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Andreas Feininger (1906-1999)

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www.march.es
2
Fundacin Juan March
 ANDREAS FEININGER
(19061999)

Este catlogo se publica con motivo de la exposicin

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999)
NDICE
Museu dArt Espanyol Contemporani, Palma (16 de enero al 3 de mayo de 2008)
Museo de Arte Abstracto Espaol, Cuenca (23 de mayo al 31 de agosto de 2008) PRESENTACIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Concepto y organizacin UNA FILOSOFA DE LA FOTOGRAFA

Departamento de Exposiciones (Fundacin Juan March) Andreas Feininger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Thomas Buchsteiner (Andreas Feininger Archive)
Coordinacin EL LENGUAJE DE LA IMAGEN: LO QUE VES ES LO QUE HAY
Museu dArt Espanyol Contemporani (Fundacin Juan March) Thomas Buchsteiner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

CATLOGO ANDREAS FEININGER, FOTGRAFO-ANATOMISTA

Fundacin Juan March, Madrid 2008 Jean-Franois Chevrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Editorial de Arte y Ciencia, 2008
ANDREAS FEININGER EN CUATRO LIBROS
Textos: Fundacin Juan March, AndreasFeiningerArchive.com, Juan Manuel Bonet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Thomas Buchsteiner, Jean-Franois Chevrier, Juan Manuel Bonet,
John Loengard y Bob Adelman (1998) para la entrevista con Andreas APNDICE
Feininger extrada del libro Life Photographers: What they saw, de John Se acerc con su cmara. Bingo, dije. Quieto!
Loengard y Bob Adelman, Little, Brown Bulfinch Press Book (Boston, Mass., John Loengard entrevista a Andreas Feininger (1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
1998). Por cortesa de L(tt)e. Brown and Company.
ANDREAS FEININGER: UNA BIOGRAFA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Traducciones: Eurotranslations y Deborah L. Roldn (Presentacin) ANDREAS FEININGER: SUS LIBROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
ANDREAS FEININGER: BIBLIOGRAFA BSICA . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
ENGLISH TEXTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Revisiones y correcciones: Ins dOrs y Departamento de Exposiciones
(Fundacin Juan March)

Diseo de catlogo: Guillermo Nagore

L A I M A GE N D E PO RTA D A
Tipografa: Alternate Gothic No. 2 BT, Corvinus Versailles y Bodoni La mirada atenta y seria de un fotgrafo
Papel: autorretratndose con su cmara: as miraba
Fotomecnica e impresin: al mundo el joven Andreas Feininger en
Encuadernacin: 1927. Comenz su carrera en la fotografa
de vanguardia europea de los aos 20,
ISBN: trabaj para Life durante largos aos y
Depsito legal: se consider siempre un fotoperiodista.
Clsico y riguroso, posey para las ciudades
el ojo educado de un arquitecto y dedic a
Fundacin Juan March la naturaleza la visin, realista y funcional,
Castell, 77. 28006 Madrid de un anatomista.
Tel. +34 (91) 435 42 40. Fax. +34 (91) 431 42 27
www.march.es

Museu dArt Espanyol Contemporani (Palma) CRDITOS FOTOGRFICOS

Sant Miquel, 11. 07002 Palma
Tel. +34 (971) 71 35 15. Fax. +34 (971) 71 26 01 ANDREASFEININGERARCHIVE.COM: CAT. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
www.march.es/arte/palma 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36,
37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 68, 69, 70 Y P. 7, P. 25, P. 26, P. 28, P. 52, P. 120. ANDREAS
FEININGER/TIMELIFE/GETTY IMAGES: CAT. 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53,
Museo de Arte Abstracto Espaol (Cuenca) 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 y p. 29. RALPH MORSE/TIMELIFE/
Casas Colgadas, 16001 Cuenca GETTY IMAGES: P. 6. VOLKER HINZ: P. 117. HERBERT LIST/MAGNUM
Tel.: +34 (969) 21 29 83. Fax: +34 (969) 21 22 85 PHOTOS/CONTACTO: P. 24. ANDREASFEININGERARCHIVES.COM: Portada,
www.march.es/arte/cuenca P. 3, P. 50, P. 53, P. 119, P. 121. ANTONIO ZAFRA: P. 27, P. 56, P. 81, P. 82-83,
P. 84-85. XISCO BONNN: P. 54-55, P. 80.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 3

Fundacin Juan March
4
Fundacin Juan March
 ANDREAS FEININGER
(1906-1999)

A
ndreas Feininger (Pars, anatoma de la naturaleza, con
1906 Nueva York, 1999) La Fundacin Juan March presenta en el Museu dArt sus fabulosos primeros planos de
fue el mayor de los hijos de Espanyol Contemporani de Palma (del 16 de enero al 3 de insectos, flores, conchas, rocas
Lyonel Feininger, el conocido pin- mayo de 2008) y a continuacin en el Museo de Arte Abs- El 1945, Hicks propuso a Fei-
tor americano de origen alemn. ninger volver a escribir sobre fo-
tracto Espaol de Cuenca (del 23 de mayo al 31 de agosto
En 1908 toda la familia Feininger tografa. Hasta ese momento, ste
se traslad a Berln y de all, en de 2008) 71 obras del fotgrafo americano Andreas Feinin- haba publicado algunos artculos
1919, a Weimar, donde el padre ger, una seleccin que constituye la primera retrospectiva en Alemania, y tambin libros,
fue profesor junto a Le Corbusier, dedicada en Espaa a una de las figuras destacadas de la como el dedicado a Estocolmo, de
Walter Gropius, Vassily Kandins- fotografa del siglo XX. 1936, o su primer libro de teora y
ky o Johannes Itten en la recin tcnica fotogrfica, New Paths in
fundada Bauhaus. Photography, de 1939. Hasta su
A principios de los aos veinte, Andreas Feininger estudi ebanis- muerte en 1999 publicara ms de 50 libros, algunos de los cuales pue-
tera en los cursos de la Bauhaus, donde continu su formacin como den verse en la exposicin, junto a algunas de sus cmaras, revistas y do-
arquitecto. Tanto la obra y las aficiones de su padre como algunos de cumentos de poca. En 1998 don su archivo, sus aparatos y casi todos
los principios de aquella escuela la importancia de la composicin, la sus negativos al Center for Creative Photography de Tucson (Arizona)
claridad, la perspectiva o la proporcin sern caractersticas constantes La exposicin Andreas Feininger. 1906-1999, ha contado con la ayu-
en el posterior trabajo fotogrfico del joven Feininger, como tambin el da y el asesoramiento de Thomas Buchsteiner (Tubinga), uno de los me-
inters por todo lo relacionado con la naturaleza y su representacin, que jores conocedores de la obra de Feininger y quiz la persona que ms
acabara convirtiendo la fotografa en su gran pasin y en su trabajo. ha contribuido a su conocimiento y reconocimiento internacional, sin la
En 1929 su obra apareca ya, seleccionada junto a la de El Lissitzky que esta primera retrospectiva dedicada en Espaa a Andreas Feininger
o Laszlo Mohly-Nagy, en ensayos de vanguardia como el clebre Pho- no hubiera sido posible. En este catlogo, que quiere presentar su obra
to/Auge de Franz Roh. Feininger fue de los primeros de una generacin fotogrfica desde el espritu de la revista Life de los aos 40, hemos po-
de artistas que descubri y experiment con la fotografa como medio dido contar con textos adems de una entrevista de John Loengard de
artstico en los aos que siguieron a la I Guerra Mundial, como muestran 1992 y de Una filosofa de la fotografa, un indito en espaol del propio
algunas de las imgenes de sus inicios, seleccionadas para esta exposi- Feininger de especialistas de prestigio como Jean-Franois Chvrier o
cin. Cercano a la experimentacin fotogrfica de los aos 20 y 30, que Juan Manuel Bonet, que, junto con el trabajo de Thomas Buschsteiner,
despus abandonara, Feininger es sobre todo un anatomista (Jean- suponen diferentes y enriquecedores acercamientos a la vida, la obra y
Franois Chevrier) heredero de Blossfeldt y de Alfred Renger-Patzsch, la figura del artista fotgrafo. La Fundacin Juan March desea agradecer
desde los que derivar hasta trabajar, durante toda su vida, en su campo tambin a todos ellos su colaboracin en este proyecto.
propio: la frontera difusa entre la fotografa artstica, el fotorreportaje y
el fotoperiodismo. Madrid, diciembre de 2007
Completados sus estudios de arquitectura, Feininger trabaj como ar-
quitecto en Hamburgo y, por un breve periodo, con Le Corbusier, en Pa-
rs. En 1933 las autoridades francesas cancelaron su permiso de trabajo
y se march a Estocolmo. All se dedic del todo a la fotografa, y muy
rpidamente adquiri cierta celebridad como fotgrafo de arquitectura
y ciudad. Con el inicio de la II Guerra Mundial, su situacin (Feininger
segua siendo ciudadano americano) se hizo cada vez ms complicada, y
en 1939 emigr a los Estados Unidos junto con su mujer, Wysse Hgg.
Algunos contactos europeos le facilitaron un contrato con la Black
Star Agency, una de las principales agencias de fotgrafos de Nueva
York. Fue un periodo duro, en el que compagin trabajos por encargo
con su aficin a deambular libremente por la ciudad y retratarla: edifi-
cios, calles, puentes, pasos elevados, cementerios, comercios; la belleza
natural de Central Park, la pobreza del Lower East Side, el Skyline de
Manhattan o la grandiosidad del puente de Brooklyn: Nueva York sera,
siempre, uno de sus temas preferidos.
Mientras trabajaba en la Black Star, Feininger conoci a Wilson Hic-
ks, que le ofreci un trabajo como freelance en Life, la revista pionera
del fotoperiodismo moderno. Feininger fue uno de los fotgrafos estrella
de Life durante largo tiempo, y se hizo clebre con sus famosas double
page, sus fotografas a doble pgina. Era un perfeccionista absoluta-
mente serio y riguroso, que empleaba objetivos de fabricacin propia y
cuidaba al detalle la tcnica y la eleccin de los motivos, los temas y los
puntos de vista. La exposicin muestra un gran nmero de obras de esa
prolfica etapa, en la que compagin sus dos grandes temas: el retrato
de la vida urbana (su belleza, ms que sus conflictos) y su particular

El fotoperiodista, Dennis Stock, 1951

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 5

Fundacin Juan March
6
Fundacin Juan March
Una filosofia de la fotografia
ANDREAS FEININGER

L
a fotografa es el lenguaje de la imagen, el nico inteligible en cual- revelar otras y a menudo mejores posibilidades para una eficaz inter-
quier parte del mundo y por ello precioso y nico. Sin embargo, del pretacin. En este sentido, presto especial atencin a la influencia de
mismo modo que la palabra, hablada o escrita, puede utilizarse de luces y sombras, a la perspectiva, el fondo y la escala. A continuacin
forma inteligente para transmitir conocimientos, comunicar ideas y esti- tomo una serie de fotografas, todas ligeramente diferentes, de entre las
mular la mente o bien desperdiciarse en discursos vacos, la fotografa que despus elijo la mejor.
puede ofrecer al espectador algo que realmente vale la pena observar o, Aunque cualquier sujeto puede, por supuesto, ser fotografiado tanto
por el contrario, hacerle perder el tiempo con imgenes vanas. Por ello, la en color como en blanco y negro, nunca he encontrado un caso en el que
cualidad ms importante de una fotografa es su contenido. esta eleccin careciera de importancia. Si el color es la cualidad visual
Otro aspecto a destacar, en un mundo en el que la gente parece im- ms destacable de un sujeto, lo ms probable es que una toma en color
pacientarse cada vez ms ante cualquier espera, es que, a diferencia del d el mejor resultado. Por el contrario, si la caracterstica ms tpica de
documento impreso, una fotografa se lee con slo echar un vistazo. un sujeto es un contraste excepcionalmente alto o bajo, una interpreta-
El lenguaje de las palabras, la lectura, va perdiendo importancia, len- cin en blanco y negro normalmente producir mejores fotografas.
tamente y de modo generalizado, frente al lenguaje de la imagen-televi- Otros aspectos que considero necesarios para la creacin de buenas
sin, publicidad visual y fotografa. La mejor razn para afirmar que una fotografas son la simplicidad de la composicin, la imaginacin de cara
fotografa es buena es que es eficaz. a la interpretacin y llenar el espacio disponible de la imagen con de-
Desgraciadamente, la mayora de las personas valora la efectividad talles relevantes para el observador. Nada puede diluir ms el efecto de
de una fotografa de acuerdo con su ejecucin tcnica. Si es ntida y los una imagen que la inclusin de un fondo sin sentido resultado del exce-
colores son naturales, se considera una buena fotografa. Si no, no lo es. sivo alejamiento de sujeto y cmara o del uso de una lente cuya distancia
En mi opinin, esta actitud es como juzgar el trabajo de un escritor por focal era demasiado corta para la ocasin.
la exactitud de su gramtica y ortografa; porque incluso una fotogra- Hablando de un modo ms general, mi enfoque de la fotografa se
fa tcnicamente perfecta puede ser tambin una imagen aburrida y sin basa en la vista potenciada por el inters del sujeto. Creo que nadie
contenido. Personalmente, considero que una cmara es el equivalente puede hacer fotografas impactantes o provocadoras a menos que est
de la mquina de escribir de un novelista o periodista un instrumento interesado en el sujeto. Personalmente, slo considero los sujetos que
indispensable en nuestra profesin, pero no algo sobre lo que tengamos captan mi inters, porque he comprobado que ese inters es la chispa
que preocuparnos en exceso. De lo contrario, un fotgrafo puede conver- que estimula mi creatividad. Sin l, por muy importante que sea el sujeto
tirse fcilmente en esclavo de una actitud caracterizada por la frecuente como tal, mis fotografas no sern mejores que la media. El inters es,
expresin: Si tuviera una Nikon (o una Leica, o una Pentax...), yo tam- por supuesto, una cuestin personal. Lo que a m puede estimularme
bin podra hacer buenas fotografas, lo que, obviamente, constituye por ejemplo, el crculo de una tela de una araa enjoyada con gotas de
una falsa ilusin. roco o una concha rota que parece una escultura puede que no tenga
Con ello no quiero insinuar que considere que la tcnica fotogrfica sentido para una persona particularmente interesada en la gente.
carezca de importancia. Al contrario, bien empleada, es indispensable

P
para extraer todo el potencial del sujeto y de la imagen. De hecho, la ersonalmente, prefiero el blanco y negro al color. Cuando trabajo
considero tan importante que acabo de publicar un libro La esencia de en color, no tengo prcticamente ningn control sobre el aspecto
la fotografa dedicado enteramente a la gramtica y sintaxis fotogr- de mi fotografa tras soltar el obturador, mientras que en blanco
ficas tal y como yo las entiendo. Es la base del presente trabajo, que y negro el control que tengo sobre el efecto de la imagen despus de
conceb como la otra mitad de una unidad. revelar la pelcula es prcticamente ilimitado.
Ahora, sin embargo, no pongo el nfasis en los problemas tcnicos Nunca fotografo ni tan siquiera el sujeto ms interesante a menos
sino en los pensamientos e ideas, en ver, sentir y pensar. Por qu tom que lo considere fotognico. En este sentido, las cualidades que conside-
en concreto esta fotografa? Qu vi en este sujeto en particular? Qu ro son: color, luz, contraste, perspectiva, movimiento, fondo y tono global
provoc en mi mente? Qu quise decir con esta fotografa? es decir, los elementos del diseo grfico, pues, si estas cualidades no
Al trabajar de forma independiente, soy libre para elegir el tipo de tra- estn bien presentes, la fotografa, por muy importante que sea su conte-
bajo que quiero realizar y, a diferencia de un reportero grfico, me interesan nido, nunca podr ser una imagen artsticamente satisfactoria.
principalmente los aspectos de la naturaleza y las creaciones del hombre y Evito intencionadamente sujetos que con anterioridad han fotografiado
no tanto las personas, por lo que generalmente no me siento forzado a tomar con xito otros fotgrafos, a menos que sienta que puedo superar su trabajo.
decisiones sobre las instantneas antes de soltar el obturador. Normalmente Finalmente, creo que un fotgrafo creativo debe tener valor para
me tomo un tiempo tiempo para estudiar, des- recorrer su propio camino, por poco ortodoxo
de todos los ngulos, el sujeto de la imagen que o incluso contrario a los tabes actuales que
estoy contemplando, tanto literal como figurada- pueda resultar. A m personalmente me han ca-
mente, e incluyendo, si fuera necesario, su rela- lificado de romntico, distante, artificioso, far-
cin con las personas y el entorno. sante, arrogante... No me preocupa. Slo si me
Por ello, cuando encuentro un sujeto inte- siento libre de prejuicios soy capaz de realizar
resante, nunca asumo que la primera visin es fotografas de las que puedo sentirme orgullo-
tambin la mejor. Casi siempre, presuponiendo so. Mis libros de fotografa no venden los mi-
que dispongo de tiempo, un estudio adicional llones de ejemplares que venden algunas no-
velas populares. No estn pensados para todo
el mundo, se dirigen a un pblico sofisticado
Feininger consideraba la cmara un instrumento in- que es lo suficientemente imparcial y libre de
dispensable (...), pero no algo sobre lo que tenga- prejuicios como para disfrutar de imgenes e
mos que preocuparnos en exceso. A la izquierda,
Feininger trabajando para la revista Life, fotogra- ideas nuevas, un pblico interesado en lo que
fiado por Ralph Morse en 1941. A la derecha, con tengo que decir sobre mi trabajo, porque ha-
su cmara de fabricacin casera, sin fecha. blamos el mismo idioma.
Nueva York, abril de 1993

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 7

Fundacin Juan March
 1927
SELF-PORTRAIT
AUTORRETRATO
24 x 17 cm. CAT. 1

8
Fundacin Juan March
 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 9
Fundacin Juan March
10
Fundacin Juan March
 1931
AT A COCKTAIL PARTY, HAMBURG
EN UN CCTEL, HAMBURGO
24 x 18,3 cm. CAT. 3

1929
NUDE (RETICULATION)
DESNUDO (RETICULACIN)
33 x 23,5 cm. CAT. 2

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 11

Fundacin Juan March
12
Fundacin Juan March
 1930/31
HAMBURG
HAMBURGO
25,5 x 19,5 cm.
CAT. 4

13
Fundacin Juan March
14
Fundacin Juan March
 1932
RACING CAR IN THE GARAGE, GERMANY
COCHE DE CARRERAS EN EL GARAJE, ALEMANIA
28,5 x 36 cm. CAT. 6

1931
HERBERT LIST, HAMBURG
HERBERT LIST, HAMBURGO
24 x 17,5 cm. CAT. 5

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 15

Fundacin Juan March
 1932
NUDE AT THE BEACH
DESNUDO EN LA PLAYA
19 x 23,5 cm. CAT. 7

16
Fundacin Juan March
1933
WYSSE, DESSAU
WYSSE, DESSAU
24 x 18,2 cm. CAT. 8

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 17

Fundacin Juan March
18
Fundacin Juan March
 1935
DRAGONFLY WING (PHOTOGRAM)
ALA DE LIBLULA (FOTOGRAMA)
23 x 18 cm. CAT. 10

1934
REED STALK, SWEDEN
TALLO DE CAA, SUECIA
23 x 16 cm. CAT. 9

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 19

Fundacin Juan March
 c. 1937
STEAMER, STOCKHOLM HARBOR
BUQUE DE VAPOR EN EL PUERTO DE ESTOCOLMO
17 x 23,8 cm. CAT. 11

20
Fundacin Juan March
 1937
STOCKHOLM
ESTOCOLMO
17 x 22,8 cm. CAT. 12

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 21

Fundacin Juan March
22
Fundacin Juan March
1939
NUDE (SOLARIZATION)
DESNUDO (SOLARIZACIN)
24 x 19,5 cm. CAT. 13

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 23

Fundacin Juan March
24
Fundacin Juan March
El lenguaje de
la imagen:
Lo que ves es lo que hay
THOMAS BUCHSTEINER

A
parece en todos los libros de referencia de fotografa; con frecuen- msica de Bach ms que cualquier otra cosa por su simplicidad, que la
cia se habla de l como un pionero de la foto periodstica moder- haca pura, serena y vigorosa. Sin embargo, tambin le influyeron los fo-
na, un magnfico fotgrafo, una figura clsica de la historia de la tgrafos de vanguardia de los aos veinte, especialmente las figuras ms
fotografa, una leyenda de la fotografa. Junto a Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, destacadas de la Bauhaus. Los elementos formales de sus trabajos, como
Alfred Eisenstaedt, Andr Kertsz y Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Andreas la claridad y la funcionalidad que resultan de las reglas fotogrficas de
Feininger fue incluido entre los seis mejores fotgrafos del mundo en una la perspectiva, el contraste, los tonos grises, la nitidez y el efecto difu-
entrevista para la BBC que dirigi Peter Adam en 1983. minado, influan en los mtodos de trabajo y percepcin de Feininger.
El pintor alemn Georg Baselitz dijo en una ocasin que con frecuen- Adems, es posible observar la estrecha relacin, en lo que se refiere a
cia pensaba que las mejores fotografas no necesitaban en absoluto del composicin, con el trabajo de su padre.
color. Esta podra ser una explicacin simple de por qu el trabajo en

F
blanco y negro, austero y esculturalmente lineal de Feininger no slo se eininger pas 60 aos de su larga e intensa vida explorando las
hizo famoso en el mundo entero sino que incluso pas a los anales de la posibilidades artsticas y tcnicas y los lmites de la fotografa.
historia de la fotografa. Esta bsqueda le llev a dominar su arte, convirtindose en pio-
Feininger se consideraba a s mismo un artesano que contemplaba su nero, profesor competente, modelo a seguir y experto entre expertos.
arte como la suma de sus talentos. La cmara, que a menudo comparaba Andreas Bernhard Lyonel Feininger fue el mayor de los hijos del re-
con la mquina de escribir de un escritor, era su herramienta. La utiliz conocido pintor Lyonel Feininger y su mujer, Julia Lilienfeldt. Naci en
para combatir obstinadamente, casi obsesivamente el predominio de Pars el 27 de diciembre de 1906, pero era ciudadano americano ya que
la fealdad. su familia haba emigrado a los EE.UU. a mediados del siglo XIX.
Feininger no fue un fotgrafo aventurero como Robert Capa, ni tam- En 1908, los Feininger se trasladaron a Alemania, a Zehlendorf, por
poco un observador como Henri Cartier-Bresson, que prefera esperar el entonces un suburbio de Berln, donde Andreas asisti tambin a la es-
momento decisivo el punto en el que una situacin se vuelve incluso cuela hasta que su familia se traslad a Weimar en 1919. Walter Gropius,
surreal. Fue un explorador que permaneci fiel a director de la recin fundada Escuela de Bau-
los postulados tradicionales de la belleza. haus, pidi a Feininger padre, un maestro de la
Es fcil entender su cosmos fotogrfico. A lo composicin, que dirigiera el taller de impresin.
largo de su vida le fascinaron dos reas temticas, En Weimar, Andreas descubri su afinidad con la
que, como l sola decir, le hablaban. Una de ellas naturaleza; su curiosidad visual se despert du-
era la vida urbana del siglo XX: le atraan sus uto- rante sus paseos por la regin de los alrededores
pas, no sus conflictos. La otra eran las formas na- de Weimar y las montaas de Turingia. Tambin
turales, aunque Feininger no deseaba nicamente descubri su amor por la libertad y su profundo
documentarlas: se interesaba por su geometra, rechazo hacia la coaccin, la disciplina militar
ornamentacin y aspecto monumental. y la autoridad, lo que probablemente oblig al
Cuando se observan sus obras desde estas joven de 16 aos a abandonar la escuela secun-
dos perspectivas, uno tiene a veces la impresin daria en 1922. Se matricul como estudiante en
de que Feininger comparaba la arquitectura de la Bauhaus y, tras sumergirse en su filosofa, aca-
las grandes ciudades con la de los elementos na-
turales, pues analizaba tanto estructuras florales
como organismos urbanos. Feininger no fue un fotgrafo aventurero como Robert
Ya se situara en una larga o media distancia, Capa, ni tampoco un observador como Cartier-Bre
sson, que prefera esperar el momento decisivo. Fue
ya adoptara un punto de vista macro o microsc- un explorador que permaneci fiel a los postulados
pico, el mantenlo simple era su credo. Feininger tradicionales de la belleza. En la pgina opuesta, An-
deseaba que la composicin de sus fotografas dreas Feininger fotografiado por Herbert List, 1930.
estuviera tan claramente estructurada como la A la izquierda, Andreas Feininger en las Montaas
msica de Johann Sebastian Bach. Le gustaba la Rocosas, 1953.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 25

Fundacin Juan March
 Alrededor de 1931, Feininger dispona de mucho
tiempo y algo de dinero, asi que cogi su coche
de carreras Opel y condujo miles de kilmetros
tomando fotografas a lo largo de toda Europa.
Andreas Feininger al volante de su Opel, en 1931
(izquierda) y 1932 (derecha).

b la enseanza obligatoria. En realidad Andreas quera continuar con que objetos pequeos eran fotografiados sin cmara, utilizando luz di-
sus estudios y matricularse en alguna de las ciencias naturales, pero sus recta y papel sensible a la luz. Kurt Schad haba descubierto este medio
bajas calificaciones en la enseanza secundaria le impidieron hacerlo. artstico durante el periodo de 1916-18. Feininger tambin trabaj con
En su lugar, decidi estudiar ebanistera en la Bauhaus. Le gustaba tra- el bajorrelieve, la reticulacin de gelatina y la impresin de los negati-
bajar la madera; le gustaban aquellos talleres amplios, luminosos y de vos. Combinaba estos procesos para alcanzar resultados espectaculares,
olores agradables, y le gustaba Marcel Breuer, que tambin trabajaba en pero tambin aprenda de sus errores, ampliando as sus conocimientos
el taller de ebanistera. En resumen, amaba su trabajo. El 4 de abril de bsicos de fotografa. Para continuar con sus experimentos, Feininger se
1925, recibi el certificado de oficial ebanista. Sin embargo, no deseaba hizo l mismo una ampliadora de madera, en parte por falta de dinero,
convertirse en ebanista y decidi estudiar arquitectura en la facultad de pero tambin porque en el mercado exista una oferta muy limitada de
Weimar. Cuando, en 1926, la Bauhaus, incluido el padre de Feininger, equipamiento fotogrfico. Con esta nueva ampliadora poda regular la
se traslad de Weimar a Dessau, ste se matricul en la escuela de ar- exposicin de manera absolutamente personal. Tambin desarroll un
quitectura de Zerbst, una ciudad pequea cercana a Dessau. Viva en la mecanismo giratorio que le permita alterar perspectivas y corregir dis-
casa de sus padres, una casa bifamiliar en Dessau que compartan con el torsiones. Este invento, que ms tarde, en 1935, sera fabricado por la
artista Lszl Moholy-Nagy, tambin profesor de la Bauhaus. empresa alemana Liesegang, mejor de forma sustancial la calidad de
Feininger haba intentado en varias ocasiones hacer fotografas con las fotografas arquitectnicas de Feininger.
la cmara de su madre, una Voigtlnder con lminas de vidrio de 4,5 x 6 En 1929, tras cuatro aos de intenso trabajo, Feininger finaliz sus
cm. Pero fue en Dessau cuando su inters por la fotografa se despert de estudios de arquitectura con suma cum laude. Ya era arquitecto, pero
verdad. No fue tanto la fotografa en s lo que le emocion, sino la posi- Alemania estaba sufriendo la depresin econmica mundial y la tasa de
bilidad de tener fotos de las cosas que eran importantes para l: objetos desempleo era muy elevada. Adems, como ciudadano americano y ju-
naturales, estructuras y perspectivas arquitectnicas, paisajes urbanos do, y coincidiendo sus inicios con los del Nacionalsocialismo, el futuro
y unos cuantos retratos de personas que significaban algo para l. Esta de Feininger no pareca muy prometedor. Trabaj por un corto periodo
seleccin de temas no se alterara apenas a lo largo de su vida: tan slo de tiempo en el estudio de un arquitecto de Dessau y en 1930 se traslad
intentara mejorar las fotografas. a Hamburgo, donde comenz a trabajar como arquitecto y despus como
Como no estaba satisfecho con sus primeras fotografas unas imge- decorador para Karstadt, una cadena de grandes almacenes. Ganaba
nes de unos cuervos negros en un campo cubierto de nieve Feininger se tambin un pequeo salario a travs de la agencia Dephot en Berln, que
matricul en la clase de fotografa de Walter Peterhans en la Bauhaus. Es- venda sus fotografas a revistas. Su padre, que en aquel tiempo era un
peraba mucho del experto matemtico, filsofo, historiador de arte y ave- artista con residencia oficial en Halle, le consigui un trabajo de foto-
zado fotgrafo. Sin embargo, el ojo de Peterhans y sus mtodos (los cuales, grafa de dos semanas de duracin. Pidieron a Feininger que fotografiara
tal y como se vio despus en numerosos debates, se parecan a los de su algunas esculturas y pinturas de la Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg. El
vecino, Moholy-Nagy) eran demasiado sublimes, demasiado intelectuales, resultado fue sorprendente, pues hizo las fotografas en blanco y negro
demasiado abstractos y demasiado msticos para Feininger. Fue entonces con filtros de color, consiguiendo unos contrastes muy originales. En
cuando se dio cuenta de que tendra que encontrar su propio camino. Halle conoci al Dr. Heering, que despus se convertira en editor y unos
aos ms tarde animara a Feininger a compartir sus conocimientos de

F
eininger cre su primer cuarto oscuro en 1927 en el stano de la fotografa en forma impresa.
casa de sus padres. Su primera exposicin fue en realidad una Durante su estancia en Hamburgo Feininger hizo amistad con el
exhibicin de grupo, la legendaria Film+Foto, organizada por fotgrafo Herbert List y su crculo de amigos, con quienes comparti
el Deutscher Werkbund en Stuttgart en 1929. Fue una exposicin que numerosos debates y conversaciones. Alrededor de 1931, sin embargo,
agrup las distintas corrientes de fotografa internacional del momento. Feininger no consegua que su trabajo rindiera lo suficiente como para
Feininger tena mucho talento y fue enseguida descubierto. Era ambicio- subsistir en Alemania. Dispona de mucho tiempo y algo de dinero, as
so y paciente, cuidaba la seleccin de sus temas, se concentraba mucho que cogi su muy querido coche de carreras Opel y, utilizando su Leica
y era muy meticuloso en el cuarto de revelado. En algn momento de como cuaderno de apuntes mecnico, condujo miles de kilmetros to-
1929, mientras revelaba una de sus lminas de vidrio, se dio cuenta de mando fotografas a lo largo de toda Europa. Al no poder obtener ms
que haba presionado el interruptor de luz equivocado durante una frac- permisos para trabajar en Alemania, saba que finalmente tendra que
cin de segundo. Vio que la lmina se volva negra y que los contornos emigrar. Walter Gropius, amigo de su padre y director de la Bauhaus,
del negativo cambiaban, descubriendo de esta forma accidental lo que le ayud a conseguir un trabajo en Pars con el famoso arquitecto Le
ms tarde se llamara solarizacin. Aquel mismo ao, en Pars, Man Ray Corbusier. El 30 de septiembre de 1932, el ayuntamiento de Dessau, go-
hizo sus primeras solarizaciones y el descubrimiento se le atribuy a l, bernado en mayora por los Nacionalsocialistas, disolvi la Bauhaus. En
aunque, de hecho, se trataba muy probablemente de los trabajos de la 1933 los padres de Feininger se trasladaron a Berln, aunque unos aos
fotgrafa Lee Miller, que era compaera de Man Ray en aquella poca. ms tarde, en 1937, se acabaran marchando a Nueva York. Para An-
En 1929, Feininger trabaj en diversos experimentos fotogrficos. dreas fue difcil sobrevivir en Pars. Le gustaba la ciudad, su trabajo y su
Uno de ellos implicaba un tipo de fotografa llamado fotograma, en el pequeo apartamento en Rue Campagne Premire, en la orilla izquierda

26
Fundacin Juan March
 En la obra de Feininger es posible observar la estrecha
relacin, en lo que se refiere a la composicin, con el
trabajo de su padre Lyonel, trabajo que plasmara
fotogrficamente en libros como Die Stadt am Ende
der Welt (Rtten&Loening Verlag, Mnich, 1965).

del Sena, que con anterioridad haba sido estudio de un artista, como el
de una novela de Guy de Maupassant. Era un espacio amplio con buena
iluminacin y techos de casi cinco metros de altura, pero por todo ello
haba tambin numerosos bichos en el pequeo dormitorio de al lado.
En Pars hizo muchas fotografas con su Leica, revelando la pelcula
por las noches. Desgraciadamente, casi todos los negativos se acabaran
perdiendo. Durante los nueve meses que trabajaron juntos, Le Corbusier
pudo haber adiestrado el ojo de Feininger en las perspectivas, formas
claras y proporciones. Sin embargo, Le Corbusier no poda oficialmente sueco, temeroso de espas, no tardara en prohibir a los extranjeros el uso
contratar a extranjeros y Feininger no tena posibilidad de obtener un de coches y cmaras. Una vez ms, Feininger se quedaba sin la posibi-
permiso de trabajo, as que, en julio de 1933, acept con alegra la invi- lidad de ganarse la vida y decidi entonces trasladar a su familia a los
tacin de su novia en aquel momento, una mujer sueca llamada Gertrud EE.UU. para empezar, por tercera vez, una nueva vida.
(Wysse) Hgg, a acompaarla a Estocolmo, para poder as continuar su

E
carrera como arquitecto. l 16 de diciembre de 1939, el barco de vapor noruego Oslofjord
Pero en Suecia tambin corran malos tiempos. La oferta de empleo amarr en Brooklyn con la familia Feininger a bordo. En su si-
era escasa, especialmente para los arquitectos, y los pocos trabajos que guiente viaje, el barco sera hundido por un submarino alemn.
haba se ofrecan a los ciudadanos suecos. Esperaba tener la oportuni- Feininger recordaba ese da como uno de aquellos extraos, soleados,
dad de conocer a Sven Wallander, uno de los ms reconocidos arquitec- clidos e inolvidables das de diciembre, en que el termmetro superaba
tos del momento, cuando se le pidi su opinin acerca de algunas de las los 16 Celsius y el cielo era de un azul intenso. Tuvo que ser un buen
fotografas de edificios de Wallander. Feininger elogi la arquitectura, presagio para Feininger. Aunque era ciudadano americano, no hablaba
pero critic la calidad de las fotografas, especialmente las perspecti- ingls. Excepto por su ampliadora Liesegang, que no estaba disponible
vas distorsionadas. l poda, por supuesto, mejorarlo, y, al cabo de unos en el mercado americano de la poca, su equipo estaba anticuado, espe-
pocos aos, las recomendaciones y contactos de Wallander ayudaron a cialmente si se comparaba con los estndares americanos. Feininger ne-
Feininger a convertirse en uno de los fotgrafos de arquitectura ms so- cesitaba urgentemente un trabajo, ya que prcticamente no les quedaba
licitados de Suecia. Pasar a trabajar de manera independiente fue un nada del dinero ahorrado. Tuvo suerte. Durante sus das en Berln, haba
maravilloso golpe de suerte para el espritu libre de Feininger, que ama- coincidido brevemente con Kurt Safranski y Ernest Mayer, propietarios
ba la libertad y la autodeterminacin y rechazaba la autoridad. Era feliz, de la Agencia de Fotografa Black Star. Le contrataron como fotgrafo
porque haba conseguido conjugar su profesin, la arquitectura, con su polifactico por un sueldo fijo de 20 dlares a la semana. Si sus fotogra-
gran pasin, la fotografa. fas se vendan a otros peridicos o revistas, ganara ms. Feininger firm
El 30 de agosto de 1933, Feininger se cas con Wysse, a quien cono- un contrato por un ao segn el cual deba estar localizable las 24 horas
ca desde sus das en la Bauhaus, y con la que permaneci durante 66 del da. Tena que fotografiar cualquier cosa que pareciera interesante:
aos, hasta su muerte. Su nico hijo, Tomas, naci el 21 de septiembre accidentes, pases de moda, mendigos, estrellas de cine, exposiciones
de 1935. Se sintieron muy a gusto viviendo en Estocolmo. Feininger de automviles, ferias, artistas en sus estudios o encuentros polticos.
tena mucho trabajo y estaba cada vez ms inmerso en la fotografa in- Era un trabajo duro, una situacin de supervivencia, pero tambin la
dustrial. En su tiempo libre le gustaba coger su Rolleiflex y deambular posibilidad de adquirir experiencia y aprender mucho. Al ao, no haba
por el puerto y las calles de Estocolmo, su Venecia del norte, su ms nada que no hubiera fotografiado, y lo haba hecho bien. A pesar de toda
maravillosa, su eterna ciudad favorita. Para poder tomar fotos a lar- aquella actividad, logr sacar tiempo para deambular por la ciudad y
ga distancia, se construy l mismo una telecmara con una lente de fotografiar todo aquello que llamaba su atencin: los rascacielos, el edi-
28 pulgadas que haba comprado aos antes en un mercadillo de Pars. ficio del Empire State, salidas de emergencia, torres de agua, puentes,
Eran dos cajas de madera que contenan unas lminas de 6,5 x 9 cm que puertos, cementerios; comercios judos, italianos, griegos y otros comer-
se podan encajar una dentro de la otra para enfocar. Con esta cmara cios tnicos con sus artculos y publicidad de estilo extranjero; el trfico
nica, autoconstruida, era capaz de fotografiar la vistas ms maravillosas catico del medioda, la pobreza del Lower East Side y la belleza del
y caractersticas de Estocolmo, con sus infinitas extensiones de agua. Central Park, con su gente de todas las nacionalidades, su densidad at-
Una de las primeras de estas fotografas, la de dos agujas de iglesia fren- mosfrica y sus cielos abiertos. Nueva York en los aos cuarenta fue la
te a la lnea del horizonte de Estocolmo, fue vendida en los aos setenta base de una secuencia de fotografas que, como un cuadro expresionista
por mil dlares para la gran coleccin de la George Eastman House en de una metrpolis, como la sinfona de una ciudad, muestra las entraas
Rochester, Nueva York. En Estocolmo, Feininger comenz una vez ms y la piel de este organismo urbano. Las series son una narracin foto-
a experimentar con diferentes tcnicas, como la solarizacin, el bajorre- grfica que ha marcado nuestra imagen de Nueva York durante ms de
lieve, la reticulacin de gelatina, el fotograma y sus diversas combina- 60 aos, y que hicieron famoso a Feininger. Asla detalles y conserva
ciones. Sin embargo, el clima poltico de su entorno empeor y, cuando amplias perspectivas, tal y como hizo el escritor John Dos Passos en
el ejrcito sovitico entr en Finlandia en el otoo de 1939, el gobierno su triloga Manhattan Transfer, pero con una tcnica de edicin visual

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 27

Fundacin Juan March
 Las lneas predominantemente verticales de los
edificios constituyeron un reto para Feininger, y
le forzaron a mejorar su cmara autofabricada,
una cmara para tarjetas postales de 4x5
pulgadas a la que aadi un objetivo de una
distancia focal de 40 pulgadas. Con este
equipamiento consegua una profundidad
espacial muy poco comn y una gran resolucin.
Esta fotografa fue tomada en 1938.

que es ms efectiva y que, hasta hoy, contina configurando en nuestras fotografas a doble pgina que pronto se le conoci en el departamento de
mentes una imagen inusual del Nueva York del siglo XX. Las lneas pre- fotografa como Feininger doble pgina. Sin embargo, esta productivi-
dominantemente verticales de los edificios constituyeron un reto para el dad tuvo su precio, especialmente para sus ayudantes. Paciencia, com-
ojo arquitectnico de Feininger, forzndole pronto a mejorar su cmara prensin, fuerza y resistencia eran cualidades necesarias, como recuerda
autofabricada, aadindole un objetivo de una distancia focal de 40 pul- con dolor el hijo de Feininger, Tomas, que actualmente tiene 70 aos. A
gadas, que l mont en una cmara de 4 x 5 pulgadas para tarjetas pos- principios de la dcada de los cincuenta, Tomas tena que arrastrar en
tales. Con este equipamiento consegua una profundidad espacial muy ocasiones las pesadas cmaras y trpodes hasta las azoteas de los rasca-
poco comn, una gran resolucin y unas excelentes fotografas. cielos de Nueva York. Cuando sugera a su padre que podan primero
Trabajando como fotgrafo para Black Star, Feininger conoci a Wil- subir sin el equipo, para ver si el sol brillaba y si la luz y los ngulos
son Hicks, que era editor de fotografa y ayudante del redactor jefe del eran buenos, siempre reciba la misma incomprensible respuesta: No
Life Magazine. Los dos congeniaron, y Hicks valor el ojo para la foto- se daba cuenta de que justo en ese momento, en aquel mismo instante,
grafa de Feininger. Cuando, a pesar de una acalorada discusin y una la luz y la vista podan ser perfectos?
oferta de aumento de salario de cinco dlares a la semana, Feininger

D
rechaz renovar su contrato con Black Star, Hicks le ofreci un trabajo urante los aos en los que trabaj para Life, Feininger viaj a
como fotgrafo independiente para la revista Life. En la nueva empresa cada estado de los EE.UU., excepto Alaska y Hawai, as como
su salario era muy superior al anterior y el tipo de trabajo le gustaba ms. a Canad y Mxico. Tres veces condujo desde la costa Atlntica
Life era la revista de fotoperiodismo ms leda del mercado, y Feininger hasta el Pacfico, escogiendo una ruta distinta cada vez y con la cmara
poda aumentar su salario semanal en funcin del nmero de fotogra- siempre encima.
fas que aparecieran publicadas. Cuando comenz la II Guerra Mundial, Wilson Hicks no slo admiraba las cualidades de Feininger como
Feininger se alist como voluntario, pero fue clasificado como no apto fotgrafo. En el verano de 1945, le plante la posibilidad de escribir un
para el combate y destinado a la Oficina de Informacin de Guerra. Se libro sobre fotografa. Hasta ese momento, Feininger haba publicado
le encarg fotografiar la industria armamentstica de Amrica, con el fin algunos artculos en Alemania, el breve libro Vergrern leicht gemacht
de mostrar al mundo entero lo que se estaba haciendo en el frente civil con el Dr. Heering en 1935, Fotografische Gestaltung en 1937 y New Pa-
para ganar la guerra. Feininger pas meses viajando por toda Amrica, ths in Photography, que fue publicado en 1939 en los EE.UU. Feininger
tomando fotografas de cada objeto fabricado por esta gigantesca indus- acogi la idea de Hicks con entusiasmo, y Hicks lo liber de sus otras
tria: aviones, helicpteros, Jeeps, bombas, caones desde lo ms gran- tareas, manteniendo su salario completo, durante el verano de 1945. Fei-
de hasta la ms pequea pieza de un revlver. ninger fue a Montauk, Long Island, y all, en una terraza con vistas al
Despus de dos aos como fotgrafo independiente en Life, Feininger ocano, escribi Feininger on Photography, un libro que explora la foto-
vio cumplido su gran deseo: el 1 de enero de 1943 fue contratado como grafa tanto desde una perspectiva artstica como tcnica. En esa poca,
fotgrafo editorial, permaneciendo en ese puesto durante casi dos dca- el libro se convirti en algo parecido a la Biblia de la fotografa. Su obra
das, hasta 1962. entusiasm a Feininger de tal forma que en los aos siguientes pas cada
Para Feininger, trabajar para Life fue un gran reto, pero tambin un vez ms tiempo trabajando en nuevas publicaciones, tanto esplndidos
gran placer. En aquellos tiempos esta conocida revista fue pionera del volmenes de fotografas como libros con sofisticadas explicaciones de
fotoperiodismo moderno, mostraba la mejor fotografa mundial y gozaba la tcnica y tecnologa de la fotografa. En 1999 haba publicado ya ms
de una reputacin que abra todas las puertas a sus reporteros. Todos los de 50 libros, que fueron ampliamente distribuidos y traducidos a 14
jvenes fotgrafos soaban con trabajar all, no slo por el gran nmero de idiomas. Slo en Amrica aparecieron 32 libros y el ya para entonces
equipos de ltima generacin disponibles, sino tambin porque contaba famoso Feininger fue invitado por Edward Steichen a tomar parte de la
en su laboratorio con expertos capaces de extraer lo mejor de cada nega- legendaria exposicin The Family of Man, que se inaugur en 1955 en el
tivo y de cada copia. Para Feininger, con su gran atraccin por la libertad Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York. La muestra viaj luego por todo
y la independencia, stas eran condiciones de trabajo ideales. Wilson el mundo y fue vista por millones de visitantes.
Hicks, el editor de fotografa, siempre estaba abierto a sus propuestas de Insatisfecho con el desarrollo de la tecnologa fotogrfica, bien por-
reportajes. Feininger poda tomarse tiempo para sus reportajes, porque en que no serva para sus objetivos, bien porque la produccin industrial
general se respetaba el trabajo de fotgrafo y se valoraba la creatividad era demasiado lenta, Feininger experimentaba constantemente con los
que encerraba una buena fotografa. Los fotgrafos eran considerados ar- equipos que tena disponibles. De esta forma desarroll un mejor tele-
tistas que slo podan dar lo mejor de s mismos y seguir su inspiracin objetivo y varias cmaras, que le permitiran fotografiar objetos como si
cuando les dejaban trabajar en total libertad. Slo una cosa era indispen- estuvieran bajo un microscopio. A medida que su propio trabajo desde
sable: en cada encargo se esperaba que produjeran fotografas tiles, de experimentos con tecnologa fotogrfica hasta la publicacin de libros de
la mxima originalidad, imaginacin y expresin artstica. fotografa y relatos de sus experiencias se volva ms placentero que
En el marco de esta atmsfera motivadora y creativa, Feininger pro- nunca, tambin le absorba cada vez ms tiempo. Por este motivo deci-
dujo 346 reportajes, todos ellos abarcaban varias pginas, y con tantas di, en 1962, dejar de trabajar para Life.

28
Fundacin Juan March
 Muy probablemente una de las principales razones de esta decisin Autorretrato de Andreas Feininger en 1941, el ao de su llegada a Life.
fuera el que su amigo, Wilson Hicks, hubiera dejado el cargo de editor
jefe de fotografa dos aos antes. Adems, se estaban produciendo cam-
bios a raz de la cada vez mayor demanda de rentabilidad de los costes, mental y cualidades esculturales. Esta forma de tratar un objeto resulta-
que haca que la difusin de fotos se redujera y ello afectara al empleo ba extraa para un hombre siempre interesado en documentar los sujetos
de los fotgrafos, su importancia en las revistas y el ambiente general como si fuera un explorador. Pero tambin aqu podan reconocerse sus
de trabajo. Ahora que era independiente, sin embargo, Feininger poda postulados de belleza, incluso cuando el mantenlo simple se refera slo
trabajar a su gusto y concentrarse exclusivamente en sus libros y foto- a la composicin de la foto.
grafas. Poda tambin viajar mucho, por lo que visit Europa, entre otros Feininger estuvo involucrado en la fotografa durante toda su vida.
lugares, donde tom nuevas fotografas para sus libros. Unos das antes de su muerte lo encontraron sentado en su casa, en la
Tanto la Universidad de Nueva York como el Centro Internacional de decimoquinta planta de un rascacielos de la calle 22, cerca del Flatiron
Fotografa de Nueva York (ICP) le ofrecieron la posibilidad de ensear Building (que, para muchos fotgrafos, era el objeto ms atractivo de
fotografa en el invierno de 1972. Aparte de sus libros, estos seran los Nueva York), escribiendo en su mquina de escribir, la Baby Hermes,
dos nicos intentos de Feininger de compartir sus amplios conocimien- que le haba acompaado durante dcadas y que siempre acomodaba so-
tos. Sin embargo, encontr dificultades en la comunicacin con sus estu- bre sus rodillas, con una toalla debajo, de forma que a sus pantalones no
diantes desde un punto de vista creativo. Senta que la nueva generacin les salieran brillos. Haba donado ya sus cmaras y casi todos sus ne-
tena otro enfoque, una actitud distinta hacia la fotografa. No poda, por gativos en 1988 al Center for Creative Photography en Tucson, Arizona.
ejemplo, encontrar ningn mrito en la foto de un banco vaco en un Andreas Feininger muri el 18 de febrero de 1999 en Nueva York.*
parque, y los estudiantes eran, en su mayor parte, incapaces de expli-
car suficientemente bien su trabajo y hacerle llegar sus ideas. Por ello, 1.*Extraido de Andreas Feininger: Thats Photography (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Can-
empez a trabajar ms en su estudio y fotografiaba pequeos detalles de tz, 2004). Editado por Thomas Buchsteiner y Otto Letze, con textos de T. Buchsteiner y
la naturaleza, que eran montados de forma que asuman una talla monu- Andreas Feininger.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 29

Fundacin Juan March
30
Fundacin Juan March
 1940
DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN
BY NIGHT, NEW YORK
EL DOWNTOWN DE MANHATTAN
DE NOCHE, NUEVA YORK
34,5 x 43 cm. CAT. 14

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 31

Fundacin Juan March
 1940
FINANCIAL DISTRICT, PINE STREET, NEW YORK
EL DISTRITO FINANCIERO, CALLE PINE, NUEVA YORK
40,4 x 35,5 cm. CAT. 15

c. 1940
LOWER BROADWAY, NEW YORK
EL LOWER BROADWAY, NUEVA YORK
29 x 22,5 cm. CAT. 16

32
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 33
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 1940
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, NEW YORK
EL EMPIRE STATE, NUEVA YORK
30,5 x 25 cm. CAT. 17

34
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 35
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36
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1940
ELEVATED RAILWAY TRESTLE
ON DIVISION STREET,
LOWER MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
PUENTE FERROVIARIO ELEVADO
EN LA CALLE DIVISION, LOWER
MANHATTAN, NUEVA YORK
42,5 x 35,5 cm. CAT. 18

1940
ELEVATED RAILWAY AT 9th AVENUE
IN SUMMER, NEW YORK
VAS FRREAS ELEVADAS EN LA NOVENA
AVENIDA, EN VERANO, NUEVA YORK
46 x 36,5 cm. CAT. 19

1940
ELEVATED RAILWAY AT 8th AVENUE,
HARLEM, NEW YORK
VAS FRREAS ELEVADAS EN LA OCTAVA
AVENIDA, HARLEM, NUEVA YORK
35 x 36 cm. CAT. 20

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 37

Fundacin Juan March
 1940
ON THE FERRY FROM NEW JERSEY TO NEW YORK
EN EL FERRY DE NUEVA JERSEY A NUEVA YORK
23,3 x 18,5 cm. CAT. 21

38
Fundacin Juan March
 c.1940
PASSENGERS DEBARKING FROM THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY AT THE BATTERY, NEW YORK
PASAJEROS DESEMBARCANDO DEL FERRY DE STATEN ISLAND EN EL BATTERY PARK, NUEVA YORK
31 x 26,5 cm. CAT. 22

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 39

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40
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 1940
LOWER EAST SIDE KIDS
ON A BROOKLYN DOCK, NEW YORK
NIOS DEL LOWER EAST SIDE
EN UN MUELLE DE
BROOKLYN, NUEVA YORK
34 x 26 cm. CAT. 24

1940
CAR FERRIES IN NEW JERSEY
TRANSBORDADORES CON COCHES
EN NUEVA JERSEY
40 x 37 cm. CAT. 23

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 41

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42
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 1940
SHIPS ON EAST RIVER,
NEW YORK
BARCOS EN EL EAST RIVER,
NUEVA YORK
27,2 x 34,8 cm. CAT. 25

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 43

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 1940
SHEEP MEADOW, CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK
PRADO EN CENTRAL PARK, NUEVA YORK
34 x 26,5 cm. CAT. 26

1931
LUNCH BREAK IN CENTRAL
PARK, NEW YORK
DESCANSO EN CENTRAL
PARK DURANTE A LA HORA DEL
ALMUERZO, NUEVA YORK
45,5 x 35,5 cm. CAT. 27

44
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 45
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46
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 1940
OLIVER STREET WITH BROOKLYN BRIDGE IN
THE BACKGROUND, NEW YORK
LA CALLE OLIVER CON EL PUENTE DE
BROOKLYN AL FONDO, NUEVA YORK
34 x 27 cm. CAT. 29

1940
JEWISH SEWING-ROOM ON LOWER
EAST SIDE, NEW YORK
TALLER DE COSTURA JUDO EN EL
LOWER EAST SIDE, NUEVA YORK
28 x 36 cm. CAT. 30

1940 1940
LOWER MANHATTAN SEEN ELEVATED RAILWAY AT 9th
FROM BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AVENUE IN WINTER, NEW YORK
EL LOWER MANHATTAN VISTO VAS FRREAS ELEVADAS EN LA NOVENA
DESDE BROOKLYN, NUEVA YORK AVENIDA, EN INVIERNO, NUEVA YORK
23 x 18 cm. CAT. 28 46 x 37 cm. CAT. 31

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 47

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48
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 49
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Feininger estaba interesado en mostrar cmo la funcin

A
ndreas Feininger es el representante tipo de una cultura de la
determina la forma y el diseo de las estructuras animadas e
inanimadas del universo. Arriba, reportaje fotogrfico de fotogenia y de la imagen fija espectacular, a la que se opusieron
Andreas Feininger en Life del 6 de octubre de 1952 con el ttulo los creadores del estilo documental moderno, entre ellos Walker
Calavera y costillas hacen de armadura. Evans y Cartier-Bresson, tras apartarse del esteticismo de los autopro-
clamados primeros maestros de la straight photography (fotografa direc-
ta o pura) (Stieglitz, Strand). Evans, por ejemplo, detestaba la grandilo-
cuencia oportunista de Margaret Bourke-White, fotgrafa estrella de Life
(la gran revista ilustrada creada en 1929), a la que Andreas Feininger se
senta, en cambio, muy cercano. Pero la presentacin de la imagen bella
y grandiosa no es slo un ingrediente de la esttica hollywoodiense y del
plato servido por los medios de comunicacin; responde a la confianza
popular en una fotografa espejo (aduladora) del mundo y siempre ha sido
un recurso para artistas faltos de pblico.
En el caso de Andreas Feininger, la fotografa experimental europea
se ha transformado en fotografa creativa. El hijo del pintor y profesor de
la Bauhaus Lyonel Feininger se form en Alemania y, obligado a exiliar-
se, trabaj durante mucho tiempo (entre 1933 y 1939) en Suecia, aunque
la parte esencial de su carrera la desarroll en Estados Unidos, donde
trabaj para Life entre 1943 y 1962. Es uno de aquellos fotgrafos que

50
Fundacin Juan March
 Andreas Feininger,
fotografo-anatomista
JEAN-FRANCois CHEVRIER

concedieron importancia a aplicable tanto a la fotografa abstracta como a la figurativa.

la imagen como elemento La parte ilustrada del libro incluye cuarenta y siete lminas. La pri-
conciliador o reconcilia- mera es la imagen vertical de una mujer desnuda de espaldas de medio
dor del libro y el peridi- perfil en contrapicado, ante un extenso cielo vaco. La modelo sostiene
co, de las bellas artes y los las manos detrs de la cabeza de tal modo que el perfil del pecho dere-
medios de comunicacin. A cho se configura como la prolongacin de la larga curva de la cintura, la
su modo de ver, el reportaje cadera y el muslo. La leyenda al pie subraya el valor ejemplar del ejer-
fotogrfico es parte de la in- cicio: La claridad de lnea y forma, con un fuerte contraste en blanco
formacin visual al servicio y negro, es la primera condicin para una presentacin grfica. As,
de la ilustracin. Pero, ms Feininger fundamenta la prctica de la fotografa creativa en la fotogenia
que la actualidad y la his- del desnudo (femenino) tomado como modelo acadmico. El resto de la
toria, el mbito de estudio leyenda desarrolla la condicin de simple matriz de tal tratamiento gr-
que nunca dej de reivin- fico de lo registrado: El nmero de las posibles variaciones bajo estas
dicar es la naturaleza, en condiciones puede verse en las lminas 9, 15, 16, 31 y 39, todas ellas
la que ve a la vez un reper- elaboradas a partir del mismo negativo que la lmina 1. La primera
torio inagotable de formas de estas variaciones, la lmina 9, es un esbozo fotogrfico obtenido
que interpretar y un modelo mediante la superposicin del positivo sobre el negativo, que reduce
de expresin artstica. La la imagen principal a un trazado lineal. Esta forma de dar preferencia
actualidad es, adems, una al contorno sobre el modelado plstico producido por los contrastes de
nocin ambigua. En el senti- luz y sombra remite a una concepcin clsica, o incluso neoclsica, del
do periodstico del trmino, dibujo. Feininger es aqu el portavoz de un modernismo acadmico que
designa los acontecimientos asocia el uso creativo de la fotografa a la prctica del dibujo segn mo-
o los hechos y proezas que delo (o academia). La experimentacin no se opone al oficio adqui-
pueden ser objeto de una rido con el estudio, cuando ste se centra tanto en la naturaleza como en
crnica. Pero Feininger se los principios y procedimientos del arte. La experimentacin tiene valor
interesa sobre todo por el por los efectos grficos que permite producir dentro de un determinado
presente y por la presencia del hecho visual documentado, en su doble campo de posibilidades.
naturaleza ptica y qumica. Esta actualidad es propia de la fotografa, La introduccin de New Paths in Photography distingue cinco pro-
que se distingue as de la ficcin pictrica. Al mismo tiempo, considera cedimientos o mtodos de produccin de imgenes: direct projection
que la interpretacin del fotgrafo del tema actual, al igual que los pro- (proyeccin directa), negative prints (impresiones en negativo), negati-
cedimientos de creacin de la imagen derivados de la grabacin, hacen ve-on-diapositive (negativo sobre diapositiva), granulation (granulacin),
de la fotografa un arte grfico. solarization (solarizacin). La granulacin transforma y unifica la super-
En 1939 Feininger publica New Paths in Photography, cuyo ttulo ficie, produciendo un efecto de reticulacin. La leyenda de la lmina 11
evoca una amplia lnea de investigacin emprendida diez aos antes en indica: La fusin de todos los elementos de la foto mediante la manipu-
la fotografa alemana1. La primera parte del texto lleva el ttulo de Ele- lacin de los planos aumenta eficazmente la impresin desmaterializada
mentos creativos de la fotografa. All escribe: producida por una representacin del negativo. En varias ocasiones a
Sea de forma consciente o inconsciente, el fotgrafo pone en prcti- lo largo del libro, Feininger subraya el efecto desmaterializador del ne-
ca su idea de cmo crear una imagen. El arte grfico de la fotografa se gativo, combinado a veces con la fusin de las formas en una superficie
hace creativo en el mismo instante en que un sujeto familiar es abordado reticulada. La ltima lmina (n 47), un estudio de desnudo (como la pri-
con la intencin de darle un significado y una expresin ms fuertes, de mera) con efecto de reticulacin, va acompaada del siguiente comenta-
conferirle intensidad con los medios disponibles en fotografa, como la rio: Una fusin de todas las formas mediante un tratamiento uniforme
trasposicin consciente de los colores a un efecto en blanco y negro. de las superficies confiere actualidad y objetividad a las formas grficas
La segunda parte del texto, titulada Tcnica de retoque grfico, co- y artsticas. La frmula enuncia el dogma de una modernidad que afir-
mienza con una afirmacin: El primer paso hacia la fotografa creativa ma a la vez la actualidad de la imagen registrada, opuesta a la ficcin
es enfatizar las cualidades grficas, seguida de una precisin: Esto es pictrica, y su transformacin en una forma artstica autnoma.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 51

Fundacin Juan March
 Mientras Moholy-Nagy trataba
de representar la condicin
cinemtica de la vida moderna,
Feininger da preferencia a la
composicin esttica y la imagen
tipo; busca una permanencia
y una estabilidad dentro de la
complejidad y la abundancia
visual, que asocia a la naturaleza.
World Trade Center,
Nueva York, 1987

dad, que adapta las normas de la

espectacularidad de la gran pren-
sa ilustrada. Mientras que Moho-
ly-Nagy trataba de representar la
condicin cinemtica de la vida
moderna, Feininger da preferen-
cia a la composicin esttica y a
la imagen tipo; busca una perma-
nencia y una estabilidad dentro
de la complejidad y la abundancia
visual, que asocia a la naturaleza.
Ms que una construccin an-
loga a la multiplicidad de sensa-
ciones y a la movilidad de la luz,
persigue la imagen que rene,
condensa y sintetiza y que podr
extenderse en la pgina, ocuparla
entera e incluso ocupar una doble
pgina. Para l, la imagen foto-
grfica puede tener autonoma,
tambin cuando se realiza para
una revista, pero esta autonoma
depende fundamentalmente del
tratamiento de la superficie, se-
gn el modelo o frmula tipo del
plano reticulado. Tuvo que renun-
ciar a este carcter experimental
cuando se dirigi al lector de las
grandes revistas ilustradas; sus-
tituy la visin por la vista (en el
sentido de veduta), pero encontr
en el mbito de la descripcin un
Aunque no siguiera los cursos de Moholy-Nagy en la Bauhaus y ms equivalente a la superficie autnoma: la superficie fotogrfica se manifes-
adelante criticase a menudo sus ideas, Feininger fue un divulgador de tar a partir de ahora mediante la expansin de la imagen en la pgina.
los principios de la Nueva Visin. En uno de sus ltimos textos publica- Gracias a esta amplitud de la vista, sus imgenes neoyorquinas, pu-
dos en vida (en junio de 1945), Moholy-Nagy distingue ocho tipos de blicadas en The Face of New York (1954), han contribuido a una tipo-
visin fotogrfica, que corresponden a las capacidades especficas loga estilizada de la Grostadt norteamericana. Son iconos y citas
del medio, desde la visin abstracta del fotograma el registro directo en forma de documentos. As, la vista rotulada Passengers Debarking
de las formas producidas por la luz hasta la visin deformada: los from the Staten Island Ferry at the Battery recuerda irremisiblemen-
juegos pticos y la manipulacin qumica o mecnica del negativo te el Steerage (1907) de Stieglitz; Berenice Abbott es omnipresente.
mediante la reticulacin y la solarizacin. No se excluye el reportaje, se Feininger, que haba estudiado arquitectura y haba renunciado a ejer-
menciona como ejemplo del segundo tipo de visin, denominada exac- cerla, parece observar la gran ciudad como una inmensa obra de una
ta. Pero, en su diversidad, la visin fotogrfica rebasa la descripcin y construccin annima que l no construy, que nadie construy. Como
el reflejo de una condicin fotognica; es un modo de expresin basa- siempre, Feininger favorece la vista tipo y el resultado tcnico, del que
do en las propiedades de la emulsin fotosensible2. su ensamblaje de rascacielos ofrece una especie de sntesis. En Oslo,
Feininger suscribe esta definicin, incorporando tambin el reportaje. en los aos treinta, los grandes buques atracados delante de la ciudad
Pero descarta el fotomontaje, que ocupaba un lugar importante, cuando no le fascinaron de tal modo que lleg incluso a fabricar un aparato para
central, en la Nueva Visin de los aos veinte. Su gusto por la claridad gr- anular las distorsiones pticas generadas por la intrusin y el contraste
fica (clearness in line and form) le sita ms bien en la Nueva Objetivi- de escala del objeto monumental (el buque) en el paisaje urbano. Nueva

52
Fundacin Juan March
York es tambin para l una ciudad portuaria, a la que se accede por Para Feininger, Nueva York tiene una columna vertebral (backbone) que de-
mar, aunque para muchos neoyorquinos segn la leyenda de Face of termina su lnea de horizonte, su perfil (skyline). Life, 31 de marzo de 1947, cu-
New York hoy el puerto ya no significa nada3. La ciudad levantada, bierta y ensayo fotogrfico de Andreas Feininger en pginas interiores titulado
atravesada por calles en can, es el lugar idneo para una compre- La lnea de horizonte de Nueva York (contina en las dos pginas siguientes)
sin dinmica de los elementos visuales, que trata sistemticamente de
traducir al lenguaje de la composicin, integrando efectos atenuados
de interferencia. Feininger explota incansablemente el efecto terrn tcnica refuerza una voluntad de distancia que responde a una opcin
de azcar del que hablaba Fitzgerald en The Great Gatsby (El Gran iconogrfica y una actitud de confianza en s mismo.
Gatsby) a propsito de la acumulacin de edificios. En sus mejores mo- Para Feininger, cualquier paisaje, cualquier entorno, Nueva York por
mentos, el montaje de imgenes refleja un sabio juego de alternancias ejemplo, se descompone en motivos y vistas caractersticas, que remiten
y contrastes medidos entre vaco y lleno, distancia y proximidad, que al punto de vista de un observador distante. Su modelo es anatmico, en
pone orden en el caracterstico caos urbano. la medida en que la anatoma es, desde el Renacimiento, la ciencia im-
Para este libro, al parecer, Feininger se sinti obligado a bajar a pie pasible, descriptiva y analtica orientada a comprender el funcionamien-
de calle, y dedic cuatro pginas, sobre ms de ciento setenta (no nu- to del cuerpo humano y que permiti definir un nuevo naturalismo pic-
meradas), a la pintoresca multiculturalidad de umbrales y cristales de trico. Nueva York, dice, tiene una columna vertebral (backbone) que
escaparates. Ms all, los seres humanos, apretujados en muchedumbres determina su lnea de horizonte, su perfil (skyline). Elimina la psicologa.
compactas o elegantemente dispersos en parques, al pie de edificios, o Suea con un arte funcional calcado de los mecanismos de la naturaleza.
en el vestbulo de la Penn Station se mantienen a distancia. La pobla- Se considera un anatomista de las formas (vivas o construidas), liberado
cin forma parte del decorado urbano. Feininger expres a menudo su de toda preocupacin superflua.
gusto por la soledad y su repulsa por la vida comunitaria, al igual que

E
de cualquier programa de trabajo colectivo. Para l, la muchedumbre es, n 1956 public su obra ms importante, The Anatomy of Natu-
en el mejor de los casos, un componente pico. Es obvio que no senta re, cuyo subttulo enuncia un programa ambicioso: How function
ninguna afinidad con el artista callejero baudelairiano que se impregna shapes the form and design of animate and inanimate structures
de la energa de la muchedumbre. Su idea de la ilustracin, aplicada a la throughout the universe (Cmo la funcin determina la forma y el diseo
vida moderna, presupone un observador distante. de las estructuras animadas e inanimadas del universo). En el prlogo
El motivo de esta postura se enuncia en el prlogo de The Face of escribe:
New York, cuando explica que el tema arquitectnico o urbano ms in- Durante el tiempo que alcanzan mis recuerdos, he estado interesado
teresante se reduce a nada si no se trata desde la distancia adecuada y en la forma de las rocas, plantas y animales. Las he estudiado no con el
a distancia: ojo del artista sino con el ojo de un arquitecto o ingeniero atrado princi-
Por ejemplo, visto desde casi cualquier lugar de la Quinta Avenida palmente por la estructura, la construccin y la funcin. Se ha recopilado
(donde est situado), el Empire State Building, la construccin ms alta un gran nmero de libros de fotografa para mostrar que la naturaleza
del mundo, parece, por razones de perspectiva, ms bajo que muchos es maravillosa. Pero el tipo de belleza acentuada en estos libros es, en
otros rascacielos, en realidad ms pequeos pero situados ms cerca del mi opinin, el tipo de belleza superficial de las formas evaluadas ni-
observador. Ninguna fotografa, tomada, claro est, desde uno de estos camente como ornamento, sin considerar su funcin ni su objetivo. La
puntos, dara una impresin veraz de este espectacular edificio, que slo naturaleza nunca es maravillosa en este sentido. Si las cosas naturales
puede apreciarse en su totalidad visto desde la distancia. Del mismo son maravillosas, es porque su belleza no es superficial, sino la forma re-
modo, nicamente cuando se observa desde una distancia adecuada, el sultante de un objetivo definido. Por lo general, la naturaleza es prctica,
magnfico horizonte de Nueva York se muestra en su dimensin monu- mucho ms prctica que el hombre. Sus formas son formas funcionales,
mental. Cuanto ms cerca se encuentre el punto desde el que se mira, derivadas de la necesidad. Y precisamente porque son, en el mejor sen-
ms taparn los edificios relativamente bajos y cercanos las construccio- tido de la palabra, funcionales, son tambin formas maravillosas.4
nes ms distantes que se alinean en la columna vertebral de Manhattan, Para el autor de estas lneas, el gran modelo de la belleza funcional
menos se podr observar la lnea del horizonte y menos interesantes se- es la tela de araa. El aspecto fantstico de la araa es de por s una
rn las fotografas que se hagan. Para contrarrestar estos efectos engao- fantasa de la naturaleza, pero la extraordinaria diversidad de las formas
sos de perspectiva, el autor, cuando le fue posible, tom sus fotografas naturales participa de un principio funcional nico: a simple universal
desde la distancia con la ayuda de un teleobjetivo. plan (un simple plan univesal).
Sigue una larga explicacin sobre los mritos del teleobjetivo que no Las investigaciones de la Nueva Visin en los aos veinte dieron un
produce distorsiones pticas, como se tiende a creer de ordinario, sino vuelco a los preceptos de la descripcin naturalista del siglo diecinueve.
que, en cambio, permite acercarse visualmente a un motivo evitando las Pero el funcionalismo que Feininger propugna es un neonaturalismo,
deformaciones de la perspectiva. Vemos aqu cmo una argumentacin orientado a una nueva alianza entre el arte y el estudio de la naturaleza,

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 53

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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 55
Fundacin Juan March
en un mundo regido por la tcnica. Se trata de un regreso al orden arqui-
tectnico que intenta hacer visibles los procesos de formacin comunes
a las producciones de la naturaleza y a las creaciones humanas, compa-
rando las estructuras implcitas y las explcitas de cualquier proceden-
cia: naturales y artsticas, orgnicas y mecnicas.
En 1867 mile Zola escriba en un texto sobre Manet: Veo en l a
un pintor analista. Todos los problemas se han cuestionado, la ciencia ha
querido disponer de fundamentos slidos y se ha volcado en la observa- El funcionalismo que Feininger propugna es un neonaturalismo, orientado a una
cin exacta de los hechos. Y este movimiento no ha tenido lugar slo en nueva alianza entre el arte y el estudio de la naturaleza, en un mundo regido
el mbito cientfico; todos los conocimientos, todas las obras humanas por la tcnica. Se trata de un regreso al orden arquitectnico que intenta hacer
tienden a buscar dentro de la naturaleza principios firmes y definitivos5. visibles los procesos de formacin comunes a las producciones de la naturaleza
y a las creaciones humanas. Pginas interiores del libro de Feininger Andreas
En el siglo XX, la idea de una actualizacin, por medio del estudio foto- Feininger fotografiert Steine, 1960 (pgs. 80 y 81)
grfico, de principios firmes y definitivos ha vuelto de manera obsesi-
va. Feininger fue el heredero y propagador en la cultura norteamericana
de este dogma, tal como haba sido reformulado a finales de los aos
veinte en Alemania. En 1928, Karl Nierendorf, que firma el prefacio del un crtico importante, Carl Georg Heise, contribuy a dar reputacin a
libro de Karl Blossfeldt, Urformen der Kunst, vea en las formas naturales la obra. En el contexto de los conflictos sociales y debates polticos de
la accin de una fuerza fija y eterna, una oleada de acontecimien- los aos veinte, este ttulo, adjudicado por el editor Renger-Patzsch
tos marcada por una repeticin constante. Estos acontecimientos, dice, haba propuesto una frmula ms sobria y ms ajustada, Die Dinge (Las
pueden variar segn las condiciones climticas o geogrficas, pero el cosas), constitua una autntica provocacin, a la que no dejaron de
esquema bsico se mantiene. La forma intemporal de una brizna de responder crticos marxistas como Walter Benjamin, lo que aument la
hierba es un smbolo de las leyes eternas de la vida6. importancia del libro y gener una larga leyenda.
Pocas obras fotogrficas pueden aspirar a marcar una poca. Deben

E
l funcionalismo de Feininger corresponde a su formacin de ar- ser un acto de ruptura cultural o de reconciliacin. En 1928, Die Welt
quitecto e ingeniero. En Alemania, ms que en ninguna otra par- ist schn conjugaba ambas cosas. Manifiesto de una esttica fotogrfica
te, los fotgrafos de los aos veinte redescubrieron la belleza de que rompe con el pictoralismo, sellaba tambin la alianza, esperada y
la naturaleza segn la geometra constructiva; demostraron, a cambio, muy preparada ya desde principios de la dcada, entre la naturaleza y la
que estos modelos se haban encontrado en la naturaleza. El espect- tecnologa. Es ms, asociaba la celebracin moderna de la tcnica con el
culo de la naturaleza no era o no era slo el consuelo del hombre en- culto a la Naturaleza anclado en la cultura alemana desde el Romanticis-
frentado a la fealdad de la industrializacin, sino la legitimacin de las mo. En abril de 1933, se presentaron imgenes de Renger-Patzsch con
creaciones artsticas y tcnicas. La observacin de la naturaleza poda lienzos de la Neue Sachlichkeit (Nueva Objetividad) en una exposicin
compararse con la contemplacin y el anlisis de la perfeccin mecni- del Nuevo Romanticismo alemn.
ca. En Estados Unidos, Paul Strand fotografi plantas como si se tratase Para Renger-Patzsch, sin embargo, la fotogenia de las cosas aisladas
de mquinas, en la medida en que las construcciones mecnicas se con- por el objetivo fueran producto de la naturaleza o de la tcnica no era
sideraban iguales a una produccin orgnica. Los fotgrafos estudiaban cuestin de calidad pictrica o pintoresca. El rechazo de lo pintoresco
con la misma atencin al detalle los cuerpos vivos, los objetos naturales es, de hecho, uno de los aspectos destacados del arte de los aos veinte,
y las producciones mecnicas. En el detalle buscaban la estructura; en producto del cubismo cezanniano. La Nueva Objetividad es, en este sen-
la forma, la expresin de la construccin interior. Bajo la mirada del ob- tido, heredera de una distincin establecida tiempo atrs, precisamente
jetivo, como un ojo omnisciente God the Machine, escribe Strand en en relacin con la fotografa de arquitectura, entre estudio tcnico y apro-
1922, todo era objeto y estructura, en un gran consenso de la naturaleza piacin esttica. Heise abre su prefacio recordando los debates de ese
y la tcnica. La Nueva Objetividad de los aos veinte magnific el objeto momento sobre lo feo en el arte y sobre el criterio de objetividad como lo
natural y quiz celebr su apoteosis, en el sentido estricto del trmi- opuesto a lo bello. En realidad, dice, el culto a la fealdad y a la funcio-
no, identificndolo con una anatoma viva cuya construccin interna y nalidad es una revolucin en la percepcin esttica, el intento de crear
cuya funcin se pueden visualizar a travs de las apariencias. un nuevo concepto de belleza7. Para escapar a las convenciones pinto-
The Anatomy of Nature es el manifiesto de la Nueva Objetividad re- rescas y sentimentales, los fotgrafos de la Nueva Objetividad pretendan
visada por Feininger. Su alusin al ttulo del libro de Renger-Patzsch, describir ms que evocar, mostrar las cosas en s mismas (aisladas) ms
Die Welt ist schn (El mundo es bello), es elocuente. Con la publicacin que su valor de uso o su disposicin en un conjunto decorativo. Cuando
en 1928 de este lbum de cien fotografas, Renger-Patzsch asumi el realiz The Anatomy of Nature, Feininger haba integrado desde haca
liderazgo de la Nueva Objetividad fotogrfica. El prefacio redactado por tiempo estas ideas. En 1929, seis imgenes representaban su trabajo en

56
Fundacin Juan March
la inmensa exposicin Film und Foto en Stuttgart. Treinta aos ms tarde, simbolismo religioso de Die Welt ist schn. Su inventario es una mezcla
no puede sino constatar la estrecha asociacin entre la fealdad y la fun- de sobriedad y entusiasmo. Anatomy of Nature celebra la abundancia de
cionalidad en el entorno industrial americano. Pero la fotografa miente: la naturaleza en un mundo minsculo a escala universal (evocado en las
dramatizndola, transfigura la destruccin de los paisajes. La naturaleza, cuatro primeras imgenes del libro tomadas de los archivos cientficos).
protegida de la actividad humana, es el nico lugar donde la funcin ge- Pero su postura es ambigua. Admite y afirma que el modelo mecanicista
nera una belleza, sin que sea necesario un efecto dramtico. de la naturaleza es insostenible; rechaza, sin decirlo, el imaginario tec-
Heise, que divide su prefacio en secciones, comienza por las plantas, nicista mezclado con espiritualidad de un Renger-Patzsch. Pero aleja
habla de la extraa belleza del crecimiento orgnico. Compara el tallo o fija el elemento del tiempo: element of time, dice Walker Evans10.
central de un agave con un edificio moderno tras definirlo como un Abandona al ser humano, llevado as a la postura antropocntrica del
fragmento del crecimiento natural. En 1929, en Estados Unidos, apa- observador distante. Lo imaginario se sita, para l, exclusivamente en
recen ideas similares en un ensayo sobre Paul Strand. El autor, Harold las cosas observables. La observacin puede estar respaldada y estimu-
Clurman, anota: lada por una prtesis ptica que permite el acceso a lo invisible. Pero su
Los objetos familiares que se reflejan en estas imgenes rocas, rbo- eleccin de la claridad descriptiva y grfica, que identifica con el ajuste
les, plantas, mquinas parecen existir en un total aislamiento. Su sepa- de la vista, le impide comprender el enigma de otra claridad, ms difusa
racin es grave, dramtica y completa. No se dirigen a nosotros con una y menos controlable, suscitada por la experiencia de la visin.
voz que no sea la suya propia, no permiten ningn tipo de acercamiento
teido de sentimentalismo, ninguna interpretacin favorable.8
Sin embargo, estas fotografas no son fras; asocian una simpata 1. New Paths in Photography, Boston, American Photographic Publishing Co., 1949.
sensual con una voluntad de impersonalidad: Una pequea exposicin en el Kunstverein de Jena en 1928 reuna por primera vez, bajo
el ttulo Neue Wege der Photographie es decir, New Paths in Photography, obras
La delicadeza estremecedora, trmula y a veces precisa como el ace- de Erfurt, Moholy-Nagy, Peterhans, Renger-Patzsch y Umbo, entre otros. Las citas que
ro, de sus malas hierbas, de sus telas de araa y de sus plantas, son aparecen en las pginas siguientes pertenecen a este texto.
variantes de esta impersonalidad; y la materia carnal de sus rboles, sus
2. From Pigment to Light, Telehor, vol. 1, n 2, Brno, 1936; reimpreso en Vicki Gol-
valores tctiles ricamente modulados son la expresin controlada de un dberg (ed.), Photography in Print. Writings from 1816 to the present, Simon & Schuster,
temperamento profundamente sensual. Nueva York, 1981.
Este modelo del crecimiento natural lo encontramos en Feininger, en
una iconografa similar, pero sin la dureza sensual de Strand, prohibida 3. Los textos y leyendas de Face of New York fueron redactados por una historiadora de
la ciudad, Susan Elizabeth Lyman, conservadora del Museo de la Ciudad de Nueva York.
por las normas de las ilustraciones destinadas al pblico general. Los documentos histricos que se reproducen en el libro acompaando las imgenes de
Las declaraciones de Nierendorf a propsito de Blossfeldt, as como Feininger proceden de este museo.
las de Heise acerca de Renger-Patzsch, revelan una orientacin ideol-
4. The Anatomy of Nature, New York, Crown Publishers, 1956, pg. VIII.
gica, cuyos efectos encontramos, matizados, en Feininger. A travs del
fragmento y el instante fotogrficos deben aparecer no slo la continui- 5. Cfr. Une nouvelle manire en peinture: douard Manet, en Revue du XIXe sicle, 1
dad y la unidad del mundo, sino tambin la permanencia de las leyes de de enero de 1867. Recogido en: mile Zola, Le bon combat. De Courbet aux impressio-
la creacin natural. Esto supone sacrificar lo singular y lo individual en nistes, Jean-Paul Bouillon ed., Paris, Hermann, 1974, pg. 83.
beneficio de lo general y lo universal. Heise destaca que Renger-Patzsch 6. Cfr. Karl Nierendorf, prefacio a Karl Bolssfeldt, Urformen der Kunst, Tbingen, Ernst
no es un fotgrafo de retrato, lo cual es vlido tambin para Feininger. Wasmuth, 1928, pgs.17-19.
Y aade: Para Renger-Patzsch, los seres humanos son como animales. 7. Carl Georg Heise, prefacio a Albert Renger-Patzsch, Die Welt ist schn, Munich,
Busca lo tpico de las especies. Una nia somal, con la cabeza tan pe- Kurt Wolff, 1928.
lada como una bola de billar, muestra el rostro de una nia formado ms
por las fuerzas de la naturaleza que por la mente humana9. La actitud 8. sta y la siguiente nota en Harold Clurman, Photographs by Paul Strand, en: The
Studio, vol. 98, n439, octubre de 1929; reeditado y traducido al francs en: Photogra-
del fotgrafo se asemeja a la del botnico que asla el fragmento carac- phies, n7, mayo de 1985, pgs. 114-115 y 132.
terstico de una planta y subraya los elementos esenciales sin retener
los rasgos singulares, secundarios. 9. Op. cit., Heise in Die Welt ist schn (1928).
10. Evans utiliza esta frmula en 1931 en el artculo The Reappearance of Photogra-

S
obre la cuestin de la aplicacin del mtodo naturalista a la antro- phy, donde da cuenta, entre otros, de foto auge, la antologa de la nueva fotografa
pologa, Feininger prefiri abstenerse. No sigui el modelo dudoso publicada en 1929 por Franz Roh y Jan Tschichold con motivo de la exposicin Film
de una antropologa fsica vinculada a los criterios raciales. Hasta und Foto. The element of time, destaca Evans, entering into photography provides a
departure for as much speculation as an observer cares to make (La introduccin del
el punto de que el ser humano no est incluido en el repertorio de Ana- elemento del tiempo en la fotografa da salida a tanta especulacin como el espectador
tomy of Nature. Asimismo, podemos sealar a su favor una atencin a los desee). Hound and Horn, octubre-diciembre de 1931; reeditado en: Classic Essays in
fenmenos que le permite evitar el esteticismo industrialista y el pesado Photography, ed. Alan Trachtenberg, New Haven, 1980, pg. 185.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 57

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58
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 1941
CHROME CLUTTERED CAR, NEW YORK
COCHE CROMADO, NUEVA YORK
16,8 x 24 cm. CAT. 33

1941
DEARBORN STATION, CHICAGO
LA ESTACIN DE DEARBORN, CHICAGO
41,5 x 31,2 CAT. 32

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60
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 1941
23rd STREET, NEW YORK
LA CALLE 23, NUEVA YORK
35 x 26,5 cm. CAT. 35

1941
JEWISH CEMETERY IN QUEENS, NEW YORK
CEMENTERIO JUDO EN QUEENS, NUEVA YORK
53,5 x 41 cm. CAT. 34

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 61

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62
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 c. 1941
VIEW FROM MIDTOWN
MANHATTAN TO LOWER
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
VISTA DESDE EL MIDTOWN
AL LOWER MANHATTAN,
NUEVA YORK
40,5 x 51 cm. CAT. 36

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 63

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 1942
CITIES SERVICE BUILDING ON
PINE STREET, NEW YORK
EDIFICIO ADMINISTRATIVO EN
LA CALLE PINE, NUEVA YORK
46,5 x 35,5 cm. CAT. 37

64
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 65
Fundacin Juan March
 1942
MIDTOWN MANHATTAN SEEN
FROM NEW JERSEY
EL MIDTOWN DE MANHATTAN VISTO
DESDE NUEVA JERSEY
35 x 46,5 cm. CAT. 38

66
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1942
HUDSON RIVER WATERFRONT, NEW YORK
LOS MUELLES DEL RO HUDSON, NUEVA YORK
44 x 35 cm. CAT. 39

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 67

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 1942
SKYSCRAPERS IN LOWER MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
RASCACIELOS EN EL LOWER MANHATTAN, NUEVA YORK
36,5 x 46,5 cm. CAT. 40

68
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 1942
MANHATTAN SKYLINE SEEN FROM ARLINGTON, NEW JERSEY
PERFIL DE MANHATTAN VISTO DESDE ARLINGTON, NUEVA JERSEY
29 x 36 cm. CAT. 41

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 69

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 1944
MANHATTAN SKYLINE SEEN
FROM NEW JERSEY
PERFIL DE
MANHATTAN VISTO DESDE
NUEVA JERSEY
35,5 x 50,5 cm. CAT. 42

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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 71
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72
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 1946
SELF-PORTRAIT
AUTORRETRATO
33,3 x 26,3 cm. CAT. 44

1944
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING SEEN FROM A
DISTANCE OF 22 KM, NEW JERSEY
EL EMPIRE STATE VISTO DESDE UNA
DISTANCIA DE 22 KM., NUEVA JERSEY
29,5 x 23,2 cm. CAT. 43

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 73

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 1947
5th AVENUE DURING THE BLIZZARD
OF DECEMBER, NEW YORK
LA QUINTA AVENIDA DURANTE LA
VENTISCA DE DICIEMBRE, NUEVA YORK
27,5 x 27 cm. CAT. 45

74
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 75
Fundacin Juan March
 1947
MAN-MADE LANDSCAPE, SIGNAL HILL, CALIFORNIA
PAISAJES ARTIFICIALES, SIGNAL HILL, CALIFORNIA
24,8 x 31 cm. CAT. 46

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Fundacin Juan March
 1948
SIGNAL HILL OILFIELD, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
CAMPO PETROLFERO DE SIGNAL HILL, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
33,5 x 26 cm. CAT. 47

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 77

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78
Fundacin Juan March
 1948
BROOKLYN BRIDGE IN
FOG, NEW YORK
EL PUENTE DE BROOKLYN
CON NIEBLA, NUEVA YORK
36 x 46 cm. CAT. 48

79
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80
Fundacin Juan March
 Andreas Feininger
en cuatro libros
JUAN MANUEL BONET

E
l fotgrafo Andreas Feininger (Pars, 1906 - Nueva York, 1999) photographe de Paris (1933), con texto de Paul Morand; el Paris de nuit
era hijo del gran pintor e ilustrador norteamericano de origen (1933) de Brassa (y Morand, nuevamente) o A Night in London (1938),
alemn Lyonel Feininger, interesantsima figura de transicin de Bill Brandt, con texto de James Bone. En 1939, huyendo de la Europa
del simbolismo a la vanguardia; su Hombre blanco (1907), que se con- nazi, Andreas Feininger y su mujer marcharon a Nueva York, donde dos
serva en el Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, constituye uno de los mejores aos antes se haban instalado los padres de l.
iconos de una cierta bohemia europea del entre-dos-siglos. No mucho
despus del nacimiento de Andreas y de haber sido pintado aquel cua-

H
dro, la familia se traslad a Berln y de ah, en 1919, a Weimar, donde e escrito ya en una ocasin (*) sobre
el padre, como es bien sabido, se incorpor al cuerpo de profesores de el citado Stockholm, una de las gran-
la recin creada Bauhaus. Andreas Feininger ya era, en 1927, fotgrafo, des fotovisiones urbanas de aquella
como prueba su autorretrato, la fotografa ms antigua de las aqu inclui- poca dorada de los libros sobre ciudades.
das. Aunque su formacin fue de arquitecto, tambin asisti a algunas Encontr por casualidad un ejemplar en un
clases de Walter Peterhans en la Bauhaus, donde antes haba frecuentado tablero del Rastro madrileo y as descubr,
el taller de ebanistera. En 1929 particip en la decisiva colectiva inter- lo confieso, la existencia misma de tal ttulo y
nacional de Stuttgart Film und Foto, con motivo de la cual se public el esa zona prehistrica de la obra de su autor.
libro de Franz Roh Foto-Auge, cuya maqueta es obra de Jan Tschichold. Me qued hechizado por el modo en que, en
Sus fotografas figuran ah junto a las de Eugne Atget, Herbert Bayer, este sobrio volumen, el jovencsimo fotgrafo, casado con una nativa,
Florence Henri, Lissitsky, Man Ray, Moholy Nagy, Walter Peterhans, Al- lograba expresar la capital sueca: su severo clasicismo, la poesa cosmo-
bert Renger-Patzsch, Umbo o Edward Weston, entre otros. De 1930 en polita del puerto, la arquitectura movediza de los paquebotes y sus altas
adelante frecuent, en Hamburgo, a Herbert List. En Pars trabaj en el chimeneas; los veleros y su intrincada arboladura, ya por aquel entonces
estudio de Le Corbusier. En 1933 lo encontramos entre los colaboradores arcaica y hay que recordar que hay muchos y muy hermosos veleros
de un lbum de desnudos femeninos aparecido en la capital francesa con en la obra pictrica de Lyonel Feininger, el padre; los pescadores en
motivo de un saln en torno a este tema. En 1935 public el primero de sus barcas; las gras, las banderas, las ventanas de las viejas casas del
sus manuales fotogrficos. De 1936 es su primer libro como creador, Stoc- centro; los pasajes secretos, las iglesias con sus torres y sus cpulas; la
kholm, publicado en aquella ciudad por la gran editorial Albert Bonniers poesa tan Apollinaire del comercio y sus letreros; la trama rectilnea de
con una tirada de diez mil ejemplares, lo que explica que sea un libro re- los nuevos barrios funcionalistas, a los que est especficamente dedi-
lativamente fcil de encontrar, especialmente si lo comparamos con otros cado el ltimo captulo, que lleva el ttulo What is new and to come
del mismo tenor y ms o menos de la misma poca, como pueden ser Atget (Lo nuevo y lo por venir); los puentes y las estatuas; los haigas y los

STOCKHOLM (Bonnier, Estocolmo, 1936). Su severo clasicismo, la poesa cosmo- secretos, las iglesias con sus torres y sus cpulas; la poesa tan Apollinaire del
polita del puerto, la arquitectura movediza de los paquebotes y sus altas chi- comercio y sus letreros; la trama rectilnea de los nuevos barrios funcionalis-
meneas; los veleros y su intrincada arboladura; los pescadores en sus barcas; tas; los puentes y las estatuas; los haigas y los tranvas, contemplados con una
las gras, las banderas, las ventanas de las viejas casas del centro; los pasajes mirada que se nos antoja absolutamente rodchenkiana.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 81

Fundacin Juan March
NEW YORK (Ziff-Davis, Chicago/Nueva York, 1945). Las guardas nos ubican muy poblacin por nacionalidades. Un ltimo mapa, particularmente centrado en
precisamente en una geografa urbana. En las de entrada, un mapa del Great la materia del libro, revela lo metdico y concienzudo que era Feininger: en l
New York y otro de Manhattan and Vicinity. En las de salida, un mapa de- pormenoriza los lugares desde donde estn tomadas las fotografas e indica con
tallado de las zonas de tiendas y sus especialidades, y de la distribucin de la flechas hacia dnde apuntaba, en cada caso, la cmara.

tranvas, contemplados con una mirada que se nos antoja absolutamente en l pormenoriza los lugares desde donde estn tomadas las fotografas
rodchenkiana; los neones... Especialmente eficaz resulta, en este libro, y colmo de la precisin indica con flechas hacia dnde apuntaba, en
su montaje, las yuxtaposiciones de imgenes en las dobles planas. Acabo cada caso, la cmara. El volumen es una genuina fotovisin, la primera
de aludir al Rodchenko fotgrafo, pero no es el nico nombre que se nos contribucin de su autor al gnero Nueva York. Se inscriba as en
viene a la memoria, a propsito de esas y otras imgenes: tambin estn una rica tradicin que contaba entre sus pioneros a artistas como Alfred
presentes los de otros pioneros de la nueva visin fotogrfica. Estoy pen- Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Paul Strand, Bereni-
sando en Moholy, en Berenice Abbott, en Renger-Patzsch, aqul que, el ce Abbott o Margaret Bourke-White, una tradicin que ms tarde sera
mismo ao (1928) y casi de igual forma que nuestro Jorge Guilln (el enriquecida por William Klein, as como por europeos incorporados al
mundo est bien / hecho, del poema Beato silln, del primer Cnti- melting pot, como pueden ser Andr Kertsz, Elliott Erwitt, Rudy Burc-
co), afirmaba, en el ttulo de su libro ms clebre, aquello de Die Welt ist khardt o Robert Frank. La maqueta de New York es fantstica, por lo
schn (El mundo es hermoso)... El tema del paquebote, concretamente, mismo que lo era la de Stockholm: porque son sensacionales las dobles
es compartido por Andreas Feininger con no pocos de sus predecesores pginas, entre las que vuelve a haber algunas muy bien pensadas desde
y, sin embargo, l sabe encontrar al respecto acentos nuevos, slo suyos. el punto de vista del montaje, mientras otras se despliegan panormicas,
En una breve introduccin, como ser habitual en otros de sus ttulos, el con imgenes horizontales que adquieren una impresionante monumen-
fotgrafo proporciona al lector una serie de datos tcnicos sobre sus im- talidad. La primera de las imgenes del libro es una visin del Empire
genes; antes, le propone unas cuantas pautas para entender su trabajo de State Building desde los campos de Nueva Jersey, es decir, desde una
retratista de la ciudad, de paseante con cmara. distancia de veintids kilmetros, como reza, en la presente muestra, el
pie, que precisa que la imagen es de 1944; esta visin se complementa
con la doble plana siguiente, una panormica tambin desde all con-

E
n 1945, y dentro de una potica muy cretamente, desde Paterson, con el skyline completo de Manhattan y
similar a la que sustentaba Stockholm, con otra ms de atmsfera relativamente parecida aunque el primer
Andreas Feininger publica New York, plano es ms vetusto: viejas maderas corrodas por el agua, tomada des-
el primero de sus varios encendidos cantos de Brooklyn. Seguirn muchas otras excelentes dobles pginas. Entre las
a la metrpolis casi estaramos tentados de panormicas, destaca una enteramente ocupada por el skyline nocturno
decir, en plan Walter Ruttmann, sinfonas de Manhattan, con el reflejo en el agua de los cientos de ventanas ilu-
de la gran ciudad que se convertira en su minadas; skyline presidido, de nuevo, por el Empire, una de las visiones
lugar de residencia definitivo. El volumen, de preferidas lo dice en el texto de John Erskine. Una visin que, segn
formato grande casi podramos decir desme- confesin de su autor, requiri ocho meses de paciente espera. El Empi-
surado, lleva un buen prlogo del novelis- re es el autntico leitmotiv del libro y, obviamente, de la propia ciudad;
ta John Erskine y pies de foto de Jacquelyn resulta especialmente impactante la vista nocturna de una ciudad en
Judge. Est dedicado a su mujer y a su hijo dim-out, en penumbra debido a la amenaza blica nazi, vista enfrentada
Thomas. Tengo abierto sobre mi mesa el ejemplar, falto de sobrecubierta con el interior de la Pennsylvania Station, un espacio como recuerda el
y un tanto descuajeringado, que compr en una librera especializada en correspondiente pie de dramticas despedidas en aquellos tiempos de
fotografa de la propia ciudad objeto del mismo. Las guardas nos ubican guerra recin terminada. Otra doble pgina sensacional est dedicada a
muy precisamente en una geografa urbana. En las de entrada, un mapa dos visiones vertiginosas del Rockefeller Center. Como en Stockholm, en
del Great New York y otro de Manhattan and Vicinity. En las de New York Andreas Feininger se manifiesta fascinado por el agua y por los
salida, un mapa detallado de las zonas de tiendas y sus especialidades, barcos, y de un modo muy especial por la arquitectura de los paquebo-
y de la distribucin de la poblacin por nacionalidades: irlandeses, ale- tes. Si hay en Manhattan un territorio de eleccin feiningeriano, se trata
manes, griegos, rusos, polacos, checos, hngaros, judos, y as sucesiva- sin duda alguna de los muelles donde atracan los grandes steamers, por
mente. Hay un ltimo mapa, particularmente centrado en la materia del ejemplo el de la hoy aorada French Line. Tambin estn las barcazas
libro, que revela lo metdico y concienzudo que era Andreas Feininger: y ferris que navegan por el Hudson, que llevaban a John Erskine a re-

82
Fundacin Juan March
cordar los poemas de Walt Whitman, y cuyas sirenas nos conducen asi- de nuevo el dim-out, la guerra, la penumbra. Crnica social, tambin:
mismo hacia la msica de Edgard Varse, otro europeo francs, en este el mercado de pescado, los comercios baratos, la ropa tendida, los ho-
caso felizmente transplantado a Manhattan. Es la poesa de los puen- teles baratos del Bowery, los desempleados combatiendo el fro y, en
tes especialmente, del de Brooklyn y sus cables cruzando a menudo irnico contraste, como subraya el pie de foto, los rascacielos de Wall
la imagen. Poesa de los aeropuertos y del muelle de los hidroaviones, Street, los limpiabotas y entre ellos uno sentado delante del escaparate
con el Atlantic Clipper amarrado. Poesa de las escaleras de incendio. de una tienda de modas de la Quinta Avenida. El melting pot, Babel, la
Poesa geomtrica de los elevated (elevados) o els, de los hoy desapare- Babilonia de hierro (Tablada de nuevo): los letreros de tiendas judas
cidos metros areos que unos aos antes tanto haban fascinado lo dijo o griegas en el Lower East Side, un Delikatessen alemn, un escaparate
en versos esquinados al mexicano neoyorquinizado Jos Juan Tablada. de Little Italy, los nightclubs de Harlem y esa fantstica imagen de una
Poesa de los rales, de las perspectivas infinitas, de los vagones, de la pared en Chinatown, enteramente ocupada por aquella caligrafa que,
luz reflejndose en ellos. Ancha poesa natural de Central Park, la gran ms o menos por la misma poca, va Henri Michaux o Mark Tobey, se
obra de arte de la municipalidad de Nueva York, por retomar el ttulo estaba convirtiendo en referente moderno, como pasaba, va Brassa, con
de un viejo libro sobre el mismo. Poesa del humo flotando en medio los grafitos. Nueva York como ciudad de la cultura: la Metropolitan Ope-
de las calles. Poesa de los neones de la calle 42 en uno de ellos se ra House, el luminoso Members Penthouse del MoMA, la New York
proyecta, y el dato epocal es importante, The Great Dictator, la stira de Public Library, las libreras de segunda mano de la Cuarta Avenida... El
Hitler por Charles Chaplin, con los grandes haigas delante; y, en una texto, al final del volumen, vuelve a incidir en la voluntad del fotgrafo
de esas imgenes de esta zona habitualmente inundada de luz artificial, que recuerda su primitiva vocacin de arquitecto de ser retratista de

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 83

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NEW YORK (Thames and Hudson, London, 1964) En ese tipo de colores entonces TWA, de Eero Saarinen. Hay muchas imgenes, tanto diurnas como nocturnas,
modernos y hoy antaones, en el New York de 1964 nos encontramos, en una de rascacielos de la entonces ltima generacin. Formidable, en colores, la ima-
vista nocturna del aeropuerto de Idlewid (hoy John Fitzgerald Kennedy), con la gen del Hilton en construccin, tras cuya estructura se adivina el parque. Entre
silueta de un cuatrirreactor de Iberia y otro de SAS, y al fondo la terminal de la las fotografas en colores, las hay que revelan contagio de la esttica pop.

la ciudad. Su ttulo, en ese sentido, no puede ser ms expresivo: Crea- yuxtaposiciones, por ejemplo, a la izquierda, el cafarnam de una tien-
ting the Portrait of a City (Creando el retrato de una ciudad). La ltima da de antigedades en la que abundan las lmparas, y, a la derecha, la
parte proporciona igual que suceda en su libro sobre Estocolmo una agitacin de un baile benfico en el Waldorf-Astoria. Como no poda ser
serie de datos tcnicos. Como anotacin final se indica que las imgenes de otro modo, hay muchas imgenes, tanto diurnas como nocturnas, de
fueron elegidas de entre ms de un millar de negativos, muchos de los rascacielos de la entonces ltima generacin, con sus fachadas cristali-
cuales fueron realizados para uso editorial de la revista Life. nas, miesianas, minimalistas, y sobre ellas, en algn caso, la sombra de
otros. Formidable, en colores, la imagen del Hilton en construccin, tras
cuya estructura se adivina el Parque. Entre las fotografas en colores, las

E
l tercer libro de Andreas Feininger del hay que documentan novedades epocales por ejemplo el edificio de la
que quera hablar aqu es un segun- ONU y sus banderas, o el interior del caracol del Guggenheim y otras
do New York (Nueva York, The Viking que revelan contagio de la esttica pop: automviles, cafeteras, letreros,
Press, 1964), con texto, bastante bien trado, de erotismos varios, la piscina del Sheraton Motor Inn, la playa de Coney
Kate Simon, escritora norteamericana de origen Island, y de nuevo los neones, especialmente los de Times Square... Pero
polaco se llamaba en realidad Kaila Grobsmi- el libro termina en un tono ms moral: con una imagen est en la expo-
th, autora de varios libros sobre esta ciudad sicin, fechada en 1941 del cementerio judo de Queens.
y tambin de ttulos de literatura de viajes
sobre Mxico, Gran Bretaa, Italia o Pars. Re-

T
sulta interesante, por ejemplo, el texto titulado engo en mi biblioteca un cuarto y ltimo
Things (Cosas, pgina 53), una enumeracin libro de Andreas Feininger. Lo compr
que a un lector espaol le sonar bastante ra- en So Paulo, en O Belo Artstico. Lleva
moniana (por Ramn Gmez de la Serna: ver El en sus guardas un viejo sello de all, de los aos
Rastro). Mi ejemplar de este New York marcadamente sixties slo unas cuarenta: Livraria Kosmos, Erich Eichner & Cia.
pocas fotografas ya figuraban en el de 1945 lo compr en una librera Ltda. Y en su portada, un tampn de la Seo
de viejo madrilea ya desaparecida, prxima a la Puerta del Sol. Se trata de Belas Artes de la Biblioteca Pblica de Belo
de un libro muy de su momento un momento no tan afortunado como los Horizonte. El ejemplar est en bastante mal
thirties desde el punto de vista editorial, un libro que mezcla, ya desde estado: hasta le faltan las dos primeras de sus
su sobrecubierta, las fotografas en blanco y negro con otras en colores cuarenta y siete lminas. Se trata de una suerte
que hoy nos resultan entraables. A este respecto hay que recordar que, de manual, titulado New Paths in Photography
pese a preferir siempre, segn confesin propia, el blanco y negro, Fei- (Boston, American Photographic Publishing
ninger haba publicado en 1954 un manual sera reeditado varias ve- Co., y Londres, Chapman and Hall). Es el nico de los bastantes libros de
ces con el expresivo ttulo Successful Color Photography. En ese tipo de esa naturaleza publicados por su autor que por el momento me ha parecido
colores entonces modernos y hoy antaones, en el New York de 1964 hasta interesante adquirir, pero tal vez est yo equivocado. En honor a la verdad
nos encontramos, en una vista nocturna del aeropuerto de Idlewid (hoy debo decir que me aburren un poco los libros en los que los fotgrafos ex-
John Fitzgerald Kennedy), con la silueta de un cuatrirreactor de Iberia y ponen sus trucos. En este, en cualquier caso, lo interesante es que todas
otro de SAS, y al fondo la terminal de la TWA, de Eero Saarinen. No faltan las imgenes incluidas son de los aos de formacin del propio autor y que
algunas de las imgenes ms clsicas del fotgrafo, por ejemplo aquella, entre ellas hay solarizaciones, proyecciones directas, imgenes reticula-
reproducidsima, y realmente definitiva, tomada en 1950, desde Nueva das, negativos en positivo... Los pretextos? Estocolmo y otras ciudades
Jersey, del paquebote United States en el momento de zarpar para Eu- europeas, iglesias gticas, un carguero, desnudos femeninos, un automvil
ropa, a su paso precisa el piepor la calle 42; imagen monumental con de carreras, delicadas hojas de rbol, el ala transparente de una liblula,
la que nos reencontramos en esta exposicin, como nos reencontramos un nen de la Shell, un ro oscuro en el que se reflejan las luces de la ribe-
con una imagen de tormenta de nieve, que ahora sabemos corresponde ra en lo que el propio autor califica de an experiment (un experimento)
al invierno de 1947, y fue tomada en una irreconocible Quinta Avenida. y an impressionistic night scene (una escena nocturna impresionista)...
Siempre dentro de la temtica nutica, soberbia, superlativa, la fotografa Varias de las imgenes que ahora se van a ver en esta exposicin figuran
en colores en la que, iluminados en medio de la noche, aparecen dos gi- en el libro, empezando por el desnudo femenino reticulado de 1929, o por
gantes del Atlntico: el Queen Elizabeth en el muelle de la Cunard Line el ala de liblula de 1935. Por su modo de observar la naturaleza, Andreas
y el France en el de la French Line. De nuevo encontramos magnficas Feininger se inscribe en la tradicin de Karl Blossfeldt.

84
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 La exposicin que ahora se va a poder contemplar en Espaa incluye
imgenes que estn lo he indicado en algunos casos en esos cuatro
libros. Otras no lo estn: el ya referido autorretrato de 1927; el retrato, de
1931, de su colega y amigo Herbert List, al que frecuent en Hamburgo,
ciudad objeto adems de un hermoso nocturno; la estampa del coche de
carreras en un garaje, de 1932; el delicado retrato de Wysse, su mujer, en
el Dessau ya hostil de 1933; la fantstica visin de un tren en la estacin
de Chicago, de 1941; varios retratos de su padre en Nueva York, entre
ellos uno, precioso, con un velero de juguete, en Central Park (1951); la
carretera 66 en Arizona (1953); el retrato del escultor Alexander Calder
a contraluz (1964)...
(*) En mi artculo Ciudades, libros, fotografas, aparecido en el n 3, de junio-julio
de 1996, de Arte y Parte, y resultante de la reescritura de una ponencia en un congreso
madrileo en torno a la fotografa, celebrado en el Canal de Isabel II. Los dems libros
cuya contemplacin y lectura propuse en ese artculo, son Paris (1928), de Mario Buko-
vich, con la colaboracin de Germaine Krull y texto de Paul Morand; Hamburg (1930),
de Albert Renger-Patzsch, con texto de Fritz Schumacher; Buenos Aires 1936 (1936), de
Horacio Coppola, con textos de Ignacio B. Anzotegui y Alfredo Prebisch; Praha (1948),
de Josef Sudek, con texto de Vitezlav Nezval; La banlieue de Paris (1949), de Robert
Doisneau, con texto de Blaise Cendrars; y Sortilges de Paris (1952), libro colectivo,
ordenado por Franois Cali, que fue el libro en que mi amigo Bernard Plossu empez a
aprender qu es la fotografa.

NEW PATHS IN PHOTOGRAPHY (American Photographic Publishing, Co., Boston y este, en cualquier caso, lo interesante es que todas las imgenes incluidas son
Chapman and Hall, Londres, 1939). En honor a la verdad debo decir que me de los aos de formacin del propio autor y que entre ellas hay solarizaciones,
aburren un poco los libros en los que los fotgrafos exponen sus trucos. En proyecciones directas, imgenes reticuladas, negativos en positivo...

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 85

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 1949
PAINTING CLASS AT CAPE COD,
MASSACHUSETTS
CLASE DE PINTURA EN CAPE COD,
MASSACHUSETTS
35 x 27 cm. CAT. 50

1948
THE SCULPTOR CECIL HOWARD
EL ESCULTOR CECIL HOWARD
23,3 x 21 cm. CAT. 49

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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 87
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88
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 1949
CONEY ISLAND, NEW YORK
CONEY ISLAND, NUEVA YORK
34 x 46,5 cm. CAT. 51

89
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90
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c. 1950
LUNCH RUSH ON 5th AVENUE, NEW YORK
LA QUINTA AVENIDA A LA HORA DEL ALMUERZO,
NEW YORK
24 x 18,5 cm. CAT. 52

c. 1950
BROOKLYN BRIDGE AND MANHATTAN
SKYLINE, NEW YORK
EL PUENTE DE BROOKLYN Y EL PERFIL DE
MANHATTAN, NUEVA YORK
31 x 39,5 cm. CAT. 53

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 91

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 1950
BROOKLYN BRIDGE SEEN FROM
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
EL PUENTE DE BROOKLYN VISTO DESDE
BROOKLYN, NUEVA YORK
35,5 x 46,5 cm. CAT. 54

1950
STATUE OF LIBERTY AT
NIGHT, NEW YORK
LA ESTATUA DE LA LIBERTAD
DE NOCHE, NUEVA YORK
24 x 19 cm. CAT. 55

92
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 93
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 1950
THE UNITED STATES SETTING
OFF FOR EUROPE, NEW YORK
EL UNITED STATES PARTIENDO
HACIA EUROPA, NUEVA YORK
36 x 46,5 cm. CAT. 56

94
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 95
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 1951
THE PHOTOJOURNALIST DENNIS STOCK
EL FOTOPERIODISTA DENNIS STOCK
33,5 x 26,5 cm. CAT. 57

96
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 97
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98
Fundacin Juan March
 1951
ANDREAS, LYONEL, LUX AND JULIA
FEININGER, BIRTHAY PARTY
ANDREAS, LYONEL, LUX Y JULIA FEININGER
EN UNA FIESTA DE CUMPLEAOS
27 x 33 cm. CAT. 59

1951
THE PAINTER LYONEL FEININGER
EL PINTOR LYONEL FEININGER
33 x 25,5 cm. CAT. 58

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 99

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 1951
LYONEL AND LUX FEININGER
WITH SAILING BOATS
LYONEL Y LUX FEININGER CON VELEROS
19 x 21,5 cm. CAT. 60

1951
THE PAINTER LYONEL FEININGER
EL PINTOR LYONEL FEININGER
33 x 25,5 cm. CAT. 61

100
Fundacin Juan March
 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 101
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102
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 1951
RIBCAGE OF A GORILLA
CAJA TORCICA DE UN GORILA
38 x 47,5 cm. CAT. 62

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 103

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 1953
ROUTE 66, ARIZONA
LA RUTA 66, ARIZONA
46 x 36,5 cm. CAT. 63

104
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 105
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106
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 1953
PORTRAIT
RETRATO
24 x 19,2 cm. CAT. 65

1953
HORIZON, NEBRASKA
HORIZONTE, NEBRASKA
24,3 x 19 cm. CAT. 64

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 107

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 1954
BROOKLYN BRIDGE, NEW YORK
EL PUENTE DE BROOKLYN
35,5 x 27,5 cm. CAT. 66

108
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 109
Fundacin Juan March
 1959
LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER EDITING HER FILMS
FOTGRAFA DE LIFE EDITANDO SUS PELCULAS
18,5 x 22 cm. CAT. 67

1963
SKYSCRAPER UNDER
CONSTRUCTION, NEW YORK
UN RASCACIELOS EN
CONSTRUCCIN, NUEVA YORK
21,5 x 20 cm. CAT. 68

110
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 111
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 1964
ALEXANDER CALDER
ALEXANDER CALDER
30 x 26 cm. CAT. 69

112
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 113
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 1981
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
SEEN FROM MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK
LA ESTATUA DE LA
LIBERTAD VISTA DESDE
MANHATTAN, NUEVA YORK
22,7 x 29 cm. CAT. 70

114
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 ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 115
Fundacin Juan March
APNDICE

Se acerco con
su camara. !
Bingo, dije, Quieto!
JOHN LOENGARD ENTREVISTA A ANDREAS FEININGER*

A
ndreas Feininger: Senta inters por todo lo relacionado con ca sobre tcnica fotogrfica. Haba escuchado, a
la naturaleza, y entonces vi esos cuervos en la nieve. Mi madre travs de comentarios de estudiantes amigos mos,
tena una pequea cmara, as que intent fotografiarlos. Como que lo que enseaba Moholy era, si se me permite
era de esperar, fracas. Lo que obtuve fueron dos puntos negros sobre la expresin, para tontos. Haca ms hincapi en
una superficie totalmente blanca. Tena 19 aos, y aprend que la foto- la parte tcnica que en cmo disear lo que podra
grafa no es tan fcil como parece. Tambin aprend que tiene que haber ser una obra de arte. Tena la sensacin de que si
cierta distancia entre el sujeto y la cmara, aunque tampoco debe ser se quera hacer algo, ya fuera fotografa, dibujo o
demasiado grande. Y aprend, adems, que se debe cuidar el contraste disear edificios, no era eso lo que se necesitaba.
del sujeto, que no se puede fotografiar algo totalmente negro sobre una La parte tcnica, en todas estas reas, es tan senci-
superficie totalmente blanca. Bueno, se puede, pero nunca estars sa- lla que se puede aprender con un simple folleto. Lo
tisfecho con esa fotografa. que realmente se necesita es imaginacin y crea-
tividad. Moholy intentaba explicar a sus estudian-
JOHN LOENGARD: Su padre, Lyonel Feininger, fue un pintor muy tes cmo crear una obra de arte. A su manera, por
conocido. Cul era la actitud de su familia hacia la fotografa? supuesto. Hablaba mucho sobre lneas rectas, algo
ANDREAS FEININGER: Mi padre fotografiaba tan slo las cosas que que, para m, no tena sentido.
realmente le interesaban, lo mismo que hago yo. No le interesaba la fo-
tografa en s, como tampoco me interesa a m. Lo que realmente quiero Marcel Breuer y Josef Albers eran tambin profesores all?
es obtener imgenes de las cosas que me interesan, as que la utilizo Eran amigos de mi padre y venan a casa con frecuencia, por lo que
como medio para un fin. Creo que l haca lo mismo. los conoc all. Todos eran personas agradables, pero no eran para m.
Aprend el oficio de ebanista en la Bauhaus en Weimar. Despus Consegu un puesto como delineante con un arquitecto en Dessau.
acab mis estudios como arquitecto e ingeniero de estructuras en una All estuve un ao hasta que tuvo que despedirme por falta de trabajo.
escuela tcnica de Zerbst, una pequea localidad cercana a Dessau. Me Comenc entonces a trabajar en unos grandes almacenes de Hamburgo.
gradu con summa cum laude. Estaba muy contento. Tenan su propio departamento de arquitectura y estuve casi un ao ha-
Luego pens: Qu hago ahora?. Entonces volv a casa de mis pa- ciendo dibujos para sus carpinteros.
dres en Dessau, la ciudad a la que se haba trasladado la Bauhaus. Al cabo de poco tiempo me di cuenta de que no quera ser arquitecto,
sobre todo porque tendra que trabajar con gente que saba exactamente
La Bauhaus fue conocida por abordar el arte de una manera lo que quera y que me exigiran realizarlo, tambin cuando estuviera en
prctica verdad? Al igual que su padre, fue Lszl Moholy- total desacuerdo. Yo era incapaz de hacer eso.
Nagy tambin profesor all? Despus me traslad a Suecia e intent trabajar de nuevo con un
No asist a ningn curso de Moholy. Particip en un curso de fotogra- arquitecto, un hombre muy amable. Me ense unas fotos de sus edi-
fa de Walter Peterhans en la Bauhaus, pero eso fue todo lo que cono- ficios y me pregunt: Le gustan?. Eran edificios sencillos, correctos

116
Fundacin Juan March
y funcionales. Me entusiasmaron, pero tambin le dije: sus fotos son Andreas Feininger en su apartamento de Nueva York en 1996, tres aos antes
horribles. de su muerte. En la pared, reproduccin de su fotografa El Estados Unidos
Cree que sera capaz de hacerlo mejor? me dijo. zarpando hacia Europa, Nueva York, (1950).
Le contest: Por supuesto. Hice una serie de fotografas que le gus-
taron mucho y que ense a algunos colegas suyos, que me encargaron
nuevos proyectos. Se corri la voz y en poco tiempo me convert en un Estocolmo est rodeada de agua, y durante la temporada turstica
conocido fotgrafo de arquitectura, con lo que me ganaba bien la vida. atracan all grandes barcos. Quera fotografiar estos grandes buques en
As fue como me introduje en la fotografa. relacin con la ciudad, pero, cuando me acercaba a los barcos, en los
sitios en los que era posible, me encontraba con un barco muy grande y
Que las fotografas fueran simples estaba en la lnea de la una ciudad muy pequea al fondo. Las proporciones estaban distorsio-
Bauhaus? nadas, por decirlo de alguna manera.
S, lo estaba, eran prcticas y directas. No hay que estropearlas con La nica forma de obtener unas fotos que respetaran las verdade-
cosas que estn fuera de lugar, como objetos de decoracin que carecen ras proporciones era hacerlas desde una gran distancia. Pero desde esa
de valor prctico, fondos que desentonan con el motivo central, una mala distancia una cmara normal hubiese hecho una foto de un cuarto de
iluminacin, cosas as. pulgada o incluso menor, as que decid disear mi propia cmara. En

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 117

Fundacin Juan March
APNDICE En los campos de petrleo modernos no hay absolutamente
nada que ver. Cada cuarto de milla ms o menos hay una
pequea bomba, subiendo y bajando. Absolutamente sin
dramatismo. La gente dir: O.K., y qu? Pero si ven
el Signal Hill en 1948 ven todo el horror que esto
conlleva. Al mismo tiempo, la fotografa es muy bella.
S que hay en ello una contradiccin, pero me pareca
que deba dramatizar, aunque sin falsificar nada ni
aadir nada que no perteneciera a la imagen.
Doble pgina del reportaje de Life del 5 de julio de
1948, con fotografas de las torres de perforacin de
petrleo en Long Beach, California.

Pars encontr una lente larga que pareca fabricada en 1890. Probable- si dudaba a medio camino me caera. Un paso, otro y otro, y llegu hasta
mente sirviera para hacer retratos antiguos. Constru una cmara que se el final. ste ha sido sin duda el momento ms desagradable en mi tra-
adaptara a ella. yectoria como fotgrafo.
Esta cmara era la cosa ms sencilla que se podra imaginar. Con-
sista en dos cajas rectangulares, una que se deslizaba dentro de la otra Lleg a Nueva York en enero de 1939, justo cuando acababa
para enfocar, una lente en el frente y un portacarretes en la parte poste- de cumplir los 32.
rior. Con esta cmara pude obtener fotografas en las que la proporcin S, mi padre era ciudadano americano. Su familia haba llegado desde
entre barcos y ciudad era bastante parecida a la real. Alemania en 1848, era poca de revueltas y mucha gente emigraba del
En 1941, en una tienda de cmaras fotogrficas aqu, en Nueva York, pas. De hecho, mi padre naci en Amrica, pero se march a Alemania
vi una lente an ms larga en una caja de material de segunda mano. Era a estudiar. Yo me cri en Alemania, pero mantena mi condicin de ciu-
una lente Dallmeyer. Pregunt al vendedor: Cunto pides por ella?. dadano americano. Sin embargo, no hablaba nada de ingls, lo aprend
Me dijo: Doscientos dlares. al llegar, hablando con la gente.
Inmediatamente le contest: Me tomas el pelo? Te doy 50 dlares. La agencia de fotografa Black Star de Nueva York estaba dirigida por
Y me dijo: De acuerdo, trato hecho. As que la consegu por 50 gente que acababa de llegar de Berln y yo tena contactos con algunos
dlares. Constru otra cmara para esta lente utilizando el mismo prin- de ellos. Haban vendido algunas de mis fotografas. Les visit y habl
cipio: dos cajas, una que se desliza dentro de la otra. Pero entonces me con su director, el Sr. Kurt Safranski. Me dijo: De acuerdo, le dar 20
encontr con un problema adicional: estas cmaras tan largas son muy dlares a la semana. Trabaj all durante casi un ao, por 20 dlares a
sensibles a la vibracin y con las vibraciones la imagen pierde nitidez. la semana, fotografiando todo lo que me pedan.
Entonces dise un trpode especial al que llam five-pod porque tena
cinco patas. Consista en una pieza de madera de 2 x 3 pulgadas, tan Eso suma 1,000 dlares al ao, hoy unos 10,000 dlares
larga como la cmara. La parte trasera la sostena un trpode ordinario; verdad?
la parte frontal la sostenan dos patas de trpode que se extendan hasta S.
conectarse con las dos patas delanteras del trpode.
La ventaja de este mecanismo es doble: por una parte, mantiene la Le abonaban los gastos y un suplemento si se publicaban sus
cmara bien firme, ya que la sostiene por ambos extremos; por otra, tan fotografas?
slo toca el suelo en tres puntos. Cuando existen cuatro puntos de apoyo No. Y adems me lo tena que costear todo yo. Fue un mal acuerdo.
siempre se produce un tambaleo, pero cuando tan slo existen tres se Generalmente me asignaban tareas, pero esa poca no es ya ms que un
mantiene firme. El five-pod se plegaba con facilidad y su tamao era el recuerdo muy vago en mi memoria, quizs porque realmente deseo olvi-
de un trpode normal. Lo debera haber patentado, pero en realidad creo darlo. No fueron buenos tiempos. Cuando finaliz el contrato me dijeron:
que soy el nico que ha llegado a utilizar este tipo de trpode. Has hecho un buen trabajo y nos gustara que trabajaras un ao ms
con nosotros, por lo que quisiramos ofrecerte un aumento de 5 dlares a
Para qu la emple por primera vez? la semana. Les dije lo que pensaba de ellos, que ahora no puedo repetir,
Para el horizonte de Nueva York. Pasaba por Great Notch Mountain y me march.
en Nueva Jersey; all hay una pequea carretera desde la que se tiene El Sr. Safranski me haba introducido en la revista Life, donde le
una vista absolutamente magnfica de todo el horizonte de la ciudad de pagaban si les presentaba historias fotogrficas. All conoc a Wilson
Nueva York. Al estar lo suficientemente alto, el perfil de la ciudad resal- Hicks, un editor de imgenes que era una excelente persona y con quien
ta sobre el cielo. Es intil intentar fotografiarlo con una cmara corrien- congeni mucho. Hablbamos el mismo idioma. Yo soy, por naturaleza,
te. Esta fue la primera fotografa que tom con esta cmara. Fue algo que una persona bastante solitaria, me gusta hacer mis propias cosas a mi
nadie haba visto hasta entonces. manera y no suelo relacionarme mucho con los dems. Apenas asisto a
Era un da bastante despejado, aunque poda haberlo sido ms. Uti- exposiciones de arte o fotografa porque me siento ya muy lleno con mis
lic un filtro para atravesar la neblina y aumentar el contraste. Algunas propias ideas y pensamientos. Soy una persona terriblemente egosta, y
imgenes requieren que el da est despejado, otras no. Una de mis me- de ah viene. En el mbito social no es una buena cualidad, pero en este
jores fotografas es la del puente de Brooklyn rodeado de niebla. La tom aspecto quizs podra ser hasta positivo.
desde la azotea de un almacn abandonado de Brooklyn, un sitio horri-
ble al que en ningn caso volvera. Era un da brumoso cuando llegu, Su hermano, T. Lux es pintor al igual que lo fue su padre,
pero poco despus cay la niebla y el extremo de Manhattan del puente alguna vez pens usted en dedicarse tambin a la pintura?
comenz a desaparecer lentamente hasta que ya no pude verlo. Es una Nunca.
fotografa con muy poco contraste, tiene un ambiente muy especial.
Al llegar a la azotea me di cuenta de que entre el puente y yo haba Encuentra algunas semejanzas entre sus fotografas y las
un edificio que no haba visto desde la calle. Haba una pasarela de ocho pinturas de su padre?
pies de largo por 12 pulgadas de ancho que conectaba ambos edificios. S, aunque resulta difcil apreciarlo y ms an describirlo. Hay una
Para hacer la foto tena que cruzar esa condenada tabla, y lo hice. Pero cierta claridad en sus obras, que yo intento obtener en mis fotografas.
cuando lleg la hora de volver me acerqu de nuevo hasta la pasarela y Hay semejanza en la actitud y en la filosofa; en la manera en la que nos
me qued de piedra. No poda cruzarla. No haba nadie en torno, no ha- aproximamos al sujeto, en lo que pensamos que es importante y en cmo
ba barandilla y lo nico que poda ver era el asfalto 6 pisos ms abajo. podemos destacarlo en nuestro trabajo con mayor provecho.
Me qued all parado durante 20 minutos, en estado de pnico. Final-
mente decid que tena que hacerlo. Puedo hacerlo. Cog mis dos cajas, Hay un sentido del movimiento en la obra de su padre.
una en cada mano, equilibrando, y pas derecho, sin dudarlo. Saba que S, es cierto, as es.

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 Y en la suya? donde alcanzaba la vista. No hay ni un rbol, ni una brizna de hierba, ni
No, no es as realmente. Trabajo casi exclusivamente con objetos es- un pjaro, no hay nada. Est muerto, completamente muerto.
tticos. En los campos de petrleo modernos no hay absolutamente nada que
ver. Cada cuarto de milla ms o menos hay una pequea bomba, subien-
Life public un reportaje sobre usted, su hermano y su pa- do y bajando. Absolutamente sin dramatismo. La gente dir: vale, y qu?
dre y coloc sus fotografas de Nueva York, desde Weehawken, Pero si ven el Signal Hill en 1948 ven todo el horror que esto conlleva.
Nueva Jersey, junto a las pinturas de su padre de una ciudad Al mismo tiempo, la fotografa es muy bella. S que hay en ello una con-
vista de noche. Realmente no se puede afirmar que todos los tradiccin, pero me pareca que deba dramatizar, aunque sin falsificar
elementos de aquella fotografa sean estticos. nada ni aadir nada que no perteneciera a la imagen.
Todo lo que muestro son barcos y edificios que estn quietos, pero lo Puedo conseguir dramatizar el rostro de una persona aplicando una
que yo pretenda realmente era reflejar el dinamismo de Nueva York. Lo luz severa y que aparezca con todo su dramatismo, pero entonces deja
consegu mediante la perspectiva y la iluminacin. Y tambin gracias a de ser esa persona. En cambio, al fotografiar Signal Hill con las torres de
la suerte. Era un da muy fro de invierno y haba mucho vapor en el aire. petrleo llenando por completo la fotografa, se enfatiza grficamente lo
En un da caluroso esto no se habra apreciado. Creo que es la mejor que en realidad era.
imagen que he tomado nunca. Est tomada de forma que es imposible
dejar de sentir ese dinamismo. Le gusta la ciudad de Nueva York?
Me interesa todo lo creado por el hombre: desde la maquinaria hasta S y no. Tiene cosas maravillosas, pero en muchos sentidos es un ho-
los edificios o los aviones y, en particular, me interesa la ciudad, aunque rror. Ahora me gusta menos que cuando llegu por primera vez. Entonces
de una forma integral. Me gusta mostrarlo todo como un conjunto: los co- era algo nuevo para mi, algo que nunca haba visto, lo que la converta en
ches, las seales de trfico, los edificios y cualquier otra cosa presente. una ciudad muy dramtica desde el punto de vista grfico.
En 1952 hice una fotografa del trasatlntico United States delante
As que usted es un ecologista. de Manhattan porque senta que representando juntas estas dos creacio-
Oh s, por supuesto. nes conseguira una buena imagen de los logros humanos. El hombre ha
construido esta enorme ciudad y este enorme barco. No s si se habr
Entonces existe una contradiccin en cierto sentido. Por fijado en que hay algunas personas menudas bordeando el puente de la
ejemplo, las torres de perforacin de petrleo que fotografi en ciudad. Se las ve claramente, pero muy pequeas. Pensar que gente no
Long Beach, California, son muy feas, sin embargo, ellas tienen ms grande que sta ha construido y ensamblado ese enorme barco es
en su fotografa algo de magnfico y dramtico. algo increble.
S, es cierto. Lo hice deliberadamente, porque as la gente recuerda lo Fue realmente una cuestin de suerte que aquellas personas estu-
que significa realmente el petrleo y cmo su obtencin afecta al medio viesen all en ese momento. Podra haber sido un da de mucho viento y
ambiente. Tuve que alejarme bastante para conseguir una perspectiva quizs no hubiese habido nadie. Pero, para m, ste es un elemento muy
en la que cupieran todas las torres. Fue as como sent su importancia, importante de la fotografa. Y hay otro elemento importante en ella, que
su dinmica y su horror. Haban arruinado totalmente el paisaje hasta es la calle 42 de Nueva York, que probablemente sea la calle ms anima-

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 119

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APNDICE

da y tpica de Nueva York, ya sea para bien o para mal. As que intent Era habitual que ganaran los que no deban en Life?
englobarlo todo y saqu dos fotografas. Si, casi siempre.
Primero, encontr un buen punto de vista justo enfrente de la calle
42, de modo que poda apreciar la longitud total de la calle. De hecho en Senta que no se aprovechaba bien su trabajo?
la foto se aprecian al fondo las colinas de Long Island. Al principio pens que se aprovechaba muy bien, me dejaban opinar
Esper hasta el momento exacto en el que las dos chimeneas del bar- bastante sobre el diseo y seleccin de fotografas. Era as porque yo le
co quedaron a ambos lados de la calle 42, que se situaba justo en medio agradaba a Hicks y l me agradaba a m. De hecho, me apreciaba tanto
de ellas. De esta forma logr juntarlo todo. Entonces, y ya que tena esta que una vez me pregunt: Por qu no escribes un libro?. El resultado
maravillosa oportunidad, cambi rpidamente el carrete y dispar de fue este libro, Feininger on Photography.
nuevo, capturando la mitad de la calle 42, ya que el barco se desplazaba.
Life es quien tiene actualmente esta impresionante fotografa y yo tengo Adems de Hicks,encontr a mucha gente en Life que en-
el segundo negativo. Pienso que ambas fotos son muy buenas y que tie- tendiera sus fotografas?
nen una gran fuerza. Realmente no lo s. Mientras Hicks fue editor de imgenes yo rara-
mente trat con nadie ms. Varios reportajes de insectos fueron idea ma,
Revel usted mismo las fotografas? pero realmente no encajaban en Life, que era una revista popular. Hicks
Eso es algo muy importante. Cada negativo se puede imprimir de 20 se dio cuenta de que, a veces, hay que tener algo ms. Me dijo: Adelan-
formas diferentes en funcin del recorte y del contraste. Es increble te!, y lo hice. Hice un precioso reportaje sobre araas que nunca sali.
todo lo que se puede hacer con un nico negativo. De un mismo carrete Alguien dijo: Araas... qu asco!.
pueden salir fotos maravillosas y fotos horrorosas.
Usted fotografi una tpula (daddy longlegs, dptero de largas
Recorta a menudo las imgenes? patas).
Intento hacerlo en el momento de tomar la fotografa, as que rara- Si, fue uno de esos reportajes. La gente en general ha visto tpulas,
mente las recorto en la cmara oscura. En Chicago fotografi una casa pero no saben qu aspecto tienen realmente. Para ellos es desagradable
de suburbios muy decrpita, era indescriptible, absolutamente horrible. algo suspendido de unas horribles patas finas, pero si examinas la es-
La fotografi sin pensarlo y en la imagen se ve cada detalle de la podre- tructura y la disposicin de esas patas vers que son como las articula-
dumbre. En el negativo se vea un trocito de cielo en la parte superior y ciones de las rtulas. Giran en todas direcciones. El insecto se encuentra
en un lateral. Cuando vi el revelado me di cuenta de que ese cielo deba suspendido de ellas. La mayora de los seres vivos se sostienen sobre sus
desaparecer, as que lo recort y elimin de la foto. De esta manera toda patas, pero ste est suspendido de ellas. Cuelga en el centro de esas
la imagen que rellena la foto es la de esta indescriptible y horrible es- patas y se mueve de forma rtmica, con un movimiento de balanceo que
tructura, y ello hace que sea una fotografa de gran fuerza. es maravilloso observar. Sus ojos estn en la parte superior del cuerpo,
Casualmente, tuve otro golpe de suerte. Haba unos nios jugando que parece un pequeo guisante. Sus enemigos vienen de arriba, por lo
en una de las galeras de madera, podrida y medio cada. Y apareci un que es necesario que vea lo que tiene encima. Observo este tipo de cosas
hombre con una guitarra en la mano, se adentr en la escena y se colo- y me gusta escribir sobre ellas y fotografiarlas. Pero la mayora de las
c justo enfrente de los nios sosteniendo su guitarra de esta manera; veces no interesan a nadie.
pareca que peda algo. Aquel hombre triplic el poder de la fotografa,
al igual que la presencia de los nios. Ms incluso. Le dio vida y una
conexin con el presente. Si no hubiera sido as, se podra haber pensa- Painted Billboard on Times Square (anuncio pintado en Times Square), Nueva
do al ver la imagen: Mira, un edificio abandonado en el que ya no vive York, 1981
nadie; pero no era as, estaba lleno. All viva gente, por todas partes.
Son pequeos detalles, pero hay que ser capaz de verlos. Haba to-
mado varias fotografas sin los nios y sin el guitarrista, y justo cuando
recoga mis cosas para marcharme aparecieron los nios y segu dispa-
rando unas cuantas fotos ms. Despus apareci el hombre de la guita-
rra, dispar y as consegu la fotografa.

En sus fotografas raramente enfoca a un ser humano, pero

retrat al fotgrafo Dennis Stock.
S. Fue un encargo. Haba ganado el primer premio en el concurso
de Life de 1951 para jvenes fotgrafos. Francamente, no saba muy
bien qu hacer. Estuvimos probando con luces y me dijo: Por qu
no intentas simplemente con un foco? As que cog un foco, lo orient
directamente sobre l e inmediatamente vi la fuerza de esa imagen. l
se acerc con su propia cmara. Bingo!, dije. Quieto, quieto!. Y
lo conseguimos. De alguna forma, trabajamos juntos para obtener esta
fotografa.
Debera haber sido portada en Life. Algunos crean que hubiera sido
la mejor portada de todos los tiempos, pero otros, sin embargo, dijeron:
Es horrorosa. No podemos ponerla y que no podra ser portada. Como
casi siempre, ganaron los que se equivocaban.

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Fundacin Juan March
 (Me considero) un fotoperiodista. Una persona
que intenta mostrar a los dems cosas
interesantes, siempre basadas en cosas reales.
No es como la pintura abstracta, que slo
existe en la mente del pintor. Arriba, cubierta
y doble pgina interior con fotografas de
Feininger, Life, 14 de abril de 1941. Debajo,
cubierta y apertura de reportaje Nueva York
de noche, con fotos de Feininger, en Life, el 5
de agosto de 1946.

Piensa usted que la fotografa es un arte?

S que se habla del arte de la fotografa, pero no creo que deba ser
tratada como un arte. Me temo que la gente se aburrira con lo que ven
como fotografa artstica e intentaran descubrir diferentes estilos, con
lo que se distorsionara la fotografa. Tal vez atravesara de esta forma
las mismas etapas que la pintura, desde el naturalismo puro hasta el
impresionismo, expresionismo y minimalismo. Esto podra provocar la
aparicin de fotografas atractivas a la vista pero que no comunican lo
que deberan, que es un sentimiento hacia lo fotografiado.

Su padre era un pintor abstracto.

S, pero siempre tena un tema. Sus pinturas ofrecen una impresin
muy fuerte de lo que l quera retratar. Tengo aqu dos pinturas suyas;
una es del mar al atardecer, la otra son unas dunas a la luz de la luna.
Aunque son semi-abstractas, son las impresiones ms fuertes que jams
he visto del mar y de dunas a la luz de la luna.

Competa usted con su padre?

Nunca. Todo lo contrario, nos admirbamos mutuamente.

Y con su hermano?
Nunca fue un competidor. En absoluto.
Conoca usted al resto de fotgrafos que formaban parte de
la plantilla de Life? Admiraba su trabajo?
Conoca muy bien slo a unos pocos. Era muy reservado. Era amable No. Para m no tena significado, no s si me explico. Existe un libro
con todo el mundo, pero tambin algo fro. Algunos me caan mejor que entero de fotografas de la Bauhaus, y creo que el 90% fueron toma-
otros. Me gustaba mucho Margaret Bourke-White. Siempre que nos en- das por Lux. Tan slo son instantneas. Ocasionalmente haca alguna
contrbamos conectbamos mucho. fotografa buena, pero era la excepcin. No s, tal vez est totalmente
equivocado.
Se considera usted un periodista?
Un foto-periodista. Me considero una persona que intenta mostrar a No est tampoco interesado en l como pintor?
los dems cosas interesantes, siempre basadas en cosas reales. No es No.
como la pintura abstracta, que slo existe en la mente del pintor.
Su otro hermano es msico.
Siente usted que tiene la obligacin de resaltar el sujeto? S y no. Se hizo cura catlico. No tenamos nada en comn. Tambin
S. Por ejemplo, hice un reportaje sobre un mosquito. La imagen prin- es una persona agradable, amistosa, nada que objetar en este sentido,
cipal mostraba cmo picaba. Estuve observando hasta que descubr un pero no compartimos ningn inters en relacin a nuestras profesiones.
mosquito en la pared de mi casa y entonces lo atrap con un vaso de cris-
tal que le puse encima, y l se qued dentro. Utilic un trozo de cartn
fino que deslic entre el vaso y la pared, de forma que pudiera transpor- Sus fotografas han sido mayoritariamente en blanco y ne-
tar el mosquito dentro del vaso con el cartn haciendo de tapa. Entonces gro.
consegu un conejillo de indias humano, no recuerdo bien quin era, y Sigo prefiriendo el blanco y negro porque es lo nico que controlo
coloqu el vaso con el cartn sobre su brazo. A continuacin quit el totalmente. Puedo revelar un negativo ms claro o ms oscuro, o darle
cartn. El mosquito se encontr libre dentro del vaso, revolote un poco ms o menos contraste. Puedo recortar algunas partes. Tengo el control,
y despus se pos sobre el brazo. Est claro que ola bien o tena buen mientras que con el color no tengo ninguno. Obtengo una diapositiva de
gusto, ya que comenz a picar. Todo esto lo haba hecho frente a la cma- color de 35mm., pero eso es todo, punto. Si ha quedado demasiado clara
ra. Retir el vaso y el mosquito no se inmut: sigui chupando sangre. De u oscura no puedo modificarla.
esta forma consegu una preciosa imagen de un mosquito picando.
Pero el color es ms natural.
Desde 1970 la fotografa se ha aceptado como un arte. Qu En parte s. Pero tambin creo que es ms aburrido, porque el color
le parece este cambio de actitud en relacin con la fotografa? no aporta nada nuevo, lo vemos todo el tiempo, vemos las calles y a las
Los coleccionistas compran mis fotografas y pagan mucho dinero por personas tal como son. Sin embargo, en blanco y negro puedo hacer que
ellas. Estoy presente en todos los grandes museos. Tengo un archivo pro- sean interesantes sin que parezca antinatural. Fotografiar algo y obtener
pio en el Centro de Fotografa Creativa de la Universidad de Arizona, en una fotografa que muestre exactamente lo que vemos no tiene sentido,
Tucson, donde tienen la coleccin completa de todo lo que he escrito. por lo menos para mi.
Son gente maravillosa. Son mi gente, por decirlo de alguna forma. Nos
entendemos perfectamente y nos apreciamos, porque para nosotros la 1. *En Loengard, John y Adelman, Bob, Life photographers: What they Saw, Little,
fotografa es lo ms importante en nuestras vidas. Brown, Bulfinch Press Book, Boston, Mass. 1998 (pgs. 150-161).

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Andreas Feininger: una biografia
Con una seleccin de exposiciones individuales y colectivas
1906 Andreas Feininger nace el 27 de diciembre en Pars, es el primer hijo del pintor americano Lyonel Feininger.
1914 Estudia en Berln y en Weimar.
1922 Estudia ebanistera en la Bauhaus en Weimar, donde enseaba su padre.
1925 Estudia en la Escuela Estatal de Arquitectura en Weimar y Zerbst, donde se forma como arquitecto e ingeniero civil.
Se interesa por la fotografa y en 1927 instala un cuarto oscuro en casa de sus padres en Dessau.
1929 Trabaja como arquitecto en Hamburgo y en Dessau.
Film und Photo, exposicin colectiva en Stuttgart.
1932 Se traslada a Pars. Gracias a una carta de recomendacin de Walter Gropius, Feininger empieza a trabajar como arquitecto en el estudio
de Le Corbusier. Nueve meses despus se ve obligado a abandonar Pars por finalizacin de su permiso laboral.
1933 Viaja a Estocolmo. El 30 de agosto se casa con Gertrud (Wysse) Hgg. Despus de un intento fallido de establecerse como
arquitecto se dedica plenamente a la fotografa y trabaja como fotgrafo de arquitecturas. Sus fotos aparecen regularmente
en revistas especializadas. En 1934 disea una ampliadora, que ser fabricada por la empresa alemana Liesegang.
1939 Emigra a Nueva York, donde se rene con sus padres, que haban dejado la Alemania de Hitler en 1937. Empieza trabajando como
fotgrafo autnomo para la agencia fotogrfica Black Star. En muy poco tiempo pasa a trabajar para la revista Life.
1943 Feininger se incorpora al equipo de Life. Durante los 20 aos de trabajo para esta revista elabor ms de 400 reportajes fotogrficos.
1948 50 Photographs by 50 Photographers, exposicin colectiva en el Museum of Modern Art, Nueva York.
1955 The Family of Man, exposicin colectiva en el Museum of Modern Art, Nueva York.
1957 The Anatomy of Nature, exposicin individual en el American Museum of Natural History, Nueva York.
1958 Seventy Photographers Look at New York, exposicin colectiva en el Museum of Modern Art, Nueva York.
1959 Viajes por Europa, haciendo fotografas para su libro Man and Stone.
1960 Photography in the Fine Arts, exposicin colectiva en el Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York.
1962 Feininger deja la revista Life y comienza a trabajar de nuevo por cuenta propia. Durante los aos siguientes publicar diversos
libros sobre fotografa.
1963 The World through My Eyes, exposicin retrospectiva en la Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
1965 New York in Farbe, exposicin en la Deutsche Gesellschaft fr photographie (Colonia).
1972 Shells, exposicin individual en el American Museum of Natural History, Nueva York.
1976 A Retrospective, exposicin individual en el International Center of Photography, Nueva York.
1981 New York in the Forties, exposicin individual en la New York Historical Society, Nueva York.
1986 The Educated Eye, exposicin individual en el International Center of Photography, Nueva York, que viajar despus a varias
ciudades europeas.
1988 Andreas Feininger abandona la fotografa por motivos de salud. Se dedica a su archive, y deposita todos sus equipos fotogrficos en el
International Center for Creative Photography de Tucson, Arizona.
1991 Photographs from the book Stockholm (1936), exposicin individual en Stockholms Stadsmuseum, Estocolmo.
1999 Andreas Feininger muere en el Medical Center de Nueva York, el 18 de febrero, a los 92 aos.

Andreas Feininger tiene obra en The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City; The Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Victorian and Albert Museum of Art, London; The Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg,
Germany; the Museum of the City of New York, The New York Historical Society, and The International Center of Photography, New York City.

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Fundacin Juan March
Andreas Feininger: sus libros
1934 Menschen vor der Kamera, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
1935 Selbst Entwickeln und Kopieren, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
Vergrssern leicht gemacht, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
1936 Stockholm, Bonnier, Estocolmo.
Entwickeln, Kopieren, Vergrssern, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
Aufnahmetechnik, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
1937 Fotografische Gestaltung, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
1939 Motive im Gegenlicht, Heering Verlag, Harzburg.
Exakta _ ein Weg zu Foto-Neuland, Gerhard Isert Verlag, Halle/Saale.
New Paths in Photography, American Photographic Publishing Co., Boston y Chapman and Hall, Londres.
1945 New York (texto de Jacquelyn Judge e introduccin de John Erskine), Ziff-Davis, Chicago/Nueva York.
1949 Feininger on Photography, Ziff-Davis, Chicago/Nueva York.
1952 Advanced Photography, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey.
1954 Successful Photography, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey (revisado 1975).
Successful Color Photography, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey.
The Face of New York (texto de Susan E. Lyman), Crown Publishers, Nueva York.
1955 The Creative Photographer, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey (revisado 1975).
Changing America: The land As It Was and How Man Changed It (texto de Patricia Dyett e introduccin de Andreas Feininger),
Crown Publishers, Nueva York.
1956 The Anatomy of Nature, Crown Publishers, Nueva York (Dover Publications, 1979).
1960 Andreas Feininger fotografiert Steine, Deutscher Bcher Bund/Econ Verlag, Dusseldorf.
1961 Man and Stone (introduccin de Kasimir Edschmid), Crown Publishers, Nueva York (Dover, 1979: Stone and Man).
Maids, Madonnas, & Witches: Women in Sculpture from Prehistoric Times to Picasso (texto de J. Bon e introduccin de Henry Miller),
Harry N. Abrams ed., Nueva York (publicado simultneamente en alemn: Frauen und Gttinnen, M. DuMont Schauberg, Colonia).
Total Picture Control, Crown Publishers, Nueva York.
1963 The World trough my Eyes, Crown Publishers, Nueva York.
1964 New York (texto de Kate Simon), Viking, Nueva York.
1965 The Complete Photographer, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey (revisado 1978).
Lyonel Feininger: City at the Edge of the World (texto de T. Lux Feininger), Frederick A. Praeger Inc., Nueva York
(publicado simultneamente en alemn: Die Stadt am Ende der Welt, Rtten & Loening Verlag, Mnich).
1966 Forms of Nature and Life, Viking, Nueva York (publicado simultneamente en alemn: Die Sprache de Natur,
Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft, Dusseldorf).
1968 Trees, Viking, Nueva York (publicado simultneamente en alemn: Wunderbare Welt der Bume und Wlder, Econ, Dusserldorf).
1969 The Color Photo Book, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey (publicado simultneamente en alemn: Farb-Fotolehre, Econ, Dusseldorf).
1972 Basic Color Photography, Amphoto, Nueva York (publicado simultneamente en alemn: Farbfotokurs, Econ, Dusseldorf).
Shells (texto William K. Emerson y prlogo de Andreas Feininger), Viking, Nueva York.
1973 Principles of Composition in Photography, Amphoto, Nueva York, 1973.
Andreas Feininger (introduccin y texto de Ralph Hattersley), Morgan&Morgan, Nueva York.
Photographic Seeing, Prentice-Hall ed., Nueva Jersey.
1974 Darkroom Techniques, Amphoto, Nueva York (revisado Prentice-Hall ed., 1976).
The Perfect Photograph, Amphoto, Nueva York.
1975 Roots of Art, Viking, Nueva York (Dover, 1982: Nature and Art).
1976 Light and Lighting in Photography, Amphoto, Nueva York.
1977 The Mountains of the Mind: A Fantastic Journey into Reality, Viking, Nueva York, (Dover, 1981: Nature Close Up).
1978 New York in the Forties (texto de John von Hartz), Dover, Nueva York.
Andreas Feininger: Experimental Work, Amphoto, Nueva York.
Feiningers Chicago, 1941, Dover, Nueva York.
1981 Industrial America, Dover, Nueva York.
1982 Total Photography, Amphoto, Nueva York.
1984 Leaves, Dover, Nueva York.
1986 Andreas Feininger, Photographer, Harry N. Abrams Inc., Nueva York.
In a grain of sand, Sierra Club, San Francisco.
1989 Nature in Miniature, Rizzoli, Nueva York.

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Andreas Feininger: bibliografia basica
CATLOGOS DE EXPOSICIONES (Seleccin por orden cronolgico)
Andreas Feininger: a Retrospective, catlogo de la exposicin en el International Center of Photography, Nueva York, introduccin de Bhupendra
Karia, Nueva York, 1976; ed. alemana: Andreas Feininger, catlogo de la exposicin en el Museum fr Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburgo, 9 de
enero22 de febrero de 1981; en la Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen, 15 de marzo15 de abril de 1981; y en la Landesbildstelle
Berlin, Berln, 15 de mayo30 de junio 1981.
Farbe im Photo: Die Geschichte der Farbfotographie von 1961-1981, catlogo de la exposicin en la Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Colonia, 11 de
junio2 de agosto de 1981, edicin de la Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Colonia, 1981.
Buchsteiner, Thomas y Letze, Otto (eds.), Andreas Feininger: Warum ich fotografiere. Schwarzweiss - Fotos 1928-1988, catlogo de la exposicin en
el DG Bank Kunstfrderung, Francfort del Meno (1997), Verlag Photographie, Schaffhausen, 1997.
Rdiger-Diruf, Erika (ed.), Feininger: eine Knstlerfamilie, catlogo de la exposicin en la Stdtische Galerie, Karlsruhe, 31 de marzo3 de junio
de 2001, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2001.
Buchsteiner, Andreas (ed.), America Yesterday: Fotografien von Andreas Feininger, catlogo de la exposicin en la Stdtische Galerie, Wolfsburg
(17 de junio2 de septiembre de 2001), edicin de la Stdtische Galerie, Wolfsburg, 2001.
Buchsteiner, Thomas y Letze, Otto (eds.), Andreas Feininger. Thats Photography, catlogo de la exposicin en la Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, 7 de
mayo1 de agosto de 2004, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2004.

LIBROS DE REFERENCIA, MONOGRAFAS Y ARTCULOS (Seleccin)

Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona (ed.), Andreas Feininger. Early work, en The Archive, n 17 (marzo de 1983).
Fricke, Roswitha, Bauhaus Fotografie, Edition Marzona, Dsseldorf, 1982.
Gruber, L. Fritz, Grosse Photographen unseres Jahrhunderts, Deutsche Buch Gemeinschaft, Berln, Darmstadt / Viena, 1964.
Irmas, Deborah, Experiencing the New World, Andreas Feininger, Andr Kertsz, en Stephanie Barron (ed.), Exiles + Emigrs: The Flight of
European Artists from Hitler, Abrams, Nueva York, 1997, pp. 195-207.
Jeffrey, Ian, The Photography Book, Phaidon Press Ltd., Londres, 1997.
Koetzle, Michael (ed.), Das Lexikon der Fotografen. 1900 bis Heute, Droemersche Verlagsanstalt, Munich, 2002; ed. espaola: Diccionario de
Fotografa del Siglo XX, traduccin de Pedro Piedras, Crculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 2007.
Loengard, John, Life Photographers: What They Saw. Bulfinch Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Mass., 1998.
Pollack, Peter, The Picture History of Photography, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Nueva York, 1962.
Rayfield, Stanley, How Life Gets the Story: Behind the Scenes in Photojournalism, Nueva York, 1955.
Roh, Franz, foto-auge. 76 fotos der zeit, Akademischer Verlag Dr. Fritz Wedekind & Co., Stuttgart, 1929 (reimpresin: Stuttgart, 1973).

124
Fundacin Juan March
English texts
in favor of the language of the image TV, pictorial
advertising and photography. All the more reason to
make sure that a photograph is good, that is, effec-
tive.
Unfortunately, most people evaluate the effective-
ness of a photograph in accordance with its technical
execution. If it is sharp and the colors are natural, it is
considered good. Otherwise, it is not. In my opinion,
this attitude is like judging the work of a writer by the
While working at Black Star, Feininger came to correctness of its grammar and spelling, because even
know Wilson Hicks, who offered him a job as a free-
ANDREAS FEININGER
a technically perfect photograph can be a boring and
lancer at Life, the ground breaking magazine of mod- meaningless picture. Personally, I consider a camera
ern photojournalism. Feininger was one of Lifes star the equivalent to the typewriter of a novelist or jour-

(1906-1999)
photographers for a number of years and he became nalist an instrument indispensable in our profession
famous for his double-page photo spreads. He was but not to be fussed about. Otherwise, a photographer
an absolutely serious and scrupulous classic photog- only too easily becomes the slave of an attitude char-
The Fundacin Juan March presents the exhibition An- rapher who employed self-invented lenses and who acterized by the often heard expression, If only I had
dreas Feininger, 1906-1999, at the Museu dArt Espan- concerned himself to the letter with technique and the a Nikon (or Leica, or Pentax ), I too, could make
yol Contemporani, Palma (January 16 May 3, 2008) election of motifs, themes and viewpoints. The exhibi- great pictures. Which, needless to say, is a delusion.
and the Museo de Arte Abstracto Espaol, Cuenca tion presents a large number of works from that prolific I hereby dont want to imply that I consider photo-
(May 23 September 7, 2008). Comprised of 71 works period during which he combined his two great sub- technique unimportant. On the contrary, provided it
by the American photographer Andreas Feininger, it is jects: the portrait of urban life (its beauty more than its is used sensibly, it is indispensable to bring out the
the first retrospective in Spain dedicated to one of the conflicts) and his particular anatomy of nature, with potential of both subject and picture. So important, in
most important figures in 20th-century photography. his amazing close-ups of insects, flowers, shells and fact, that I just published a book The Essence of Pho-
Andreas Feininger (Paris, 1906 New York, rocks, among other things. tography devoted entirely to photo-grammar and
1999) was the oldest child of Lyonel Feininger, the In 1945, Hicks suggested that Feininger write syntax, as I see it. It is the foundation of the present
well-known German-American artist. In 1908, the about photography. Up until that moment Feininger work which I conceived as the other half of a unit.
entire Feininger family moved to Berlin and then, in had published a few articles and books in Germany, This time I put emphasis not on technical prob-
1919, to Weimar, where Lyonel Feininger along with such as the one dedicated to Stockholm (1936) as lems but on thoughts and ideas, on seeing, feeling and
Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky well as his first book on photographic theory and thinking. Why did I take this particular photograph?
and Johannes Itten became a professor at the newly technique, New Paths in Photography (1939). Up What did I see in this specific subject? What did it
founded Bauhaus. until his death in 1999, he had published more than bring to my mind? What did I want to say with this
In the early 1920s, Andreas Feininger studied 50 books, several of which can be seen in this exhi- picture?
furniture making at the Bauhaus, where he continued bition, together with some of his cameras, magazines Being self-employed, free to choose the type of my
his education as an architect. His fathers work and and period documents. In 1998, he donated his ar- work, interested primarily in the aspects of nature and
interests, as well as the early teachings of that school chive, equipment and almost all of his negatives to the creations of man rather than in people, unlike a
the importance placed on composition, clarity, per- the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Ari- photo-journalist, I am generally not forced to make
spective and proportion would become steadfast zona. snap decisions before releasing the shutter. I usually
characteristics of the young Feiningers subsequent The exhibition Andreas Feininger, 1906-1999, can take my time time to study the subject of my
photographic work. So would an interest in everything has relied on the help and guidance of Thomas Bu- contemplated picture from all sides, literally as well as
related to nature and its representation, which ulti- chsteiner (Tbingen), one of the preeminent experts figuratively speaking, including, should this be neces-
mately led to photography becoming his great passion on Feiningers work and perhaps the person who has sary, its relationship to people and the environment.
and his profession. most contributed to its knowledge and international Consequently, when I find an interesting subject, I
In 1929, his work could already be seen alongside recognition. Without him this exhibition the first never assume that the first view is also the best. Most
that of El Lissitzky and Lszl Moholy-Nagy in avant- retrospective in Spain dedicated to Andreas Feininger likely, provided I have time, further study will reveal
garde publications such as the Franz Rohs celebrated would not have been possible. In this catalogue the other and often preferable possibilities for effective
Photo/Auge. Feininger was one of the first among a format of which seeks to evoke the Life magazine in rendition. In this respect, I pay particular attention to
generation of artists who discovered and experimented the 1940s we have benefited from the essays of re- the influence of light and shadow, perspective, back-
with photography as an artistic medium in the years nowned specialists such as Jean-Franois Chvrier ground and scale. Then I take a series of pictures, all
following World War I, as can be seen in some of the and Juan Manuel Bonet as well as Bob Adelmans 1992 slightly different, from which I later choose the best.
early images chosen for this exhibition. This photo- interview with the photographer and Feiningers own Although any subject can, of course, be photo-
graphic experimentation of the 1920s, which he would Philosophy of Photography, never before published graphed either in color or in black-and-white, I have
later abandon, reveals Feininger above all to be an in Spanish. These texts provide different and enriching never found a case where this choice was unimport-
anatomist (as Jean-Franois Chevrier identifies him approaches to the life, work and figure of this artist. ant. If color is the most outstanding visual quality of a
in the essay published here), heir to Alfred Renger- The Fundacin Juan March would also like to thank subject, a shot in color is most likely to give the best
Patzschs New Objectivity photography. Feininger them all for their collaboration on this project. result. If unusually high or low contrast are a subjects
would derive much from New Objectivity until finally Madrid, December 2007 most typical characteristics, rendition in black-and-
arriving at what would become his lifelong field of white generally produces better pictures.
work: the diffuse frontier between artistic photogra- Other aspects which I find necessary to consider
phy, photo reportage and photojournalism. for the production of good photographs are simplic-
His architecture studies completed, Feininger
worked as an architect in Hamburg and, for a brief pe-
A PHILOSOPHY OF ity of composition, imagination in regard to rendition
and filling the available picture space with viewer-im-
riod, with Le Corbusier in Paris. In 1933, the French
authorities canceled his work permit and he left for
Stockholm. There he dedicated himself completely to
PHOTOGRAPHY portant picture detail. Nothing is more likely to dilute
the effect of any image than inclusion of pointless
background the result of too much distance between
photography and quickly acquired a certain celebrity ANDREAS FEININGER subject and camera or use of a lens the focal length of
as a photographer of architecture and the metropolis. which was too short for the occasion.
With the onset of World War II, his situation (Feininger Photography is picture-language, the only language Speaking more generally, my approach to photog-
was still an American citizen) became ever more com- that can be understood anywhere in the world. This raphy is based on seeing activated by subject interest.
plicated and in 1939 he emigrated to the United States makes it precious and unique. However, as the spo- I believe that nobody can make exciting or thought-
with his wife, Wysse Hgg. ken or written word can be used intelligently to com- provoking pictures unless he is interested in the sub-
His European contacts facilitated a contract with municate knowledge, convey ideas and stimulate the ject. Personally, I only consider subjects which cap-
the Black Star Agency, one of New Yorks major photo- mind, or wasted in empty prattle, so photography can ture my interest because I found that interest is the
graphic agencies. It was a difficult time, during which give the viewer something worthwhile to see or make spark that stimulates my creativity. Without interest,
he combined assignments with strolls through the him squander his time on visual blah. Consequently, a no matter how important the subject as such, my pho-
city, taking portraits of it: buildings, streets, bridges, photographs most important quality is its content. tographs would turn out no better than average. Inter-
elevated railways, cemeteries, businesses; the natural Another outstanding fact is that, in contrast to the est, of course, is a personal matter. What stimulates
beauty of Central Park, the poverty of the Lower East printed page, a photograph can be read at a glance me for example, an orb-spider web bejeweled with
Side, the Manhattan skyline and the grandiosity of the and people seem to get more and more restless, dew drops or a sculpture-like piece of broken shell
Brooklyn Bridge. New York would always be one of his impatiently waiting to go on. The language of words would probably be considered meaningless by a per-
favorite subjects. reading is slow and generally losing its importance son interested mainly in people.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 125

Fundacin Juan March
 Personally, I prefer black-and-white to color. Feininger compared big-city tectonics with those of bor, Moholy-Nagy) were too lofty, too intellectual, too
Working in color, I have virtually no control over the natural elements that he analyzed both floral struc- abstract and too mystical for Feininger. He realized
appearance of my picture after I release the shutter, tures and urban organisms. that he would have to find his own way.
while in black-and-white my control over the effect of Whether from a great or middle distance, whether Feininger set up his first darkroom in 1927, in the
the image after the film has been exposed is almost a point of view was macro or microscopic, keep it sim- cellar of his parents house. His first show was actu-
limitless. ple was his credo. Feininger wanted the composition ally a group exhibition, the legendary Film + Foto,
I never photograph even the most interesting sub- of his photographs to be as clearly structured as the organized by the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart in
ject unless I consider it photogenic. In this respect, music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He loved Bachs mu- 1929. It was a show that brought together all of the
qualities to be considered by me are color, light, con- sic more than anything because of its simplicity, which various movements in international photography at the
trast, perspective, motion, background and overall made it pure, serene and powerful. Yet the avant-garde time. Feininger was highly gifted, and his talent was
tone the elements of graphic design. Because unless photographers of the 1920s, especially the foremost quickly discovered. He was ambitious and patient,
these qualities are well represented, the photograph Bauhaus figures, also influenced him. The formal ele- took care in selecting his motifs, and was extremely
may be important in regard to content but can never ments of their work, such as clarity and functionality, focused and meticulous in the darkroom. Sometime in
become an artistically satisfying picture. which result from the photographic rules of perspec- 1929, while developing one of his glass plates, he real-
I deliberately avoid subjects that have been pho- tive, contrast, gray tones, sharpness and blur, affected ized that he had pressed the wrong light switch for a
tographed successfully before by other photographers Feiningers methods of work and perception. Moreover, fraction of a second. He noticed that the plate turned
unless I feel I can do even better. it is possible to see the close compositional relation- black and the contours of the negative changed, and
Lastly, I believe that a creative photographer must ship to the work of his father, a painter. thus accidentally discovered what was later termed
have the courage to go his own way, no matter how Feininger spent sixty years of his long, full life ex- solarization. That same year in Paris, Man Ray made
unorthodox and even contrary to present taboos it may ploring the technical and artistic possibilities and lim- his first solarizations, and the discovery was ascribed
be. Myself, I have been called romantic, aloof, gim- its of photography. This exploration led him to master to him. In fact, however, they were probably the work
micky, a faker, arrogant I dont care. Only if I feel his craft and he became a pioneer, a master teacher, a of photographer Lee Miller, who was Man Rays com-
free from prejudicial rules can I produce photographs role model, an expert among experts. panion at the time.
that I can be proud of. My picture-books dont sell Andreas Bernhard Lyonel Feininger was the el- In 1929, Feininger worked on diverse photo-
in the millions like certain popular novels. They are dest of three sons born to the renowned painter Lyonel graphic experiments. One of these involved a type of
not intended for everyone. They are for sophisticated Feininger and his wife, Julia Lilienfeldt. He was born photograph called a photogram, where small objects
people who are unprejudiced enough to enjoy unfa- on December 27, 1906, in Paris, but was an American are photographed without a camera, using direct light-
miliar visions and ideas and interested in what I have citizen, as the Feininger family had emigrated to the ing and light-sensitive paper. Kurt Schad had already
to say about my work because we speak the same U.S. in the mid-19th century. discovered this artistic medium during the period
language. In 1908, the Feiningers moved to Germany, to 1916-18. Feininger also worked with the bas-relief,
New York, April 1993 Zehlendorf, then a suburb of Berlin, where Andreas gelatin reticulation and the negative print. He com-
also went to school until the family moved to Weimar bined these processes to achieve amazing results, but
in 1919. Walter Gropius, the director of the newly he also learned from his mistakes, thus expanding his
founded Bauhaus School, had asked Feininger senior, basic knowledge of photography.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE a master of composition, to head up the print workshop

there. In Weimar, Andreas discovered an affinity for
In order to continue his experiments, Feininger
built himself an enlarger out of wood, partly owing to

IMAGE: WHAT YOU SEE IS

nature; his visual curiosity was awakened during his lack of money, but also because there was a very lim-
walks in the area around Weimar and in the mountains ited choice of photographic equipment on the market.
of Thuringia. However, he also discovered his love of With his new enlarger, he was able to regulate the ex-

WHAT YOU GET freedom and a deep dislike for compulsion, military
discipline and authority, which eventually forced the
sixteen-year-old to leave secondary school in 1922.
posure in a highly individual way. He also developed
a swivel mechanism to help him alter perspectives and
correct distortions. This invention, later manufactured
THOMAS BUCHSTEINER* He registered as a student at the Bauhaus, and af- in 1935 by the German company Liesegang, greatly
ter absorbing a good amount of Bauhaus philosophy, enhanced the quality of Feiningers architectural pic-
He is listed in every reference book on photography; finished the obligatory period of study. Andreas actu- tures.
he is frequently called a pioneer of modern photojour- ally wanted to go on to study one of the natural sci- In 1929, after four years of intense work, Feininger
nalism, a truly great photographer, a classic figure in ences, but was unable to do so because he had not finished his architectural studies with a summa cum
the history of photography, a legend in photography. completed secondary school. Instead he decided to laude degree. He was now an architect, but Germany
Alongside Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, Alfred Eisen- study cabinetmaking at the Bauhaus. The young man was suffering from the worldwide economic depres-
staedt, Andr Kertsz and Jacques-Henri Lartigue, liked working with wood; he liked the large, bright, sion and unemployment. Moreover, as an American
Andreas Feininger was counted among the six best alluring smell of the workshops, and he liked Marcel citizen and a Jew, Feiningers future did not look rosy,
photographers in the world in a 1983 BBC interview Breuer, who also worked in the cabinetmaking work- starting out as he did at the same time that National
conducted by Peter Adam. shop. In short, he loved his work. On April 4, 1925, he Socialism was on the rise. He worked for a short time
German painter Georg Baselitz once said he some- received his journeymans certificate. However, he did in an architects office in Dessau but then went to
times thinks that the best pictures need no color at not want to become a cabinetmaker and instead chose Hamburg in 1930, where he first worked as an archi-
all. This might be the simplest explanation of why to study architecture at the school in Weimar. When tect and later as a decorator for Karstadt, a department
Feiningers black-and-white, austere, sculpturally lin- the Bauhaus, including Feiningers father, moved from store chain. He also earned a small income through
ear work not only became famous around the world Weimar to Dessau in 1926, he registered at the ar- the Dephot Agency in Berlin, which sold his photo-
but has also gone down in the annals of photographic chitectural school in Zerbst, a small city near Dessau. graphs to magazines. His father, who at the time was
history. He lived in his parents home, a two-family house in an artist-in-residence in Halle, managed to get him a
Feininger considered himself a craftsman who re- Dessau, which they shared with artist Lszl Moholy- two-week-long photo assignment. Feininger was asked
garded his art as the sum of all his talents. The camera, Nagy, who was also an instructor at the Bauhaus. to photograph a few paintings and sculptures in the
which he often compared to the authors typewriter, Feininger had previously tried to take pictures Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg. His results were amaz-
was his tool. He used it to combat stubbornly, almost with his mothers camera, a 4.5 x 6-cm Voigtlnder ing, because he took black-and-white pictures with
obsessively the predominance of ugliness. with glass plates. But it was in Dessau that his initially color filters and thus achieved very unusual contrasts.
Feininger was not a photographic adventurer like mild interest in photography was truly awakened. It In Halle he happened to meet Dr. Heering, who later
Robert Capa, nor an observer like Henri Cartier-Bres- was not photography itself that excited him but the became a publisher and a few years afterward encour-
son, who preferred to wait for the decisive moment chance to have pictures of things that he valued: natu- aged Feininger to share his knowledge of photography
the point when a situation turns almost surreal. He was ral objects, architectural structures and perspectives, in print.
an explorer who remained true to the old-fashioned urban landscapes and portraits of people who meant During his time in Hamburg, Feininger became
postulate of beauty. something to him. This selection of themes did not al- acquainted with photographer Herbert List and his
It is easy to comprehend his photographic cos- ter much throughout his life; he just constantly sought circle of friends, with whom he had many exciting con-
mos. Throughout his life, two spheres of motifs fas- to improve the pictures. versations and debates. By 1931, however, there were
cinated him spoke to him, as he often said. One Because he was so disappointed by his first pho- no more work opportunities for Feininger in Germany.
thematic area was 20th century urban life: its utopias, tographs images of black crows on a snow-covered He now had a great deal of time and some money, so
not its conflicts. The other was natural forms, although field Feininger registered for Walter Peterhans pho- he took his beloved Opel racing car and, using his
Feininger did not wish to merely document them, but tography class at the Bauhaus. Feininger hoped for Leica as a mechanical notebook, drove thousands of
was interested in them as geometry, ornamentation much from the learned mathematician, philosopher, kilometers through Europe, taking photographs. Yet
and monument. art historian and master photographer. However, Pe- because he could no longer get permission to work in
When one regards his works from these two per- terhans eye and his methods (which, as became evi- Germany, he knew he would eventually have to emi-
spectives, one sometimes has the impression that dent in many debates, resembled those of his neigh- grate. His fathers friend and director of the Bauhaus,

126
Fundacin Juan March
Walter Gropius, helped him get a job with the well- rare, sunny, warm, unforgettable days of December, opened doors for its reporters. Every young photogra-
known architect Le Corbusier in Paris. On September when the thermometer climbed to 16 C and the sky was pher dreamed of working there, not just because the
30, 1932, the Dessau city council, dominated by Na- a clear blue. That had to be a good omen for Feininger. latest equipment was plentiful, but also because there
tional Socialists, dissolved the Bauhaus. Feiningers Although he was an American citizen, he spoke no was a laboratory with specially trained experts who
parents moved to Berlin in 1933, but ultimately went English. Except for his Liesegang enlarger, which was were able to get the most out of every negative, every
to New York in 1937. It was difficult for Andreas to not available in the U.S. at the time, his equipment print. For Feininger, with his strong desire for freedom
survive in Paris. He liked the city, his work, and his was outdated, especially by American standards. He and independence, these were ideal working condi-
little apartment on the Rue Campagne Premiere on urgently needed work, since his savings were almost tions. Photography editor Wilson Hicks always had an
the left bank of the Seine. It had previously been an gone. He was lucky. During his Berlin days, he had open ear for his story ideas. Feininger was able to take
artists studio, just like one in a Guy de Maupassant had a fleeting acquaintance with Kurt Safranski and his time with his stories, because the work of the pho-
novel. It was a large space with good light and almost Ernest Mayer, owners of the Black Star Picture Agen- tographer in general was respected and the creativity
five-meter-high ceilings, but there were also numer- cy. They hired him as an all-around photographer for a that went into a good picture was honored. Photogra-
ous bugs in the small neighboring bedroom. He took guaranteed twenty dollars a week. If his pictures were phers were considered artists, who were only able to
many pictures in Paris with his Leica, developing the sold to other newspapers or magazines, he would earn give their best and follow their visions when they were
film at night. Unfortunately, most of the negatives were more. Feininger had a one-year contract and had to be allowed as much free rein as possible. Only one thing
later lost. During the nine months that they worked on call twenty-four hours a day. He had to photograph was indispensable: every assignment was expected to
together, Le Corbusier may have schooled Feiningers anything that might be interesting: accidents, fashion produce usable photographs of the highest originality,
eye for perspective, clear form and proportion. How- shows, homeless people, film stars, automobile shows, imagination and artistic expression.
ever, Le Corbusier was not allowed to officially employ fires, artists in their studios or political gatherings. It In this motivating, creative atmosphere Feininger
foreigners, and Feininger had no chance of obtaining was rigorous work, a sink-or-swim situation, but also produced 346 stories, all of which ran to several pag-
a work permit. So he gladly accepted the invitation a chance to gather experience and learn a great deal. es, with so many pictures on double pages that he was
of his girlfriend at the time, a Swedish woman named When the year was up there was nothing he had not known in the photography department as double-
Gertrud (Wysse) Hgg, to accompany her to Stock- photographed, and he had done it well. Despite all the page Feininger. Yet this productivity had its price,
holm in July 1933, so that he could pursue his career activity, he managed to find time to wander through especially for the assistants. Patience, understanding,
as an architect. the city and photograph everything that caught his at- strength and endurance were necessary qualities, as
But times were bad in Sweden, too. Employment tention: skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, fire Feiningers son, Tomas, now in his seventies, pain-
opportunities were rare, especially for architects, and escapes, water towers, bridges, docks, cemeteries; the fully recalls. At the beginning of the 1950s, Tomas
the few available jobs were given to Swedish citizens. Jewish, Italian, Greek, and other ethnic shops with sometimes had to drag the heavy cameras and tripods
Chancing to become acquainted with Sven Wallander, their foreign-looking wares and advertising; the chaot- to the roofs of New York skyscrapers. When he sug-
one of the best-known architects of the time, Feininger ic noontime traffic; the poverty of the Lower East Side; gested to his father that they first go up without all the
was asked for his opinion on some photographs of and the beauty of Central Park, with its people of all equipment, in order to see if the sun was shining and
Wallanders buildings. He praised the architecture but nationalities, its atmospheric density and wide skies. if the light and angles were good, he always received
criticized the quality of the photographs, especially New York in the 1940s formed the basis for a sequence the same, uncomprehending answer: Didnt he realize
the distorted perspectives. of photographs, which, like an Expressionist painting that right now, at that very moment, the light and the
Of course he could do it better, and within just a of a metropolis, like the symphony of a city, displays view might be perfect?
few years, Wallanders recommendations and connec- the entrails and skin of this urban organism. The se- During the years he worked for Life, Feininger
tions helped Feininger become one of the most sought- ries is a photographic narrative that has influenced our traveled to every state in the U.S. except Alaska and
after architectural photographers in Sweden. Becom- image of New York for over sixty years, and it made Hawaii, as well as to Canada and Mexico. Three times
ing self-employed was a wonderful stroke of fortune Feininger famous. He isolates details and celebrates he drove from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, taking
for an uncompromising character like Feininger, who broad perspectives, as the writer John Dos Passos did a different route every time and, of course, the camera
loved freedom and self-determination and disliked au- in his trilogy Manhattan Transfer, but with a technique always accompanied him.
thority. He was happy, for he had managed to combine of visual editing that is more effective and that, to this Wilson Hicks not only admired Feiningers quali-
his profession architecture with his great passion, day, continues to shape a unique image of 20th century ties as a photographer. In the summer of 1945, he
photography. New York in our minds. The predominantly vertical asked him if he could imagine writing a book on pho-
On August 30, 1933, Feininger married Wysse, lines of the buildings challenged Feiningers eye for tography. Up to that point, Feininger had published
whom he knew from the Bauhaus days; he remained architecture, forcing him early on to improve his self- a few magazine articles in Germany, the short book
with her for sixty-six years, until his death. Their only made telecamera by adding an objective lens with a Vergrern leicht gemacht with Dr. Heering in 1935,
son, Tomas, was born on September 21, 1935. They forty-inch focal length, which he mounted on a 4 x 5- Fotografische Gestaltung in 1937, and New Paths
felt at home and comfortable in Stockholm. Feininger inch camera for picture cards. With this equipment he in Photography, which was published in the U.S. in
had plenty of work, as he was also increasingly busy was able to achieve unusual spatial depth, outstanding 1939. Feininger eagerly took up Hickss idea, and
with industrial photography. In his free time he liked resolution and excellent pictures. Hicks released him at full salary from other assign-
to take his Rolleiflex and wander around the harbor As a Black Star photographer Feininger met Wil- ments during the summer of 1945. Feininger went to
and through the streets of Stockholm, his Venice of son Hicks, who was photography editor and assistant Montauk, Long Island, and there, on a balcony with
the North, his most beautiful, his eternal favorite editor-in-chief of Life Magazine. The two liked each a view of the ocean, he wrote Feininger on Photogra-
city. In order to be able to take long-distance pictures, other, and Hicks valued Feiningers photographic eye. phy, a book that explores photography from both the
he built himself a telecamera with a 28-inch lens, When Feininger refused to extend his Black Star con- technical and the artistic side. At the time it quickly
which he had bought years before at a flea market in tract, despite a heated discussion and the offer of a became something akin to the Bible of photogra-
Paris. Two wooden boxes holding 6.5 x 9-cm plates five-dollar-per-week raise, Hicks asked him to work phy. Working on the book excited Feininger, so that
could be pushed into each other for focussing. With as a freelance photographer for Life. His weekly in- in the ensuing years he spent more time working on
this unique, self-built camera, he was able to photo- come was much higher and the work more pleasant. publications, which were either splendid volumes of
graph the most beautiful and characteristic views of Life was the leading photojournalism magazine, and photographs or books featuring extensive explanations
Stockholm, with its infinitely large bodies of water. Feininger had the opportunity to earn more, depend- of photographic techniques and technology. By 1999,
One of the first of these photographs, a picture of two ing on how many of his pictures were published. When he had published more than fifty books, which were
church spires in front of Stockholms skyline, was sold World War II broke out, Feininger volunteered but was widely distributed and translated into fourteen lan-
in the 1970s for one thousand US dollars to the large classified as unfit for combat and assigned to the Of- guages. Thirty-two books appeared in America alone,
collection at the George Eastman House in Roches- fice of War Information. He was given the job of photo- and of course, the now-famous Feininger was invited
ter, New York. In Stockholm Feininger once again graphing Americas weapons industry, in order to show by Edward Steichen to take part in the legendary ex-
began to experiment with different techniques, such the world what was being done on the home front to hibition The Family of Man, which opened in 1955
as solarization, the bas-relief, gelatin reticulation, the win the war. Feininger spent months traveling around at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The show
photogram and their various combinations. Yet the po- America, taking pictures of every object produced by later traveled all over the world and was seen by mil-
litical climate around him grew worse, and when the this gigantic industry: airplanes, helicopters, Jeeps, lions of visitors.
Soviet army marched into Finland in the fall of 1939, bombs, cannons everything down to the tiniest re- Dissatisfied with developments in photographic
the Swedish government, afraid of spies, immediately placement parts for guns. technology, either because they did not serve his pur-
forbade foreigners to use cars or cameras. Once again After two years as a freelancer at Life, Feiningers poses or because industrial production was too slow,
Feininger lost the ability to earn a living. He decided greatest wish was fulfilled: he was hired as an edito- Feininger constantly experimented with the equip-
to take his family to America, to start life all over again rial photographer on January 1, 1943, and remained in ment available to him. Thus he developed an even bet-
for a third time. this position for almost two decades, until 1962. ter telephoto lens and several cameras, which allowed
On December 16, 1939, the Norwegian steamer For Feininger, working for Life was a great chal- him to photograph objects as if they were under a mi-
Oslofjord docked in Brooklyn with the Feiningers on lenge, but also pure joy. In those days this great maga- croscope. As his own work ranging from experiments
board. It would be sunk on its next trip by a German zine was the pioneer of modern photojournalism, fea- with photographic technology to publishing volumes
submarine. Feininger recalled that day as one of the turing the worlds best photography, and its reputation of photographs and accounts of his experiences be-

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 127

Fundacin Juan March
came ever more enjoyable it also became increasingly In the case of Andreas Feininger, European ex- the graphic effects it produces within a defined realm
time-consuming. As a result he decided in 1962 to perimental photography was transformed into creative of possibilities.
stop working for Life. photography. Son of the painter Lyonel Feininger (who The introduction to New Paths in Photography
Most certainly one of the main reasons for his deci- taught in the Bauhaus), Andreas was trained in Germa- distinguishes between five procedures or methods
sion was that his friend, Wilson Hicks, had left the post ny and after being obliged to go into exile worked for producing images: direct projection, negative prints,
of chief photography editor a couple of years earlier. for many years in Sweden (between 1933 and 1939). negative-on-diapositive, granulation and solarization.
In addition, the employment of photographers, their But a critical part of his career was spent in the United Granulation transforms and unifies the surface, pro-
importance for the magazine, and the general working States, where he worked for Life from 1943 to 1962. He ducing a reticulated effect. The caption under plate
atmosphere increasingly was being determined by the was one of those photographers who prioritized illustra- 11 reads: Fusion of all the picture elements by com-
need to conform to the growing demands of cost ef- tion in order to reconcile books and newspapers, fine mon handling of the planes effectively increases the
ficiency, so that the picture spreads were shorter. Now arts and the media. In his view, photographic reportage dematerializing impression produced by a negative
that he was independent, however, Feininger was able partook of visual information at the service of illustra- representation. Several times throughout the book,
to work as he pleased and to concentrate exclusively on tion. But, beyond current events and history, nature Feininger underscores the dematerializing effect pro-
his books and photography. He was also able to travel was the realm of investigation to which he always laid duced by the negative, combined at times with the fu-
widely, and he went to Europe, among other places, claim. He viewed it simultaneously as an inexhaustible sion of forms on a reticulated surface. The last plate
where he took more photographs for his books. repertoire of forms to interpret as well as a model of (no. 47) is a study of a nude (like the first one) with a
Both New York University and the International artistic expression. Actualit is, in fact, an ambiguous reticulated effect, and it is accompanied by the follow-
Center of Photography (ICP) in New York asked him notion. In the journalistic sense of the term, it refers ing comment: A fusion of all forms through a uniform
to teach photography in the winter of 1972. Aside to the events or actions that are chronicled. However, treatment of surfaces translates actuality and objectiv-
from his books, these would be the only two attempts Feininger mainly was interested in the present and in ity into graphic and artistic forms. This formula her-
Feininger would make to share his extensive knowl- the presence of the recorded visual fact and its dual alds the dogma of a modernism that simultaneously
edge. However, he found it difficult to communicate optical and chemical nature. This type of actuality is affirms the actuality of the recorded image contrary
with his students on a creative level. He sensed that part of the realm of photography itself, and is thus dis- to pictorial fiction as well as its transformation into
the younger generation had another approach, a dif- tinguished from pictorial fiction. At the same time, he an autonomous form of art.
ferent attitude toward photography. He could not for believed that the camera operators interpretation of the Even though he did not attend Moholy-Nagys
example, find any merit in a photo of an empty bench actual subject, as well as the manufacturing process of courses at the Bauhaus, and later even criticized his
in a park, and the students were, for the most part, the image derived from that recording, turned photog- ideas, Feininger popularized the principles of New
unable to sufficiently explain their work and get their raphy into a graphic art. Vision. In 1945, Moholy-Nagy distinguished between
ideas across to him. He began to work more in his stu- In 1939, Feininger published New Paths in Pho- eight varieties of photographic vision, which cor-
dio and photographed small details of nature, which tography, the title of which immediately brings to respond to the specific capacities of the medium,
were set up so that they took on monumental size and mind the investigations undertaken tens years earlier ranging from the abstract seeing of the photogram
sculptural qualities. This was a way of dealing with an in a broad manner within German photography.1 direct records of forms produced by light to dis-
object that had always been alien to a man previously The first half of the text is called Creative elements torted seeing: the optical jokes and mechanical
interested in documenting his subjects in the manner in photography, and in it he writes: and chemical manipulation of the negative after ex-
of the explorer. But here, too, his postulate of beauty posure by reticulation and solarization. Reportage is
could be recognized, even when keep it simple only The operator of the camera brings into play his not overlooked rather it is mentioned as an example
referred to the composition of the picture. idea of how to create an image, whether this hap- of the second type of seeing, which he called exact.
Feininger was involved in photography throughout pens consciously or not. The graphic art of photog- However, in its diversity, the photographic vision ex-
his life. Even a few days before his death, he could raphy becomes creative the same instant a familiar ceeds both description and its photogenic quality; it is
be found sitting in his home on the fifteenth floor of a subject is attacked with the intention to give it a a means of expression based on the properties of
skyscraper on 22nd Street, close to the Flat Iron Build- stronger expression and meaning, to intensify it the photosensitive emulsion.2
ing (which, for many photographers, was the best motif through the means at the disposal of photography, Feininger subscribed to this definition, which he
in New York), writing on his typewriter, the Hermes such as a conscious translation of colors into a also applied in his photo stories. Yet he dismissed
Baby, which had accompanied him for decades and al- black-and-white effect. photomontage, which played an important if not cen-
ways lay upon his knees, with a towel underneath it, so tral role in the New Vision of the 1920s. His taste for
that his trousers would not get shiny. He had already The second half of the text, called Technique graphic clarity (clearness in line and form) situates
donated his cameras and most of his negatives in 1988 of graphic improvement, begins with the statement: him closer to New Objectivity, which he adapted to the
to the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. The first step toward creative photography is to em- dramatic standards of the mass-circulated illustrated
Andreas Feininger died on February 18, 1999, in phasize the graphic qualities, followed by the clari- press. While Moholy-Nagy strove to translate the cine-
New York. fication: This applies to both representative and ab- matic quality of modern life, Feininger preferred static
stract photography. compositions and the prototypical image; he sought a
1. *From Andreas Feininger: Thats Photography (Ostfildern- The illustrated part of the book includes 47 plates. permanence and stability in visual complexity and
Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2004), edited by Thomas Buchsteiner and The first is a vertical shot of a nude woman seen from
Otto Letze with texts by T. Buchsteiner and Andreas Feininger.
abundance, which he associated with natures produc-
behind at a three-quarter angle and photographed tions. Beyond a construction analogous to the multi-
from below before a vast empty sky. The model is hold- plicity of sensations and movement of light, he sought
ing her hands behind her head to show the shape of an image that united, condensed and synthesized, one
her right breast as the elongation of the long curve of that could be extended over an entire page, even a
ANDREAS FEININGER, the waist, hips and buttocks. A caption stresses the
exemplary value of the exercise: Clearness in line
two-page spread. For him, a photographic image could
be autonomous, even when it was produced for a mag-

PHOTOGRAPHER-ANATOMIST
and form, with strong black-and-white contrast, is the azine, yet this autonomy depended primarily on the
first condition for graphic presentation. Feininger treatment of the surface, according to the model or for-
thus founded the practice of creative photography on mula of the reticulated plane. He had to abandon this
JEAN-FRANOIS CHEVRIER the photogenic quality of the (female) nude as an aca- experimental register when addressing the readers of
demic model. The rest of the caption expounds upon mass-circulated illustrated magazines: he replaced vi-
Andreas Feininger is the archetypal representative the matrix of this graphic approach to recording: The sion with view (in the sense of veduta), but found in the
of a photogenic culture and of the grand still image, a number of possible variations under these conditions description an equivalent to the autonomous surface;
format contested by the inventors of the modern docu- may be seen from Plates 9, 15, 16, 31 and 39, which from then on the photographic surface was expressed
mentary style photographers such as Walker Evans were all made from the same negative as Plate 1. The by the expansion of the image on the page.
and Cartier-Bresson who had distanced themselves first of these variations, plate 9, is a photographic Thanks to this broad vision, his images of New
from the early self-proclaimed masters of straight sketch obtained by superimposing the positive over York, published in The Face of New York (1954), have
photography (Stieglitz, Strand). Evans, for example, the negative, thus reducing the image source to a lin- contributed to a stylized typology of the American
detested the opportunistic grandiloquence of Marga- ear outline. This preferencing of outline over model- Grostadt (metropolis). They are icons and picto-
ret Bourke-White, the star photographer of Life (the ing produced by the contrast of light and shadow is rial citations in the guise of documents. Thus, the view
large-format illustrated American magazine created in related to the classical even neoclassical idea of bearing the caption Passengers Debarking from the
1929), with whom Feininger claimed to be very close. drawing. Here, Feininger is the spokesman of an aca- Staten Island Ferry at the Battery irresistibly brings
But the performance of the beautiful, grand image is demic modernism that relates the creative use of pho- to mind Stieglitzs Steerage (1907); Berenice Abbott is
not just an ingredient of Hollywood aesthetics served tography to the practice of drawing from models (or omnipresent. Feininger had studied architecture but
up by the media; it also corresponds to the publics academies). Experimentation does not run counter refused to practice it, and he seemed to view the huge
trust of photographs that hold up a (flattering) mirror to to the trade learned by studying as long as this ex- city as the immense construction site of an anonymous
the world, and has always been a recourse for lesser- perimentation refers to both nature and the principles work that he did not build, that no one had built. As al-
known artists. and processes of art. Experimentation is valid due to ways, he favored the archetypal view and the technical

128
Fundacin Juan March
performance, and his assemblage of skyscrapers offers that determines its horizon line, its skyline. He does structions were regarded as the equivalents of organic
a kind of synthesis. In Oslo in the 1930s, Feininger, away with the psychology. He dreams of a functional productions. The photographers studied living bodies,
fascinated by the huge boats moored at the entrance to art modeled on the mechanisms of nature. He claims natural objects and mechanical productions with the
the city, manufactured a camera to eliminate the opti- to be an anatomist of forms (either living or construct- same attention to detail. They sought the structure
cal distortions produced by the intrusion and contrast ed), freed from any superfluous concerns. in the details; they sought the expression of an inner
of the scale of the colossal object (the ship) in the ur- In 1956, he published his most important book, construction in the form. Under the gaze of the lens,
ban landscape. For him, New York was also a port city The Anatomy of Nature, whose subtitle reveals an like an omniscient eye God the Machine, wrote
that one had to reach by sea, even though to many ambitious agenda: How function shapes the form and Strand in 1922 everything was subject and structure
New Yorkers, according to a caption in The Face of design of animate and inanimate structures throughout in a sweeping consensus of nature and technique. The
New York, today the port means nothing.3 The risen the universe. In the prologue, he writes: New Objectivity of the 1920s magnified the natural
city, crisscrossed by canyon-like streets, was the ideal object and perhaps celebrated its apotheosis, in the
site of a dynamic compression of the visual elements, of As long as I can remember I have been interested strict sense of the word by identifying it with a liv-
which he systematically sought the translation in the in the form of rocks and plants and animals. I have ing anatomy whose internal construction and function
language of the composition by integrating moderate studied them, not with the eye of the artist, but could be visualized through appearances.
effects of interference. Feininger tirelessly exploited with the eye of the architect and engineer who is The Anatomy of Nature is the manifesto of New
the lump of sugar effect that Fitzgerald talked about primarily attracted by structure, construction and Objectivity revised by Feininger. His allusion to the
in The Great Gatsby, referring to overcrowded build- function. A great number of picture books have title of a book by Renger-Patzsch, Die Welt ist schn
ings. The montage of images reflects a canny play of been compiled to show people that nature is beau- (The World is Beautiful), is telling. With the 1928
alternations and measured contrasts between empty tiful. But the type of beauty stressed in those books publication of this album of 100 photographs, Renger-
and full, distance and proximity, and in the best of is, in my opinion, the superficial kind of beauty of Patzsch spearheaded the photographic branch of New
them Feininger characteristically creates order out of form evaluated solely as ornament without consid- Objectivity. The preface, written by a prominent crit-
the urban jumble. eration of function and purpose. Nature is never ic, Carl Georg Heise, contributed to the books repu-
For this book, Feininger felt obliged to hit the beautiful in this sense. If things in nature are beau- tation. Within the context of the social conflicts and
streets, and devoted four out of the more than 170 tiful, their beauty is not superficial but the resul- political debates of the 1920s, the title chosen by the
(unnumbered) pages to picturesque multicultural tant form of definite purpose. In the main, nature is editor Renger-Patzsch had proposed the more sober
thresholds and shop windows. Elsewhere, the human practical much more so than man. Its forms are and exact Die Dinge (Things) was a true provoca-
presence, whether squeezed into compact crowds or functional forms derived from necessity. And pre- tion to which Marxist critics such as Walter Benjamin
elegantly dispersed in parks, at the foot of buildings or cisely because in the best sense of the word they responded incessantly, which in turn bolstered the im-
in the lobby of Penn Station, is kept at a distance. The are functional, these forms are beautiful.4 portance of the book and created an enduring legend.
population forms part of the urban decor. Feininger Very few books of photography aspire to define an
often expressed his preference for solitude and his re- To the author of these lines, the greatest model age. They should be acts of cultural rupture or rec-
vulsion at communal life, or any manner of collective of functional beauty is the spider web. The fantasti- onciliation. In 1928, Die Welt ist schn touched upon
work. To him, crowds are an epic component in the cal appearance of the spider itself is a fantasy of na- both. The manifesto of a photographic aesthetic that
best of cases. He manifestly felt no affinity with the ture, but the extraordinary diversity of natural forms breaks with pictorialism, it also marked the alliance
Baudelairian flneur who soaked up the energy of the emerges from a single functional principle: a simple hoped for and well in progress as of the early years
crowd. His idea of illustration, applied to modern life, universal plan. of the decade between nature and technology. It also
implied a distant observer. The experiments of New Vision photographers associated the modern celebration of technique with
The reason behind his stance is explained in the in the 1920s upended the precepts of 19th-century the worship of Nature anchored in German culture
prologue to The Face of New York, where he explains naturalistic description. Yet the functionalism that since Romanticism. In April 1933, images by Renger-
that the most interesting architectural or urban mo- Feininger espoused was actually a neo-naturalism Patzsch were presented with Neue Sachlichkeit (New
tif is nothing if it is not dealt with from the appropriate aimed at a new alliance between art and the study of Objectivity) canvases in an exhibition on New Ger-
distance, and at a distance. nature in a world governed by technique. It was a re- man Romanticism.
turn to the architectural order that strove to visualize To Renger-Patzsch, however, the photogenic qual-
For example, seen from almost anywhere along the formative processes common to natural production ity of the things isolated by the lens regardless of
Fifth Avenue (where it is located), the Empire State and human creation by comparing the implicit and ex- whether they are the product of nature or technique
Building, the tallest structure in the world, for rea- plicit structures of all types of form: natural and artis- were not of the same pictorial or picturesque qual-
sons of perspective, appears lower than most of the tic, organic and mechanical. ity. The rejection of the picturesque was, in fact, one
actually much smaller skyscrapers that happen In 1867, mile Zola wrote about Manet: I see of the most noteworthy aspects of art in the 1920s,
to be closer to the observer. No photograph taken him as a painter analyst. All problems were called into the product of Czannian Cubism. New Objectivity is,
from any such viewpoint, of course, gives a true question; science wanted to have solid foundations and in this sense, the heir to a distinction that had been
impression of this spectacular building, which can from there it turned to the precise observation of facts. made some time earlier between technical study and
only be fully appreciated when seen from a dis- And this movement did not only take place within sci- aesthetic appropriation in architectural photography.
tance. Similarly, only when seen from an adequate ence; all knowledge, all human works tend to seek Heise began his preface by recalling the debates un-
distance does New Yorks magnificent skyline ap- steadfast and definitive principles within nature.5 In derway on ugliness in art and the criterion of objec-
pear at its monumental best. The closer the view- the 20th century, the idea of updating those steadfast tivity as opposed to beauty. In reality, he says, the
point, the more do relatively low but nearby build- and definitive principles through photographic study cults of ugliness and functionality are a revolution
ings hide the taller but more distant structures that was taken up again with a vengeance. Feininger was in aesthetic perception, an attempt at the creation of
line the backbone of Manhattan, the less does one heir and propagandist to the American culture of this the new concept of beauty.7 To escape from pictur-
see of the skyline, and the less interesting do the dogma, as it was redefined in Germany in the late esque and sentimental conventions, New Objectivity
photographs appear. To counteract these deceptive 1920s. In 1928, Karl Nierendorf, who penned the pref- photographers aimed to describe more than evoke, to
effects of perspective, the author, whenever pos- ace to Karl Blossfeldts book Urformen der Kunst (pub- show the things themselves (in isolation) rather than
sible, took his pictures from a distance with the aid lished in English as Art Forms in Nature) saw in natural their use value or arrangement in a decorative display.
of telephoto lens. forms the action of some fixed and eternal force, a When he worked on The Anatomy of Nature, Feininger
constant repetition of a flow of events. These events, had been employing these ideas for some time. In
This is followed by a lengthy explanation of the he claimed, could vary according to the climatic or geo- 1929, six of his images were included in the immense
merits of the telephoto lens that produces no optical graphical conditions, but the basic pattern remained Stuttgart exhibition Film und Foto. Thirty years later,
distortions, as is commonly thought, but rather, on the the same. The timelessness of a blade of grass is a one could not help but notice the close association
contrary, allows one to draw visually closer to a mo- symbol of the eternal laws of life.6 between ugliness and functionality in the American
tif while avoiding distortions in the perspective. Here Feiningers functionalism dovetails with his train- industrial setting. But photography lies: it transfig-
we see how a technical argument is coupled with a ing as an architect and engineer. In Germany more ures the destruction of the landscapes by dramatizing
preconception of distance that then avails itself of an than anywhere else, photographers in the 1920s re- it. Nature, protected from human activity, is the only
iconographic choice and a self-assured position. discovered the beauty of nature according to construc- place where function generates beauty without need-
To Feininger, any landscape, any setting New tive geometry. In exchange, they demonstrated that ing any dramatic effects.
York for example can be deconstructed into charac- these models had been found in nature. The spectacle Heise, who divided his preface into different
teristic motifs and views that refer to the viewpoint of of nature was not or was not merely the consolation sections, began with a discussion of plants and the
a distant observer. His model is anatomical, inasmuch of man when confronted with the ugliness of industri- strange beauty of organic growth. He compared the
as since the Renaissance anatomy has been the im- alization, rather it was the legitimation of artistic and center stalk of an agave plant with a modern building
passive, descriptive and analytical science applied in technical creations. Observing nature could be com- after defining it as a fragment of natural growth. In
order to understand the workings of the human body pared to viewing and analyzing mechanical perfection. the United States in 1929, similar ideas appeared in
and that has resulted in the definition of a new picto- In the United States, Paul Strand photographed plants an essay on Paul Strand. The author, Harold Clurman,
rial naturalism. New York, he says, has a backbone as if they were machines, given that mechanical con- stressed:

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 129

Fundacin Juan March
 The familiar objects reflected here rocks, trees, 3. The essays and captions in The Face of New York were Feininger and his wife left for New York, where his
plants, machines appear to exist in splendid written by city historian Susan Elizabeth Lyman, who was then parents had settled two years earlier.
a curator at the Museum of the City of New York. The his-
isolation. They are separate with a grave and aw- torical documents reproduced in the book, which accompany
I have written once before (*) about the afore-
ful completeness. They do not come toward us Feiningers images, come from this museum. mentioned Stockholm, one of the grand urban photo-
to speak in any voice but their own, they do not 4. The Anatomy of Nature (New York: Crown Publishers, graphic visions from the golden age of books devoted
permit us to approach them with any sentimental 1956), p. VIII. to cities. I accidentally found a copy and thus dis-
concern, any benign interpretation.8 5. Une nouvelle manire en peinture: douard Manet, covered, I confess, the very existence of that book,
LArtiste: Revue du XIXe sicle (January 1, 1867), in mile Zola, and that prehistoric period of its authors work on a
Le bon combat. De Courbet aux impressionnistes, ed. Jean-Paul
Yet these photographs are not cold; a sensuous Bouillon (Paris: Hermann, 1974), p. 83.
table in Madrids Rastro flea market. I was bewitched
sympathy is implied by the preconception of imper- 6. Karl Nierendorf, preface to Karl Blossfeldt, Urformen der by the way the very young photographer, married to
sonality: Kunst (Tbingen: Ernst Wasmuth, 1928); translation, Jill Hollis, a Swede, managed to capture the Swedish capital in
in Germany: The New Photography, 1927-1933, ed. David Mel- this somber volume. Its austere classicism, the cosmo-
The prickly, shimmering and sometimes steely ex- lor, (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1978), pp. 17-19. politan poetry of its harbor, the agitated architecture
quisiteness of his weeds, spider webs and plants 7. Carl Georg Heise, preface to Albert Renger-Patzsch, Die of the passenger liners and their tall smokestacks, the
Welt ist schn (Munich: Kurt Wolff, 1928); translated in Germa-
are all phases of this impersonality. And the flesh- ny: The New Photography, op. cit., pp. 9-14. sailboats and their intricate masts, which by then were
liness of some of his trees, their richly tempered 8. This and the following citation from Harold Clurman, already archaic (and one should recall that there are
tactile values are the controlled expression of a Photographs by Paul Strand, The Studio 98, no. 439 (October many very lovely sailboats in the paintings of Lyonel
deeply sensuous temperament. 1929); reedited and translated into French in Photographies, no. Feininger, his father). He recorded the fishermen in
7 (May 1985), pp. 114-115 and p. 132. their boats, the cranes, the flags, the windows of the
This model of natural growth can be found in 9. Op. cit., Heise in Die Welt ist schn. old houses in the heart of the city, the secret passage-
10. Evans used this formula in 1931 in his article The Re-
Feininger with a similar iconography yet without the appearance of Photography, in which he discussed, among other ways, the churches with their towers and domes, the
sensual severity of Strand, forbidden by the standards things, foto auge, the new photography anthology published in Apollinairian poetry of the shops and their signs, the
of illustration aimed at a general audience. 1929 by Franz Rohe and Jan Tschichold on the occasion of the rectilinear grid of the new functionalist neighborhoods
Nierendorfs declarations about Blossfeldt, like exhibition Film und Foto. The element of time, writes Evans, to which he specifically devoted the final chapter,
Heises claims about Renger-Patzsch reveal ideolog- entering into photography provides a departure for as much entitled What is new and to come the bridges, the
ical leanings whose effects are nuanced in Feininger. speculation as an observer cares to make. The article was first statues, the limousines and the trams pondered with
published in Hound and Horn (October-December 1931) and re-
Not only should the continuity and unity of the world printed in Classic Essays in Photography, ed. Alan Trachtenberg a positively Rodchenkian feel, the neon signs. What
appear in the photographic instant and fragment, so (New Haven: Leetes Island Books, 1980), p. 185. is especially effective about the book is its format-
should the permanence of the laws of natural creation. ting, the juxtapositions of the images over two-page
This means sacrificing the singular and individual spreads.
in favor of the general and universal. Heise stressed I just alluded to the photographer Rodchenko, but

ANDREAS FEININGER,
that Renger-Patzsch was not a portrait photographer, a his is not the only name that comes to mind in these
claim that can also be applied to Feininger. He added, and further images: so do those of the other pioneers
to Renger-Patzsch, human beings are like animals. of photographys New Vision. I am thinking of Moholy,
He searches for that which is typical of the species.
A little Somali girl her head as bare a billiard ball,
shows the face of a child formed more by the forces of
IN FOUR BOOKS Berenice Abbott, and Renger-Patzch, who in the
same year (1928) and just like our own Jorge Guil-
ln, who wrote, the world is / well made in the poem
nature than by the human mind.9 The photographers JUAN MANUEL BONET Beato silln from the first Cntico stated, in the
attitude resembles that of a botanist who isolates the title of his most celebrated book, that Die Welt ist schn
characteristic fragment of a plant and underlines the Photographer Andreas Feininger (Paris, 1906 New (the world is beautiful). Feininger shared the specific
essential elements without including the unique sec- York, 1999) was the son of the great German-American subject of the passenger liner with not a few of his pre-
ondary features. painter and illustrator Lyonel Feininger, an extremely decessors, yet he knew how to find new perspectives
As for the question of applying to anthropology interesting transitional figure from Symbolism to the on it that are uniquely his. In a brief introduction, the
a naturalistic method, Feininger preferred to abstain. avant-garde, whose White Man (1907) now in the photographer, as would become common in his other
He did not follow the dubious model of a physical an- collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is books, provides the reader with technical data on his
thropology linked to racial criteria (to such an extent one of the best icons of an irrefutable Bohemian Eu- images; before starting, he suggests a few guidelines
that no people are included in the repertoire of The rope at the turn of the century. Not long after Andreas for understanding his work as a portraitist of the city,
Anatomy of Nature). Likewise, we can give him credit birth, and after having painted that picture, the family as a passer-by with a camera. In 1945, Feininger
for his attention to the phenomena that allowed him moved to Berlin. From there they moved, in 1919, to published New York, which reveals a literary struc-
to avoid the industrialist aestheticism and heavy reli- Weimar where the father, as is well known, joined the ture quite similar to that of Stockholm. New York is
gious symbolism of Die Welt ist schn. His inventory faculty of the recently created Bauhaus. the first of his many fiery odes to the metropolis we
is a mixture of sobriety and enthusiasm. The Anatomy In 1927, Andreas Feininger was already a pho- might almost be tempted to say, like Walter Ruttmann:
of Nature celebrates the bounty of nature in a min- tographer, as his self-portrait proves (the oldest of symphonies of the big city that would become his
iscule world and on a universal scale (evoked in the the photographs included here). Even though he had permanent home.
first four images of the book, taken from scientific ar- trained as an architect, he also attended Walter Pe- This large-format, almost disproportionate, volume
chives). Yet his stance is ambiguous. He admits and terhans classes at the Bauhaus, where he had previ- has a fine prologue by novelist John Erskine and cap-
claims that the mechanistic model of nature cannot ously frequented the furniture workshop. In 1929, he tions by Jacquelyn Judge. It is dedicated to his wife
be upheld; he rejects, without saying so, a technical participated in the benchmark international collective and son Thomas. I have a copy open on my desk that
imagination infused with the spiritualism of a Renger- show in Stuttgart Film und Foto, an occasion marked is missing its dust cover and is becoming slightly un-
Patzsch. Yet he discards or freezes the element of by the publication of Franz Rohs book Foto-Auge, bound, which I bought in a shop specializing in pho-
time, as Walker Evans said.10 He removes the human which was designed by Jan Tschichold. His photo- tography in the city to which the book is dedicated.
presence, thus taking on the anthropocentric stance graphs appeared there alongside those by Eugne The flaps clearly situate us within an urban geography.
of the distant observer. For him, the imagination lies Atget, Herbert Bayer, Florence Henri, Lissitsky, Man On the front flap is a map of Great New York and
exclusively in observable things. Observation can be Ray, Moholy Nagy, Walter Peterhans, Albert Renger- another of Manhattan and Vicinity. On the back flap
supported and stimulated by an optical prosthetic de- Patzch, Umbo and Edward Weston, among others. As is a map of the shopping zones and their specialties,
vice that gives access to the invisible. However, his of 1930, he traveled often to Hamburg to visit Herbert and another on the population distribution by nation-
preconception of descriptive, graphic clarity, which List. In Paris, he worked in Le Corbusiers studio. In ality: Irish, German, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech,
he identifies with an adjustment of sight, prevents 1933, he was one of the contributors to an album of fe- Hungarian, Jewish and so on. And, rather specifically
him from capturing the enigma of a different clarity; male nudes that appeared in the French capital on the focused on the books subject matter and revealing
one more diffuse and less controllable, prompted by occasion of a show dedicated to this subject. He pub- just how methodical and conscientious Feininger was,
the experience of vision. lished the first of his photography manuals in 1935; there is a last map specifying the sites where the pho-
and his first book as a creator, entitled Stockholm and tographs were taken and to top it all off arrows
1. New Paths in Photography (Boston: American Photo- published in that city by the great publishing house indicating where the camera was pointing for each
graphic Publishing Co., 1949). In 1928, a small exhibition in Albert Bonniers, appeared in 1936. Ten thousand cop-
the Kunstverein Jena brought together works by Erfurt, Moholy-
picture. The volume is a genuine photographic vision,
Nagy, Peterhans, Renger-Patzsch, Umbo and others for the first
ies were printed, which explains why this book is rela- the first of its authors contributions to the New York
time under the title Neue Wege der Photographie that is, New tively easy to find compared to others of the same tenor genre that falls within a rich tradition whose pioneer-
Paths in Photography. The citations in the following pages of from around the same time, such as Atget photographe ing artists included Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen,
this essay are taken from this volume. de Paris (1933), with text by Paul Morand; Paris de Alvin Langdon Coburn, Paul Strand, Berenice Abbott
2. From Pigment to Light, Telehor 1, no. 2 (Brno), 1936; nuit (1933) by Brassa (and Morand, once again); and and Margaret Bourke-White. Its a tradition that would
reprinted in Vicki Goldberg (ed.), Photography in Print. Writ- A Night in London (1938) by Bill Brandt, with text by
ings from 1816 to the present (New York: Simon & Schuster, later be enriched by William Klein as well as Euro-
1981).
James Bone. In 1939, fleeing Nazi Europe, Andreas peans who had joined the melting pot, such as Andr

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Fundacin Juan March
Kertsz, Elliott Erwitt, Rudy Burckhardt and Robert Harlem nightclubs and a fantastic image of a wall in with a more moral tone: an image seen in the exhibi-
Frank. Chinatown completely covered in calligraphy that in tion and dating to 1941 of the Jewish cemetery in
The format of New York is exceptional, for the same the work of Henri Michaux and Mark Tobey was be- Queens.
reason that Stockholms was, because the two-page coming a modern referent just around this same time, In my library, I have a fourth and final book by An-
spreads are thrilling. Once again he includes very well as had happened with Brassa and graffiti. New York dreas Feininger. I bought it at O Belo Artstico in So
thought-out spreads from a design standpoint, while as a city of culture: the Metropolitan Opera House, the Paulo. Its flaps bear the old seal of the 1940s shop:
others are on pages that fold out to panoramas of hori- light-drenched Members Penthouse at MoMA, the Livraria Kosmos, Erich Eichner & Cia. Ltda. And its
zontal images that assume an impressive monumental- New York Public Library, the second-hand book shops cover includes an ink stamp from the Seo de Be-
ity. The first image in the book is a view of the Empire on 4th Avenue. The essay at the end of the book once las Artes (Fine Arts Section) of the Belo Horizonte
State Building seen from the New Jersey countryside again stresses the photographers aim and recalls his Public Library. The copy is in fairly poor condition
a distance of 22 kilometers says the caption in the earlier vocation as an architect to be a portraitist and is even missing the first two of its 47 plates. It
present show, further stating that the image dates from of the city. Its title, in this sense, could not be more is a kind of manual with the title New Paths in Pho-
1944. The view is complemented by the proceeding expressive: Creating the Portrait of a City. The final tography (Boston: American Photographic Publishing
two-page spread on pages 2-3, another panoramic section as is also the case in Stockholm provides Co. / London: Chapman and Hall). It is the only one
vista from the same spot specifically, Paterson, New technical data. The last sentence states that the im- of the many books of its kind published by its author
Jersey with Manhattans entire skyline. It is fol- ages were chosen from more than one thousand nega- that until now seemed worth buying, but I might be
lowed by yet another spread, on pages 4-5, showing a tives, many of which were used for editorial purposes wrong. For the sake of truth, I should state that books
relatively similar atmosphere but this time taken from at Life magazine. in which photographers expound on their tricks bore
Brooklyn, although the foreground of aged and rotten The third book by Feininger that I wanted to dis- me a bit. Nevertheless, what is interesting about this
wood piers appears older. These are followed by many cuss here is a second New York (New York: Viking book is that all the images are from the authors own
other excellent two-page spreads. Some of the most Press, 1964), this time with fairly hackneyed text formative years, and they include solarizations, direct
outstanding panoramic views include the one on pages see page 53, for example, Things, a list that a Span- projections, reticulated images and negatives in posi-
14-15, which is completely taken up by the night time ish reader would regard as somewhat Ramonian (for tive. The pretexts? Stockholm and other European cit-
Manhattan skyline, and by the reflection of hundreds Ramn Gmez de la Serna: see El Rastro) by Kate ies, Gothic churches, a cargo vessel, female nudes, a
of illuminated windows in the water. This skyline is Simon, an American writer with Polish roots. Her real race car, delicate tree leaves, the transparent wing of a
once again presided over by the Empire State Build- name was Kaila Grobsmith and she was the author of dragonfly, a neon Shell sign, a dark river that reflects
ing, one of John Erskines favorite images as the text several other books on the same city as well as others the lights on shore, which the author himself describes
says a view that the author confesses he had to wait about Mexico, Great Britain, Italy and Paris that fall as an experiment and an impressionistic night
eight months to capture. The Empire State Building within the category of travel literature. I bought my scene. Several of the images that can be seen in this
is the true leitmotiv of the book, and obviously of the copy of this new New York, which is clearly 60s in exhibition are included in this book, beginning with
city itself. Hence the night time view on page 53 is feel only a few of the pictures appeared in the 1945 the reticulated female nude dating from 1929, and
especially striking: a city in dim-out, in darkness due book in a long-gone bookshop in the old quarter of the dragonfly wing from 1935. Because of his way of
to the Nazi threat. It is a view contrasted on page 52 Madrid, near the Puerta del Sol. It is a book very much observing nature, Andreas Feininger falls within the
by the inside of Penn Station, a site as the caption of its time, a time not as felicitous from a publishing tradition of Karl Blossfeldt.
reminds us of dramatic farewells during that war that standpoint as the 1930s, a book that mixes begin- The present exhibition seen in Spain includes im-
had just come to an end. Another sensational double ning with the dust cover itself black-and-white ages that are as I have indicated in some cases in-
spread appears on pages 68-69, which is devoted to pictures with others in color that now appear rather cluded in these four books. Others are not: the afore-
two vertiginous views of Rockefeller Center. Just as charming. With regard to the latter, we should recall mentioned self-portrait from 1927; the 1931 portrait of
in Stockholm, in New York Feininger reveals his fasci- that back in 1954, Feininger, despite always prefer- his colleague and friend Herbert List, whom he would
nation with water, with boats and especially with the ring black and white as he himself confessed, had often visit in Hamburg, the city that is also the subject
architecture of the passenger liners. published a manual which would be reissued several of a lovely night time scene; the print of the race car
If there is a Feiningerian New York, it is unques- times with the expressive title of Successful Color in a garage from 1932; the delicate portrait of Wysse,
tionably centered among the wharfs where the large Photography. It is in this type of color, which was then his wife, in the then-hostile Dessau of 1933; the fan-
steamer ships moored as seen, for example, on pag- modern and now seems old-fashioned, that we find in tastic view of a train in the Chicago station from 1941;
es 48-49 showing a boat from the no-longer-extant New York (1964), a nighttime view of Idlewild Airport several portraits of his father in New York, including
French Line. Also featured are barges and ferries on (now JFK), in which we see the silhouette of a four-en- a charming one with a toy sailboat in Central Park,
the Hudson on which John Erskine cites the poems gine plane owned by Iberia, another SAS plane and, in 1951; highway 66 in Arizona, 1953; a backlit portrait
of Walt Whitman and whose horns also lead us to the the background, the TWA terminal by Eero Saarinen. of the sculptor Alexander Calder, 1964.
music of Edgard Varse, another European (French, in Some of the photographers more classic images
this case) happily transplanted to Manhattan. The po- are in it, such as the oft-reproduced and truly seminal * In my article, Cities, Books, Photographs, which appeared
etry of the bridges is apparent especially the Brook- shot, taken from New Jersey in 1950, of the passenger in issue 3 of Arte y Parte (June-July 1996), a revision of a lecture
lyn Bridge whose cables crisscross the image. As is liner United States when it was setting sail for Europe I gave at a Madrid conference on photography held at the Canal
the poetry of the airports and the seaplane harbor, with as it passed as the caption says 42nd Street. It is de Isabel II. The other books that I suggested be considered or
the moored Atlantic Clipper; the poetry of the fire-es- a monumental image that takes up pages 38-39 and read in this article are Paris (1928) by Mario Bukovich in col-
cape stairways. The geometric poetry of the elevated, laboration with Germaine Krull, with text by Paul Morand; Ham-
that we reencounter in this exhibition, just as we re-
burg (1930) by Albert Renger-Patzch, with text by Fritz Schum-
or el trains, those now-vanished subway trains that encounter an image of a snow storm, which we now acher; Buenos Aires 1936 (1936) by Horacio Coppola, with texts
so fascinated the New York-ified Mexican poet Jos know occurred in the winter of 1947 and was taken on by Ignacio B. Anzotegui and Alfredo Prebisch; Praha (1948)
Juan Tablada some years earlier as he mentioned in an unrecognizable Fifth Avenue. Continuing with the by Josef Sudek, with text by Vitezlav Nezval; La banlieue de
his difficult verses. The poetry of the railways, of in- nautical theme, haughty and superlative, is the color Paris (1949) by Robert Doisneau, with text by Blaise Cendrars;
finitive perspectives, of train cars, of the light reflect- photograph at nightfall on pages 68-69, in which two and Sortilges de Paris (1952), an anthology organized by Fran-
ing off them. The sweeping natural poetry of Central behemoths of the Atlantic, the Queen Elizabeth on the ois Cali, which was the book through which my friend Bernard
Plossu first began to learn about photography.
Park, New York Citys vast work of art, recalling the Cunard Line pier and the France on the French Line
title of an old book devoted to the subject. The poetry pier, stand side by side, both illuminated. Once again,
of the smoke wafting over the streets. The poetry of the magnificent juxtapositions, for example on pages 110-
neon signs on 42nd Street on one of them the conse-
quential date proves important, it advertises The Great
Dictator, Charlie Chaplins satire of Hitler, which is
111, on the left the Capernaum of an antiques shop
brimming with lamps and, on the right the hubbub of HE CAME UP WITH HIS
CAMERA. BINGO, I SAID.
a benefit ball at the Waldorf-Astoria. Inevitably, there
showing, with huge limousines idling out front. And are scores of images, during both day and night time,
in one of the images of this zone, which is usually of the newest and latest skyscrapers with their crystal-
flooded with artificial light, once again a dim-out, the
war, darkness.
It is also a social chronicle: the fish market, dis-
line, Miesian, minimalist faades and, at times hover-
ing over them, the shadow of another. Of formidable
color is the image of the Hilton Hotel being built, and
HOLD IT! 1
count stores, clothes hung out to dry on clotheslines, behind this structure we can glimpse Central Park. JOHN LOENGARD AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDREAS FEININGER*
cheap Bowery hotels, the unemployed fighting the Among the color photographs are some that document
cold and in ironic contrast as underscored in the contemporary novelties such as the U.N. building Andreas Feininger: I was interested in everything
caption the Wall Street skyscrapers, the shoe shin- and its flags, and the inside of the Guggenheim spi- that has to do with nature, and there were these crows
ers, among them one sitting in front of a fashionable ral and others that reveal the contagion of the Pop in the snow. My mother had this little camera, so I
shop window on Fifth Avenue. The melting pot, Babel, aesthetic: cars, cafes, signs, various eroticisms, the tried to photograph them. Of course, I missed. What I
the iron Babylon (as Tablada wrote). The signs on swimming pool at the Sheraton Motor Inn, the beach got was two black dots on the solid white surface. I was
the Jewish and Greek shops on the Lower East Side, a at Coney Island and, once again, the neon signs, espe- 19, and I learned that photography is not as easy as it
German delicatessen, a shop window in Little Italy, the cially those of Times Square. But the book concludes seemed. I also learned that you have to have a certain

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 131

Fundacin Juan March
distance between your subject and the camera, and photograph those big liners in connection with the You came to New York in January 1939, when you
that it should not be too large. And I learned that you city. But if I came close to the ships, which you could had just turned 32?
have to watch the contrast of your subject. You cannot at certain places, then you got the ship very big and Yes. My father was an American citizen. His fam-
shoot something that is solid black against something the city very small in the background. The proportions ily had come from Germany in 1848, when there was
that is solid white. Well, you can, but you get a picture were distorted, so to speak. some kind of a revolution and a lot of people left the
that you will not be happy with. The only way of getting pictures that kept the cor- country. He was born here but went to Germany to
rect proportion was from very far away. From that dis- study. I grew up in Germany, but I was an American
John Loengard: Your father Lyonel Feininger was tance, a normal camera would have given me a picture citizen. Still, I spoke virtually no English. I learned it
a well-known painter. What was the attitude in your that was a quarter of an inch high or less, so I designed by speaking with people when I got here.
family toward photography? a camera. I found a long lens in Paris that looked as if Black Star, the picture agency in New York, was
My father photographed only the things he was re- it were made in 1890. I think it probably was an old run by people who had come recently from Berlin, and
ally interested in, just like me. He was not interested portrait lens. I built a camera to accommodate it. I had some connections with them. They had sold a
in photography, and neither am I. I want to get shots The camera was the simplest thing you can imag- few of my pictures. I visited them and talked to their
of the things Im interested in. I use it as a means to an ine. It consisted of two long rectangular boxes, one director, Mr. Kurt Safranski. He said, All right, well
end. I think he did the same. sliding inside the other for focusing, a lens in front, give you $20 a week. So I worked there for almost a
I learned the trade of a cabinetmaker at the Bau- and a cassette holder in the back. Using it, I could get year for $20 a week. And shot whatever they wanted
haus in Weimar. After that, I finished my education pictures where the proportions between the city and me to shoot.
as an architect and structural engineer at a technical the ships were more or less what they are in reality. Thats $1,000 a year then, so its about $10,000
school in Zerbst, which was a small town not too far In 1941 I was visiting a camera store here in New now?
away from Dessau. I graduated summa cum laude. I York, and I saw an even longer lens in a case of used Yes.
was very happy. equipment. It was a Dallmeyer lens. I asked the sales-
Then I thought, What do I do now? I went back man, How much do you want for it? They paid your expenses, and more if pictures were
to live with my parents in Dessau, where the Bauhaus He said, Two hundred dollars. used?
had moved. I said right away, Are you kidding? Ill give you No. And I paid for everything. It was a very bad
$50. deal. Mostly they gave me assignments, but that time
The Bauhaus was noted for approaching the arts at is very vague in my mind. Perhaps because I want to
a practical level, wasnt it? Was Lszl Moholy-Nagy He said, O.K. its a deal. So I got it for $50. I
built another camera for it. Same principle. Two boxes forget about it. It was not good. When my contract ran
teaching there as well as your father? out, they said, You have done well. Wed like you to
I never took any of Moholys courses. Briefly, I took sliding inside each other. Then I had one problem.
These long cameras are terribly sensitive to vibration. work another year for us, and well give you a raise of
a course in photography from Walter Peterhans at the $5 a week. I told them what I thought of them but I
Bauhaus, but it was all about technique, which I knew. With vibrations I got an unsharp picture. So I designed
cannot repeat it here. I left.
I heard from students who were my friends that what a special tripod, which I called a five-pod because it
Safranski had introduced me to Life because if he
Moholy taught was if you permit the expression for has five legs. It consisted of a 2 x 3 inch piece of wood
produced picture stories for Life, he got paid. I met
the birds. He also stressed the technical part more than as long as the camera. At the rear end it was supported
the picture editor, Wilson Hicks, who was a marvelous
how something should be designed as a work of art. I by an ordinary tripod. In front it was supported by two
man. We got along splendidly. We spoke the same lan-
felt that if you want to do something, whether photog- tripod legs, which spread out from it to connect with
guage. I am, by nature, a loner. I do my own things in
raphy or a drawing or designing a building, thats not the two front legs of the tripod.
my own way. I dont communicate very much with oth-
what you need. The technical side, in all these fields, The advantage of this is twofold: first, it keeps any
er people. I hardly ever go to photo or art exhibitions
is so simple you can learn out of a little pamphlet. camera rock steady because it supports it at the two
because Im so filled with my own ideas and thoughts.
What you need is imagination and creativity. Moholy ends. And, then, it touches the ground in only three Im a terribly selfish person, and thats where it comes
tried to tell students just how to create a work of art. In points. If you have something that touches in four out. In regular social life, its a bad quality, but there, I
the Moholy manner, of course. There was a lot about points, it always wobbles, but three points are always think, it might be a good quality.
straight lines. It didnt make sense to me. steady. The five-pod could be folded quite easily. It
was no bigger than an ordinary tripod. I should have Your brother T. Lux is a painter, and your father was
Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers were also teaching a painter. Did you ever want to be a painter?
there. patented it, but, on the other hand, I think Im the only
one who ever used this kind of tripod. Never.
They were friends of my fathers and came to our
house quite frequently, and I met them there. All very What did you use it on first? Do you find any similarity between your fathers
nice people, but not for me. The skyline of New York. I came past Great Notch pictures and your pictures?
I got a position as a draftsman with an architect in Mountain in New Jersey, and there is a little highway Yes. Even though it is difficult to see and more
Dessau. I spent a year there. Then because he didnt from which you get an absolutely magnificent view of difficult to describe. There is a certain clarity in his
have much work, he had to dismiss me. I got another the whole skyline of New York. Because youre high pictures which I try to get in my photographs. There is
position at a department store in Hamburg. They had enough there, the skyline stands out against the sky. similarity of attitude and philosophy. The way we ap-
their own architectural department, and I spent about It is hopeless to photograph with any ordinary camera. proach a subject, and what we think is important, and
a year there making drawings for their carpenters. This was the first picture I took with that camera. It how we can bring it out to best advantage in our work.
After a short while, I knew that I didnt want to was something that nobody had ever seen before. There is a sense of motion in your fathers work.
be an architect at all because I would have to work It was a fairly clear day, but it could have been Yes, thats right.
with people who knew exactly what they wanted and clearer. I used a filter to cut through the haze and im-
would tell me to do it, even though I might disagree Is it in yours?
prove the contrast. Some pictures need a clear day;
thoroughly. I couldnt do that. No, I cant say that. Not really. I deal almost exclu-
others not. One of my best pictures is of the Brook- sively with static subjects.
Later I got to Sweden, and again I tried to get work lyn Bridge in the fog. I took that from the roof of an
with an architect, a very kind man. He showed me abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn. A horrible place Life did a story on you and your brother and your
some pictures of his buildings and asked me, How where I wouldnt go today for anything. It was a hazy father, and placed your photographs of New York from
do you like them? They were straightforward, honest, day when I got there, but then the fog came in. The Weehawken, New Jersey, side by side with your fathers
practical buildings. I liked them very much, but I also Manhattan end of bridge slowly disappeared until I painting of a city at night. You cant say that every-
told him that your photographs are terrible. couldnt see it. It is a very low-contrast picture. It has thing is still in that photograph.
He said, Do you think you can do better? a very special mood. All I show is boats and buildings that are still, but
I said, Yes, of course. I made a series of pho- When I had gotten up on the roof, there was an- I wanted to bring out the dynamic of New York. I did
tographs that he liked very much. He showed them other building between the bridge and me that I hadnt that through perspective and lighting. And luck. It was
to his colleagues, and I got assignments from them. It seen from the street. There was a plank connecting a very cold winter day, and there was a lot of steam
spread almost like wildfire. Within a short time I was the two that was eight feet long and 12 inches wide. in the air. On a warm day you wouldnt have seen it.
a well-known architectural photographer and made a I had to go over that damned thing, and I did, to get I think it is the best picture I ever took. Its photo-
good living. Thats how I got into photography. my picture. When the time came to go back, however, graphed in such a way that you cannot help feeling
That photographs be simple was in line with the I got to that plank and turned to stone. I couldnt get that dynamic.
Bauhaus. over it. There was nobody around. There was no rail. I Im interested in everything man has produced,
Yes, it was. Practical and to the point, yes. Do not saw only the concrete six floors down. I stood there for from machinery to buildings to airplanes. And, in
louse it up with things that dont belong there, like 20 minutes, absolutely in a panic. Finally I decided particular, Im interested in the city, but in a holistic
decorations that have no practical value, backgrounds I have to do it. I can do it. I took my two cases with manner. I want to show everything together: the cars
that detract from the main subjects, or bad lighting, me, one in each hand, balanced, and went straight on, and the street signs and the buildings and whatever
things like that. without hesitating. I knew if I hesitated in the middle, there is.
Stockholm is surrounded by water, and big ships I would fall. Step, step, step, I went across. That was So youre an environmentalist.
anchor there during the tourist season. I wanted to most unpleasant moment in my photographic career. Oh, yes, very much so.

132
Fundacin Juan March
 Then theres a contradiction in a sense. For exam- There were some children playing on one of the based on something real. It is not like an abstract
ple, the oil derricks you photographed in Long Beach, wooden galleries you know, half rotten, half fallen painting, which just exists in the painters mind.
California, are very ugly, and yet theres something down. Then a man came with a guitar in his hand. Do you feel you have an obligation to bring the sub-
grand and dramatic about them in the picture. He walked into the picture and stood more or less in ject out?
Yes. I did that deliberately because that way peo- front of these children and held his guitar like this. He Yes. For instance, I did a story on a mosquito. The
ple remember what oil stands for, what this pursuit wanted something. That made the picture three times main picture was to show it biting. I looked around
of oil does to the environment. I had to go pretty far as powerful as if that man hadnt been there, or the until I found a mosquito in our house on the wall, and
back to find the perspective that puts all these der- children. More even. It gave it life and connection with I caught it with an ordinary water glass, which I placed
ricks close together. That is how I got this feeling of today. Otherwise you could have thought, Oh, thats above it, and it was inside. I used a thin piece of card-
their importance and their dynamic and their horror. an abandoned building. Nobody lives there anymore. board, which I shoved in between glass and wall. Then
They have totally ruined the whole landscape as far But it was full up. People lived there, all over. I could take the glass away with the mosquito inside
as you can see. Theres not a tree, not a blade of grass These are the little accents. You have to be able to because the cardboard kept it there. I got myself a hu-
there; theres not a bird there, there is nothing. It is see them. I had shot pictures without both the children man guinea pig I forget who it was and put the
dead, totally dead. and the guitar player. Then just when I was ready to glass and the cardboard on his arm. Then I pulled the
In modern oil fields theres virtually nothing to see. pack up and go, the children came out and I shot a few cardboard out. Now the mosquito was free inside the
Every quarter mile or so theres a little pump, going up more pictures. And then the man came with the guitar. glass. It flew around a little bit and then settled on
and down. Totally undramatic. People will say, O.K. so I shot it, and so I got the picture. the arm. Apparently it tasted good or it smelled good,
what? But when they see the Signal Hill in 1948, they because it began to sting. I had done all of this in front
see the whole horror that it involves. At the same time, In your photographs, you rarely focus on a human
being, but you photographed the photographer Dennis on the camera. I took away the glass. The mosquito
the picture is beautiful. I know theres a contradiction.
Stock. didnt budge; it just kept on taking blood. And I got a
But Ive found I have to dramatize without falsifying
Yes. That was an assignment. He had won first beautiful picture of a biting mosquito.
anything or adding anything that doesnt belong.
I can dramatize a face with harsh light. It looks prize in Lifes 1951 contest for young photographers. Since the 1970s, photography has become accepted
very dramatic, but it isnt the person anymore. But Frankly, I didnt quite know what to do. We played as an art. How do you feel about this change in the at-
when I photographed Signal Hill, with the oil derricks around with lights, and he said, Why dont you try titude toward photography?
filling the whole picture, it emphasizes pictorially just a spotlight? So I got a spotlight. I focused it on Collectors buy my prints and pay very good money
what the thing is. him and immediately saw the power of this picture. for them. Im represented in all the big museums. I
He came up with his camera. Bingo, I said. Hold have an archive at the Center for Creative Photog-
Do you like New York City? it. Hold it! There it was. In a way, we worked together raphy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. They
Yes and no. It has marvelous qualities, and it is on getting this picture. have a complete collection of everything I ever wrote.
a horror in many ways. I like it now less than when I It should have made a cover. Some people at Life They are marvelous people. They are my people, so to
[first] came. But then it was new to me, something I thought it would be the best cover ever, and others speak. We understand each other and like each other,
had never seen before. That made it pictorially very said, Its gruesome! We cant have it. As usual, the because to us photography is the most important thing
dramatic. wrong people won. in our lives.
In 1952, I took a picture of the ocean liner Unit-
ed States in front of Manhattan because I felt putting Was it usual for the wrong people to win at Life? Do you think photography is an art?
these two achievements together gives you a fantastic Very often, yes. I know they talk about the art of photography, but I
look at the achievements of man. Man has built this Did you feel that your work wasnt used well? dont think it should be used as an art. Im afraid peo-
enormous city and this enormous ship. I dont know In the beginning I thought it was used very well, ple will get bored by what they see as art photogra-
whether you noticed that there are tiny people lining and they let me say a lot of things about layout or se- phy and try to come up with different styles, and that
the bridge of the ship. They are clear, but very small. lection of pictures. That was because Hicks liked me will distort photography. It might go the way painting
To think that people no bigger than these have con- and I liked him. As a matter of fact, he liked me so has gone, from the very naturalistic to impressionistic,
structed and built that enormous ship. That is almost much he once said, Why dont you write a book? expressionistic, minimal. That may make eye-catch-
unbelievable. The result was this book, Feininger on Photography. ing photographs that just dont communicate what they
It was a matter of luck that these people are there Outside of Hicks, did you find many people on Life should, which is a feeling for the subject that is pho-
in the picture. It might just as well have been a windy who understood pictures? tographed.
day, and nobody would have been there. But, to me, I really dont know. When Hicks was picture edi- Your father was an abstract painter.
that is a very important picture element. And there tor, I hardly dealt with anybody else. Several stories Yes, but he always had a subject. His paintings
is one more element in it, and that is New Yorks 42nd on insects were my idea. Actually, they didnt really give a very powerful impression of what he wanted to
Street, which is probably the liveliest and most typical fit into Life, which is a people magazine. Hicks saw paint. I have two paintings here. One is of the sea at
street of New York, good or bad as it may be. So I tried that occasionally. You have to have something else. sunset. The other is of the dunes in moonlight. Even
to get them together. And I shot two pictures. He said, Do it!, and I did it. I did a beautiful story though theyre semiabstract, they are the most power-
First, I found a viewpoint right opposite 42nd Street, on spiders that never ran. Somebody said, Spiders, ful impressions of the sea and of the moonlit dune that
so I could see along the entire length of the street. As yuck! I have ever seen.
a matter of fact, in this photograph you see the hills of
Long Island in the background. You photographed a daddy longlegs. Were you a competitor with your father?
I waited exactly until the ships two funnels were That is one of them. For instance, people have seen Never. The opposite. We admired each other.
right and left of 42nd Street, with the street right in be- daddy longlegs, but they have no idea how they look And your brother?
tween. So I got it all together. Then since the oppor- really. To them, its an ugly something suspended on Not a competitor. No.
tunity was so marvelous, I quickly changed the film the thin, ugly legs. But if you look at the structure and
the construction of these legs, they are like ball joints. You admire his work?
holder and shot another picture that got half of 42nd
They turn in all directions. The insect is suspended No. It meant nothing to me, you know? Theres a
Street because the ship moved. Life has that good pic-
ture. I have the second negative. They are both pretty on them. Most living things are supported by their whole book of Bauhaus photographs. I think 90% are
good pictures, I think. Very powerful. legs, but this one is suspended from them. It hangs shot by Lux. They are just snapshots. Occasionally
in the middle of these legs and moves in a rhythmic, hed do a good one. But that came as a surprise prob-
Did you make your own prints? swinging move that is beautiful to watch. The daddy ably. I dont know. I may be totally wrong.
It is terribly important. Every negative can be longlegs eyes are on the top of the body, which looks
printed in 20 different ways in regard to cropping and Youre not interested in him as a painter either?
like a small pea. Its enemies come from above, so it No.
in regard to contrast. You wouldnt believe what you
has to see up. I see these things; I want to write about
can do with a film. Very good prints can come out of a Your other brother is a musician.
them and photograph them. But very often nobodys
negative and very awful ones. Yes and no. He became a Catholic priest. We had
interested.
Do you crop often? nothing in common. He too is a very nice, friendly guy
Did you know the other photographers who were on no question there. But we do not share an interest as
I try to do it when I take the picture, so I crop in
Lifes staff? far as our respective professions are concerned, no.
the darkroom very rarely. In Chicago I photographed
Few very well. I kept myself to myself. I was Youve photographed mostly in black and white.
a picture of a very decrepit tenement absolutely,
friendly with everybody, but on a rather cool level. I still prefer black and white because I have total
unspeakably awful. I shot it head on. You see every
rotten detail in it. In the negative I have a little bit of Some of them I liked more than others. I liked Mar- control in black and white. I can print one negative
sky above it and to one side. When I saw the print I garet Bourke-White very much. Whenever we met, we lighter or darker, with more contrast or less. I can crop
realized that sky had to go. So I cut it all off. Now the really understood each other. parts out of it. I have control, while in color I have no
whole frame is filled with this unspeakably horrible Do you consider yourself a journalist? control. I get a 35-millimeter color slide, and thats it,
structure, and that makes it a very powerful picture. A photojournalist. It means a person who tries to period. If its too light or too dark, I cant do a thing
Incidentally, there was another instance of luck. show other people something interesting. It is always about it.

ANDREAS FEININGER (1906-1999) 133

Fundacin Juan March
 But color is more natural 1962 In 1962, Feininger leaves Life magazine to Man Changed It (New York: Crown Publishers,
In a way. I think it is also duller, because color is resume his work as a freelance photographer. 1955). Introduction by Andreas Feininger with text
nothing new. We see it all the time. We see the streets In the course of the following years, he pub- by Patricia Dyett.
and people the way they are. But in black and white I lishes many textbooks on photography. The Anatomy of Nature (New York: Crown Pub-
can make it interesting without making it unnatural. To 1963 The world through my eyes, retrospective lishers, 1956). (Dover Publications, 1979).
photograph something and get a picture that is exactly exhibition in the Smithsonian Institution, Man and Stone (New York: Crown Publishers,
the way it looked to the eye is for the birds, I think. Washington. 1961). Introduction by Kasimir Edschmidtm. (Dover
On Life staff 1943-62 Publications, 1979: Stone and Man).
1965 New York in Farbe, exhibition in the Maids, Madonnas & Witches: Women in Sculpture
Interviewed in New York City on January 13, 1992 Deutsche Gesellschaft fr photographie (Colo- from Prehistoric Times to Picasso (New York: Harry
1. John Loengard Life Photographers: What they Saw (Boston, nia). N. Abrams, Inc., 1961). Introduction by Henry
Mass.: Little, Brown, 1998). A Bulfinch Press book 1972 Shells, solo exhibition in the American Mu- Miller with text by J. Bon. Published in German as
seum of Natural History, New York. Frauen und Gttinnen (Cologne: M. DuMont Schau-
1976 A Retrospective, solo exhibition in the In- berg, 1960).
ternational Center of Photography, New York. Total Picture Control (New York: Crown Publish-

ANDREAS FEININGER: 1978 New York in the Forties, solo exhibition in

the New York Historical Society, New York.
ers, 1961).
The World Through My Eyes (New York: Crown
Publishers, 1963).
A BIOGRAPHY
(with selected solo and group exhibitions)
1981 Solo exhibition in the Center for Creative Pho-
tography de Tucson, Arizona.
New York (New York: Viking Press, 1964). Text by
Kate Simon.
1986 The Educated Eye, solo exhibition in the In- The Complete Photographer (New Jersey: Pren-
ternational Center of Photography, New York, tice-Hall, 1965). Revised, 1978.
1906 Andreas Feininger is born in Paris on Decem- that it will travel later to several European cit- Lyonel Feininger: City at the Edge of the World
ber 27, the first child of the American painter ies. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1965). Text
Lyonel Feininger. by T. Lux Feininger.
1988 Andreas Feininger gives up photography
1914 School in Berlin and Weimar for health reasons. He devotes himself to ar- Forms of Nature and Life (New York: Viking Press,
1922 Trains as a cabinet-maker at the Bauhaus in chiving his own photographs and presents all 1966). Published in German as Die Sprache de Natur
Weimar, where his father has a teaching post. his photographic equipment to the Interna- (Dsseldorf: Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft, 1966).
tional Center of Photography in New York. Trees (New York: Viking Press, 1968). Published in
1925 Attends the State School of Architecture in German as Wunderbare Welt der Bume und Wlder
Weimar and Zerbst where he trains as an ar- 1991 Photographs from the book Stockholm (Dsseldorf: Econ, 1968).
chitect and civil engineer. He develops an in- (1936), solo exhibition in the Stockholms The Color Photo Book (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
terest in photography and in 1927 sets up a Stadsmuseum, Estocolmo. 1969). Published in German as Farb-Fotolehre (Ds-
darkroom at his parents home in Dessau. 1999 He dies at the Medical Center in New York on seldorf: Econ, 1969).
1929 Working as an architect in Hamburg and Des- February 18 at the age of 92. Basic Color Photography (New York: Amphoto,
sau. Film and Photo, group exhibition in 1972). Published in German as Farbfotokurs (Ds-
Stuttgart. seldorf: Econ, 1972).
1932 Moves to Paris. On the strength of a letter from Shells (New York: Viking Press, 1972). Prologue

ANDREAS FEININGER:
Walter Gropius, Feininger starts work in Le by Andreas Feininger with text by William K. Em-
Corbusiers studio as an architect. He is forced erson.
to leave Paris when after just nine months he Principles of Composition in Photography (New
loses his work permit.
1933 Moves to Stockholm. On 30 August 1933,
HIS BOOKS York: Amphoto, 1973).
Andreas Feininger (New York: Morgan & Morgan,
1973). Introduction and text by Ralph Hattersley.
he marries Gertrud (Wysse) Hgg. After a Menschen vor der Kamera (Harzburg: Heering Photographic Seeing (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
failed attempt to set himself up as an archi- Verlag, 1934) 1973).
tect Feininger devotes himself increasingly to Selbst Entwickeln und Kopieren (Harzburg: Heer- Darkroom Techniques (New York: Amphoto, 1974).
photography and rapidly establishes himself ing Verlag, 1935). Revised, Prentice-Hall, 1976.
as an architectural photographer. His pictures Vergrssern leicht gemacht (Harzburg: Heering The Perfect Photograph (New York: Amphoto,
appear regularly in specialist magazines. In Verlag, 1935). 1974).
1934, he designs an enlarger which a German Stockholm (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1936). Roots of Art (New York: Viking Press, 1975). (Do-
company, Liesegang, manufactures using his Entwickeln, Kopieren, Vergrssern (Harzburg: ver Publications, 1982: Nature and Art).
plans. Heering Verlag, 1936). Light and Lighting in Photography (New York:
1939 Emigrates to New York. Here, Feininger is re- Aufnahmetechnik (Harzburg: Heering Verlag, Amphoto, 1976).
united with his parents, who left Germany un- 1936). The Mountains of the Mind: A Fantastic Journey
der Hitler in 1937. He starts out working as a Fotografische Gestaltung (Harzburg: Heering Ver- into Reality (New York: Viking Press, 1977). (Dover
freelance picture editor for the Black Star pho- lag, 1937). Publications, 1981: Nature Close Up).
tographic agency. A short time later, he moves Motive im Gegenlicht (Harzburg: Heering Verlag, New York in the Forties (New York: Dover Publica-
to Life magazine. 1939). tions, 1978). With text by John von Hartz.
1943 In 1943, Feininger is appointed to Lifes per- Exakta ein Weg zu Foto-Neuland (Halle/Saale: Andreas Feininger: Experimental Work (New York:
manent staff. In the course of the next twenty Gerhard Isert Verlag, 1939). Amphoto, 1978).
New Paths in Photography (Boston: American Feiningers Chicago, 1941 (New York: Dover Pub-
years with the magazine, he works on almost
400 photo reportage stories. Photographic Publishing Co., and London, Chapman lications, 1978).
and Hall, 1939). Industrial America (New York: Dover Publica-
1948 50 Photographs by 50 Photographers, group New York (Chicago/New York: Ziff-Davis, 1945). tions, 1981).
exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art, New Introduction by John Erskine with text by Jacquelyn Total Photography (New York: Amphoto, 1982).
York. Judge. Andreas Feininger, Photographer (New York: Har-
1955 The Family of Man, group exhibition in the Feininger on Photography (Chicago/New York: ry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Ziff-Davis, 1949). In a Grain of Sand (San Francisco: Sierra Club,
1957 The Anatomy of Nature, first solo exhibition, Advanced Photography (New Jersey: Prentice- 1986).
in the American Museum of Natural History, Hall, 1952). Leaves (New York: Dover Publications, 1984).
New York. Successful Photography (New Jersey: Prentice- Nature in Miniature (New York: Rizzoli, 1989).
Hall, 1954). Revised, 1975. Structures of Nature (Seattle: University of Wash-
1958 Seventy Photographers look at New York, ington, 2003). Text by N. Elizabeth.
Successful Color Photography (New Jersey: Pren-
group exhibition in The Museum of Modern
Art, New York. tice-Hall, 1954).
The Face of New York: The City As It Was and As
1959 Trips for Europe, doing photographies for his It Is (New York: Crown Publishers, 1954). Text by
book Man and Stone. Susan E. Lyman.
1960 Photography in the Fine Arts, group exhibi- The Creative Photographer (New Jersey: Prentice-
tion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Hall, 1955). Revised, 1975.
York. Changing America: The Land As It Was and How

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Fundacin Juan March