Exhibition catalogue, edited by Marta Herford
Texts (German/English/French) by Roland Nachtigäller, Éric Darragon
172 p. with 200 illustrations in duplex
Format 30 x 20 cm, half linen
39,80 €
Benjamin Katz, born in Antwerp in 1939 to German Jews, became famous for his haunting portraits of artists such as Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Josef Beuys, James Lee Byars, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. No exhibition of the so-called German painter princes - Benjamin Katz has been associated with some of them for years - can do without his subtle portraits. However, his archive of over half a million negatives from more than 60 years of photographic work still harbours many surprises: in addition to conceptual photo series, there are also everyday observations in particular - landscapes, views with traces of industrial decline, architectural details, finds of everyday poetry or even the momentarily absurd. There are many untold stories in the pictures; when very different associations are invoked, the artist's subtle humour always comes to the fore. The influences of early role models, be it Brassaï, Rodchenko or Cartier-Bresson, appear again and again, but Benjamin Katz's pictures are above all narratives without words, humour as wisdom and eloquent omissions in simple stories. It is only with admiration that one can follow the results of this work, which in concentrated observation illuminates rather incidental moments of life with brilliant sharpness.
Exhibition:
Marta Herford, 13/6 - 3/10/21
