Gerda Leo
10 Jul - 06 Sep 2009
GERDA LEO
Photographien 1926-1932
10 July - 6 September 2009
Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam presents the first exhibition in the Netherlands of the remarkable work of Gerda Leo (1909, Hagen - 1993, Amsterdam). Gerda Leo studied at the art academy of Burg Giebichenstein, the ‘other Bauhaus’, in eastern Germany from 1925 to 1930. At first she followed courses in painting, graphic art and enamelling, before switching in 1928 to Hans Finsler’s class on ‘Object Photography’. Finsler was one of the leading exponents of Neue Sehen (New Vision), the international avant-garde photography movement of the interwar period. Neue Sehen was characterised by an analytical, clinical depiction of everyday objects and a desire for simplicity.
Leo was undoubtedly Finsler’s finest student. Her photos have a less artificial quality than those of her teacher; Leo liked to juxtapose light and shade, bright and dark. She created a succession of atmospheric, yet almost abstract, powerfully geometrical compositions. For a while, she worked as assistant to photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch, perhaps the greatest exponent of New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). It was through him that she met Jakob D’Oliveira, whom she later married. When they moved to Amsterdam, where they raised a family of five children, Leo had little opportunity to continue photographing.
Much of Gerda Leo’s work lay buried in the archives, until it was rediscovered in the early 1990s during preparation for an exhibition on the history of the Burg Giebichenstein art academy. Between 1930 and 1932, Leo had selected the works that she considered most important and pasted these onto card. Other photos were preserved in albums. As a result, almost all the photos she produced in the late ‘20s and early ’30s survived. In 1994, the Halle museum presented an exhibition on Gerda Leo accompanied by a publication. The show and the book place her remarkable oeuvre in the context of the New Vision movement.
This exhibition was made possible with support from Stiftung Moritzburg - Kunstmuseum des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt.
Photographien 1926-1932, by Gerda Leo can be seen from 10 July to 6 September 2009 at Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Open daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs/Fri 10.00-21.00. Tickets: Ђ 7.50
Note to editors: For information and visual material please contact Margot Don (communications), e-mail margot[AT]foam.nl or phone +31 (0)20 5516500.
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiroLoterij and the VandenEnde Foundation.
Photographien 1926-1932
10 July - 6 September 2009
Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam presents the first exhibition in the Netherlands of the remarkable work of Gerda Leo (1909, Hagen - 1993, Amsterdam). Gerda Leo studied at the art academy of Burg Giebichenstein, the ‘other Bauhaus’, in eastern Germany from 1925 to 1930. At first she followed courses in painting, graphic art and enamelling, before switching in 1928 to Hans Finsler’s class on ‘Object Photography’. Finsler was one of the leading exponents of Neue Sehen (New Vision), the international avant-garde photography movement of the interwar period. Neue Sehen was characterised by an analytical, clinical depiction of everyday objects and a desire for simplicity.
Leo was undoubtedly Finsler’s finest student. Her photos have a less artificial quality than those of her teacher; Leo liked to juxtapose light and shade, bright and dark. She created a succession of atmospheric, yet almost abstract, powerfully geometrical compositions. For a while, she worked as assistant to photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch, perhaps the greatest exponent of New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). It was through him that she met Jakob D’Oliveira, whom she later married. When they moved to Amsterdam, where they raised a family of five children, Leo had little opportunity to continue photographing.
Much of Gerda Leo’s work lay buried in the archives, until it was rediscovered in the early 1990s during preparation for an exhibition on the history of the Burg Giebichenstein art academy. Between 1930 and 1932, Leo had selected the works that she considered most important and pasted these onto card. Other photos were preserved in albums. As a result, almost all the photos she produced in the late ‘20s and early ’30s survived. In 1994, the Halle museum presented an exhibition on Gerda Leo accompanied by a publication. The show and the book place her remarkable oeuvre in the context of the New Vision movement.
This exhibition was made possible with support from Stiftung Moritzburg - Kunstmuseum des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt.
Photographien 1926-1932, by Gerda Leo can be seen from 10 July to 6 September 2009 at Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Open daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs/Fri 10.00-21.00. Tickets: Ђ 7.50
Note to editors: For information and visual material please contact Margot Don (communications), e-mail margot[AT]foam.nl or phone +31 (0)20 5516500.
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiroLoterij and the VandenEnde Foundation.