Das Chorgestühl von Kappenberg (The Choir Stalls of Cappenberg)
Berlin: Auriga, 1925. First edition. Hardcover. Quarto (10 3/4" x 7.5"; 27,5cm x 19cm). Original photographic paper covered boards. First state binding designe by Johannes Molzahn. Kunstwerke. Eine Buchfolge, I. Band (Artworks. A Series of Books. Vol. 1). First book published by Albert Renger-Patzsch, the renown German photographer associated with the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit.) Having practised photography since his teens, he took it up professionally after studying chemistry in Dresden (1919-21), and in the mid-1920s published books on animals and natural forms and medieval choir stalls. He became committed to a form of documentary realism that separated him decisively from both pictorialism and the experimental ‘art photography’ of the avant-garde. Photography's supreme capability, he believed, was to capture the form and detail of organic and man-made objects with unequalled clarity and precision. Visual rhetoric and ‘creative’ distortion had no part in it. Tight, head-on composition, deep focus, diffused lighting, and close-ups were its tools. His approach was epitomized by his internationally acclaimed book "Die Welt ist schön" ("The World is Beautiful," 1928.) Text in German. Moderate age wear along edges of binding, small chips at corners and along spine, rubbed. Interior slightly age-toned. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in very good condition. vg. Item #48638
Price: $450.00