Fred KochNaturfotografie der 1920er/30er Jahre

Traces of a forgotten photographer

The Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung has a genuine rediscovery to present: it is devoting an exhibition and this catalogue to Fred Koch (1904–1947), one of the most interesting photographers of the Weimar Republic, who is likely to be known to only a few specialists today. In his black-and-white photographs in the style of the New Objectivity, Fred Koch concentrated primarily on detailed shots of plants and crystals, corals and shellfish as well as insects. In 1922/23 he came into contact with photography through Albert Renger-Patzsch, when the latter was running the picture archive of the Folkwang-Verlag and photographing plants for it on a large scale. Contrary to the sober, matter-of-fact style favoured by Renger-Patzsch, Fred Koch’s photographs emphasise the floral beauty and grace of the plants as well as their splendour. Working almost theatrically with reflections of light and strong shadow effects, he brought out the plasticity of the objects photographed. Fred Koch was also regarded as a tireless tinkerer: he designed special cameras for extreme depths of field, optimised the apparatus and studied the modalities of illumination down to the smallest detail. It is to be hoped that this publication can help to establish the name of Fred Koch definitively within the photography of the New Objectivity.

Exhibition:
Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung, Berlin, 15/1 – 24/4/2022