Lot 524 D

As the most famous industrial photographer of the post-war period, Ludwig Windstosser significantly influenced the image of the German economic miracle. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked for many large West German organisations, including companies such as Bosch, Leitz, Merck, Ruhrkohle AG or Mannesmann-Werke and documented the various working areas of these companies in extensive series.
As co-founder of the fotoform group, he remained true to the principles of “Subjective photography” even in conjunction with his commissioned work for the industry, and repeatedly abandoned the position of the objectively observant documentarist: almost graphic, abstractly readable structures, strong light and dark contrasts, negative inversions and double lighting belong to his composition repertoire. Even where he leaves the field of industrial photography to turn towards the landscape for example, his will for a formal order of the picture surface is clearly evident.
Windstosser's vintage prints offered here are from the estate of Bert and Agnes Weißenburg-von Berg, Duisburg, who followed Germany's post-war economic rise as advertising professionals working for the Gemeinschaftsorganisation Ruhrkohle G.m.b.H, and in this capacity worked closely with the photographer. Guided by his great passion for art and culture, Bert Weißenburg-von Berg cultivated intensive contacts with contemporary architectural and artistic circles. In 1950 he met Ludwig Windstosser at the first "Photokina" in Cologne. The couple maintained a close, friendly exchange with the photographer between 1950 and 1971, advising him, for example, on the design of his photo book projects and illustrated books about Berlin and Stuttgart.
Despite, but perhaps also because of his prominent position as a contract-led industrial photographer, Windstosser's work has only received more attention in recent years, and last autumn, the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin held the first comprehensive solo exhibition dedicated to him in the Museum für Fotografie - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.