New Objectivity or Neue Sachlichkeit was a type of photography first practised in the early 1920's beginning in Germany and soon spreading through Europe and into America, instead of previously trying to emulate the expressive qualities of painting they embraced the technical side of photography and began to focus on capturing the world in a clear objective manner. What this meant was the photographers using this documentary style captured real life subjects without any attempt to stage or set up a scene or situation with the shots appearing rich in detail with a very strong focus but yet have a very calming feel to them overall. It has been suggested that this approach came about because of the sudden increase of industry and technology in society at this time between the 1st and 2nd World Wars and these new shapes and textures needed a different approach to full illustrate.
Three good examples of the range of work produced using this style can be seen by looking at the work of the following people:-
Albert Renger-Patzsch.
He was born in Wurzburg Germany in June 1897 and is seen as one of the co-founders and mastermind behind the New Objectivity movement, he chose to move away from the "romanticizing" art Photography and wanted to start capturing images that were completely true to life through proper control of the lighting and development
techniques. He described the New Objectivity movement as being " To create photographs with the resources of photography that can endure by means of their p
photographic qualities without borrowing from art." His many focus seems to have been capturing the industrial culture of the early 20th century but he also did a lot of still life work capturing everyday scenes. His most famous work and one where you see most clearly his view of the industrial world is found in his book Die Welt Ist Schon where he looks at Germany in the Pre 2nd World War era.
Karl Blossfeldt.
He was born much earlier then Renger-Patzsch but they had in common a similar idea on how they wanted their photography to look and feel. Where as Renger-Patzsch was focused on mainly man made subjects Blossfeldt only ever took images of flowers, buds and seed pods but it was they way that they both captured these subjects in great detail and sharpness that makes them similar. As I've already said Blossfeldt was best known for his close up work of plants and living things, inspired by the natural world and the way plants in particular grew he work with his home made camera to capture stunning images at this time showing the form and structure of his subjects. He once said "The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism, it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artist form" yet he never considered his work as any type of art more a teaching tool for others to learn from.
Images taken from Wikimedia Commons.
Emmanuel Sougez.
Sougez's work to me is a kind of combination of Renger-Patzsch and Blossfeldt, he chose to work with a large format cameras to capture still life's, landscapes and nudes but where his differs from the others was his skill of composition. He'd use the lines and shapes to give his work a more artistic feel but still kept the strong focus on detail and the natural feel of the image that defines it as part of the New Objectivity movement.
Images taken from German Wikipedia.
What's clear to me from studying this movement is that sometimes a very simple subject if looked at in the right manner can produce stunning results, with the right lighting and composition and a really understanding of the subject just look what can be produced.
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