Author: Daniel Magilow
Author info: Associate Professor of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures (German)
Publication Date: November 2012
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Synopsis: The fifteen years in Germany between the end of World War I and the National Socialist rise to power in 1933 stand out as one of the twentieth century’s most tumultuous periods. These years of political and economic upheaval famously spawned significant and lasting changes in the arts. However, one noteworthy product of Weimar Germany’s booming cultural life has escaped significant critical attention: the photo essay. This book examines narrative photography and creates a snapshot of where Germany was after World War I and what it would become with the rise of National Socialism. By reading Weimar photo essays within their historical and literary context, Daniel Magilow shows how German photographers intervened in modernity’s key political and philosophical debates regarding the changing notions of nature, culture, personal identity, and national identity.
The Photography of Crisis: The Photo Essays of Weimar Germany
Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville