{"id":350,"date":"2025-12-30T17:07:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yvaarchiv.de\/yva\/?page_id=350"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:38:25","slug":"photopolis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/yvaarchiv.de\/yva\/index.php\/photopolis\/","title":{"rendered":"Photopolis – Berlin\u2019s Lost Photographic Culture and Its Afterlife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rut(h) Landshoff (Atelier Zander & Labisch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Berlin war sowohl
Mekka der Lichtbildner & Lichtbildnerinnen
als auch Ausgangspunkt von deren Exil, Flucht, Verfolgung, Ende oder\/und Neuanfang<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Book and Exhibition Project
Photopolis 1919\u20131945 \u2013
Berlin\u2019s Lost Photographic Culture and Its Afterlife<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Photopolis 1919\u20131945<\/em> reconstructs Berlin as a centre of modern image production \u2013 a photographic city whose visual culture was ruptured after 1933, yet whose images continue to shape our understanding of modernity to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its core are the biographies of photographers and the networks of production in which they operated in Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s \u2013 networks that were disrupted, destroyed, or only fragmentarily preserved as a result of persecution, expropriation, and war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project brings into focus figures such as Yva (Else Neul\u00e4nder-Simon), Atelier Binder, the Jacobi sisters, Erwin Blumenfeld, Ellen Auerbach, Madame d\u2019Ora, Helmut Newton and Frieda Riess \u2013 alongside lesser-known studios, assistants, and the broader production structures that shaped this pivotal moment in the history of photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracing images and biographies back to their point of origin, the project reconsiders Berlin as a hub of photographic practice. It examines studios, patrons, publishers, and agencies, and reconstructs the ruptures in careers, bodies of work, and life trajectories after 1933. For many, Berlin became the point of departure into flight, exile, deportation, or death; for others, it marked the beginning of a new life abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was lost in the rupture between 1933 and 1945? What survived? And through which mechanisms did certain images remain visible after 1945, while others disappeared?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did these images persist \u2013 through processes of appropriation, canonisation, and aesthetic depoliticisation?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photopolis 1919\u20131945 thus seeks not only to reconstruct a lost photographic culture, but to critically reassess the conditions under which its images continue to shape our visual understanding of modernity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yva Archive\u00ae collaborates with private and public lenders, collectors, and supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you hold photographs, negatives, publications, correspondence, or personal recollections within family holdings that relate to Berlin studios, photographers, or trajectories of exile, we would be grateful to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even individual images or fragmentary traces may prove decisive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buch- und Ausstellung\/Book and Exhibition
Photopolis 1919\u20131945<\/em> –
Berlin\u2019s Lost Photographic Culture and Its Afterlife<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photopolis 1919\u20131945 rekonstruiert Berlin als das Zentrum moderner Bildproduktion \u2013 eine fotografische Stadt, die nach 1933 zerst\u00f6rt wurde, deren Bilder jedoch bis heute unser Bild der Moderne pr\u00e4gen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Im Mittelpunkt stehen die Biografien von Lichtbildnern sowie ihre Arbeits- und Produktionszusammenh\u00e4nge im Berlin der 1920er und 1930er Jahre, die durch Verfolgung, Enteignung und Krieg verloren gingen oder nur fragmentarisch \u00fcberliefert sind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In den Blick r\u00fccken Fotografinnen und Fotografen wie Yva (Else Neul\u00e4nder-Simon), das Atelier Binder, die Schwestern Jacobi, Erwin Blumenfeld, Ellen Auerbach, Madame d\u2019Ora, Helmut Newton und Frieda Rie\u00df \u2013 ebenso wie weniger bekannte Ateliers, Assistenten und Produktionsnetzwerke dieser f\u00fcr die Geschichte der Fotografie pr\u00e4genden Zeit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Das Projekt verfolgt Bilder und Biografien zur\u00fcck zu ihrem Entstehungsort: Berlin als Mekka der Lichtbildner. Es fragt nach Ateliers, Auftraggebern, Verlagen und Agenturen und rekonstruiert die Br\u00fcche in Werk, Wirken und Biografien ab 1933. F\u00fcr viele der Beteiligten wurde Berlin zum Ausgangspunkt von Flucht, Exil, Deportation oder Tod \u2013 f\u00fcr andere zum Ort eines sp\u00e4teren Neuanfangs im Ausland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was ging durch den Bruch zwischen 1933 und 1945 verloren? Was \u00fcberlebte? Und durch welche Mechanismen blieben bestimmte Bilder nach 1945 sichtbar, w\u00e4hrend andere verschwanden?
Wie gestaltete sich das Nachleben dieser Bilder \u2013 ihre Aneignung, Kanonisierung und \u00e4sthetische Entpolitisierung?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitwirkung<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Das Yva-Archiv\u00ae arbeitet mit privaten und \u00f6ffentlichen Leihgebern, Sammlern und Unterst\u00fctzern und Unterst\u00fctzerinnen zusammen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wenn Sie Fotografien, Negative, Publikationen, Korrespondenzen oder Erinnerungen aus Familienbesitz besitzen, die mit Berliner Ateliers, Fotografen oder Exilwegen verbunden sind, freuen wir uns \u00fcber Ihre Kontaktaufnahme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auch einzelne Bilder oder fragmentarische Hinweise k\u00f6nnen entscheidend sein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Berlin war sowohl Mekka der Lichtbildner & Lichtbildnerinnenals auch Ausgangspunkt von deren Exil, Flucht, Verfolgung, Ende oder\/und Neuanfang Book and Exhibition ProjectPhotopolis 1919\u20131945 \u2013 Berlin\u2019s Lost Photographic Culture and Its Afterlife Photopolis 1919\u20131945 reconstructs Berlin as a centre of modern image production \u2013 a photographic city whose visual culture was ruptured after 1933, yet whose images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-350","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPhotopolis - Berlin\u2019s Lost Photographic Culture and Its Afterlife - YVA Archiv\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yvaarchiv.de\/yva\/index.php\/photopolis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photopolis - 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