ART REVIEW : THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC IN PHOTOGRAPHS

Of three photography exhibitions now in Balboa Park museums, “Photographers of the Weimar Republic” at the San Diego Museum of Art is the most fully satisfying aesthetically and educationally.

It is somewhat of a “sleeper,” having been overshadowed by other recent exhibitions. And it seems to have been mismanaged by the organizing institution, the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, inasmuch as the exhibition catalogue is not yet available.

Nevertheless, it is an important show. The artists and their photographs obviously were selected with informed care. General historical and biographical wall texts and individual notes for each image enhance viewers’ appreciation of what they see.

The Weimar period in German history from the end of World War I to the election of Adolf Hitler as chancellor (1919-1933) was a period of extraordinary experimentation in the arts as in other areas of life. The camera, a great democratizing instrument, had made it possible not only for unprecedented numbers of people to record themselves as physical presences (painted portraits earlier had been reserved to the well-to-do), but also for social commentators to record life as it was, not as it was imagined it ought to be.

Dr. Erich Salomon, after having dressed appropriately to fit into the ambiance, often covertly made candid photographs of people indoors with available light. His images of European statesmen, German politicians, society matrons and of a defendant’s mother at a trial possess a dramatic immediacy and intensity that far surpass simple documentation. His unposed photographs are more artful than those of others posed.

The portrait of “Elsa Werner” on one hand and a study of “Enamel Bowls” on the other convince you of the rightness of Albert Renger-Patsch’s belief in the reliability of the photograph for conveying the feelings or sense of the human observer. And his “Mine in Ruhrgebiet in Winter” nearly convinces you of the rightness of his belief that the black-and-white medium was fully capable of translating atmospheric, color and textural nuances of a scene.

Hugo Erfurth’s portraits of such eminent figures as painters Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger and Lovis Corinth are exceptional as expressions of personality. Architect Walter Gropius is the image of superhuman will, while Kathe Kollwitz is the image of human compassion she portrayed so compellingly in her prints.

Werner Mantz also made glorious portraits, but he was especially gifted as a photographer of the new, clean-lined architecture of Weimar.

For explorations in abstract composition in photography Hungarian born Lazlo Moholy-Nagy is peerless in the group whose works are exhibited. His special interest was the use of diagonal lines and oblique camera angles from above.

Also included in the exhibition are images by August Sander from his project “Man of the 20th Century.” This photographer’s ambition was to record the physiognomy of the German people according to occupational status. The scope of his undertaking was immense--40,000 negatives were destroyed during World War II.

Despite his interest in his subjects as types rather than as individuals, Sander’s empathy for his subjects is apparent. Nevertheless, powerful individuals such as “Painter Heinrich Hoerle” and composer “Richard Strauss” inspired his strongest works.

At the Museum of Photographic Arts there is a larger selection of Sander’s photographs, entitled “Face of Our Time,” from his first book, published in 1929. In realizing his ambition to record the truth, “things as they are and not as they are supposed to be or can be,” Sander created many images of great beauty, even works of art. The interest of most of those exhibited, however, for all the skill of their execution, is as descriptive human documentation rather than art.

A case in point is “Farmer From the Westerwald.” The subject’s clothes indicate a certain prosperity but the rough hands with dirty fingernails indicate hard, daily work with the soil. The farmer is able to afford upholstered furniture. Eyeglasses and a book are evidence of his literacy. The lines in his face, a frown and tight lips combined with his rigidly erect posture convey a sense of moral rectitude. His wife, in a separate image, looks like a smaller, somewhat softer replica of him.

A few images, nevertheless, stand out for their special magic--”Young Farmers,” “Pastry Chef,” “Middle Class Mother With Child” and “Unemployed.” This last could be seen in downtown San Diego today.

The interest of Rosalind Solomon’s work in “Earthrites,” also at the Museum of Photographic Arts, is almost exclusively as documentation. Her photographs, full of exotic information, are moving because of the desperate situations of Third World peoples who are her subjects in Peru, India, Guatemala, Nepal and elsewhere. Solomon reminds us that human dignity can survive appalling circumstances, and we are sensitive to the compassion with which she regards her subjects.

In Sander’s view, one’s occupation defined one’s character: a man is what he does. In Solomon’s, misery defines one’s character: a woman is what she suffers. At the bottom of the heap there is a terrifying sameness.

“Photographers of the Weimar Republic” continues at the San Diego Museum of Art through May 18. “August Sander: Face of Our Time” and “Rosalind Solomon: Earthrites” continue at the Museum of Photographic Arts through June 1.