself in the process: technically, thematically, and aesthetically.

At the Altona Museum, the exhibition approaches the era in four thematic areas: "Revolution and Republic", "From Slowfox to Grotesque Dance", "The Fashion of the Golden Twenties" and "From New Objectivity to New Vision" provide impressions of events and movements from the years 1918 to 1933.

The selection of images compiled for the Triennial of Photography is a preview of the comprehensive exhibition "Photography in the Weimar Republic 1918–1933 ," which will be shown at the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn in 2019. The local historical context of the Weimar era is represented by groups of works from the archive of the Altona Museum. For example, photographs taken around the time of the "Altona Bloody Sunday" on July 17, 1932, which was used as a pretext for the removal of the Prussian government and the restriction of fundamental rights, foreshadow the failure of democracy in the National Socialist terror state. The LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation Hamburg, and the German Photo Library Dresden are collaborating to draw on the rich archival holdings of their partners, supplemented by loans from ullstein bild Berlin.

From the archives of the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation Hamburg, the German Photo Library Dresden and the Altona Museum

Altona Museum
Museum Street 23
22765 Hamburg