
DID YOU KNOW?
The City Gallery of Bratislava organises workshops for families with children?




MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Organized by the Photoinstitut Bonartes in Vienna together with FOTOFO and Central European House of Photography for the Month of Photography in Bratislava
Research, preservation, maintenance, dissemination and
education regarding historical photography from Central Europe are the main
tasks of Photoinstitut Bonartes in Vienna. In line with this, the City Gallery
in Bratislava presents the exhibition Rudolf
Koppitz, from October 29, 2014 thru January 11,
2015. The show is organized by the Photoinstitut Bonartes in collaboration with
FOTOFO and the Central European House of Photography, who are organizing the
Month of Photography in Bratislava.
Rudolf Koppitz (1884–1936) is amongst the most important
Austrian photographers. He is much appreciated internationally for his unique
way of blending Pictorialism, Art Deco, and “Heimatkunst”. The exhibition shows
about 60 photographs from all stages of the artist’s work. Aside from his
famous nude studies, including his perhaps best-known picture, the “Movement
Study” of 1925, the show features a number of early landscape photos carried
out in various complicated printing techniques as well as a series of shots he
did as an air-force reconnaissance photographer in World War I. Another chapter
in the exhibition is dedicated to his programmatically entitled exhibition
“Country and People” (Land und Leute) shown 1936 at the Vienna Museum of Art
and Industry (today: MAK – Museum of Applied Art).
The majority of the exhibits shown come from the
holdings of the Photoinstitut Bonartes which takes care of a large part of the
estate of Rudolf Koppitz.
The exhibition premiered in the Moravská Galerie v
Brno (Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic) in April 2013.
Curator (Photoinstitut Bonartes): Monika Faber and
Magdalena Vukovic
Curator (FOTOFO): Michaela Bosaková
Biography Details
Rudolf Koppitz (b. 1884, Schreiberseifen/Skrbovice near
Freudenthal/Bruntál – d. 1936, Perchtoldsdorf near Vienna)
Following an apprenticeship as a professional
photographer in Austrian Silesia, he attended the Imperial and Royal School of
Graphics (k.k. Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, “Graphische”) in Vienna in
1912/13. His early works give evidence of the influence of his teacher, the
Czech symbolist Karel Novák, and the circle of the Vienna Secession. Following
these influences he had a penchant for ornament and a preference for stylized
compositions.
In 1913, Koppitz was appointed an assistant at the Graphische,
but was shortly afterwards enlisted for war service. He was assigned different
tasks in Galicia and later Italy in the area of reconnaissance photography
which at that time still was in its very beginnings. Later, flying missions
over enemy territory, he did a number of spectacular aerial shots.
After the war, he returned to the Graphische where he quickly
got assigned as a teacher. In summer 1923, he married Anna Arbeitlang, who had also
worked there as an assistant teacher. During this time he did his first nude
photos: his preferred models were dancers, although he himself also posed nude
before the camera. Extensive exhibition activities started in 1924. Until his
death he participated in about 60 exhibitions all over the world.
In 1929/30, he saw his biggest international
successes: his most famous work, “Movement Study” (1925), was used as an
illustration in the “Encyclopædia Britannica” as the most prominent example of “Art
Photography”. Early in 1930, an exhibition of Koppitz’s works travelled from
New York to San Francisco. The works shown were still strongly influenced by
Pictorialism.
In the same year, however, the FiFo (“Internationale
Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbundes – Film und Foto”) came to Vienna after
being shown in Stuttgart. It had decisive influence on Koppitz’s artistic
development. The “Neues Sehen” (New Vision) led him to turn away from symbolist
compositions and toward a more factual and documentary oriented photography.
His preferred subjects now were rustic life as well as rural and sports scenes.
In 1936, the most comprehensive exhibition of his work took place: in a show
entitled “Country and People”, the Museum of Art and Industry, today’s MAK,
presented a survey of 500 works focused mainly on rustic and rural subjects.
Catalogue:
Thorough research done in preparing this exhibition produced numerous new results on Koppitz’s dance photography and his later peasant portraits. The main focus of the catalog is Koppitz’s characteristic blending of Austrian Pictorialism and Czech Symbolism, two very different traditions. Another important issue is the political aspect of the “Heimatfotografie” and the role of Koppitz’ wife, Anna, who had great influence on his career and, after his death, made use of his photographs and aesthetics in a Nazi context.