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Erich Schutt

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Erich Schutt
Born(1931-06-21)21 June 1931
Vetschau, Saxony, Germany
Died19 November 2023(2023-11-19) (aged 92)
Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany
Alma materSchool of Journalism of the Association of GDR Journalists [de], Karl Marx University of Leipzig
Occupation(s)Photographer
Photo-journalist

Erich Schutt (21 June 1931 – 19 November 2023) was a German photographer and photo-journalist. He was at his most prolific in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany: 1949–1989) during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Since German reunification in 1990, his work has continued to draw interest and to feature in exhibition displays, as many of the subjects that he photographed, from the lignite-fuelled power station Vetschauvast on the edge of his home town to the traditional Sorbian artefacts and costumery that were still relatively mainstream during the middle decades of the twentieth century, retreat rapidly beyond living memory.[1][2][3][4]

"Getreidesoll erfüllt" ("Grain target met"), Erich Schutt, 1958
"Begutachtung von Bäumen" ("[a forestry worker] checking out a tree"), Erich Schutt, 1955
"Zuschneidewerkstatt in Cottbus" ("Dress-making workshop in Cottbus") - " .... Colleague Miss Pustal takes the measurements of a customer", Erich Schutt, 1956

Life and works

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Erich Schutt was born at Vetschau in the flatlands west of Cottbus about eighteen months before the Hitler government took power. Fifty years earlier the region had been overwhelmingly Sorbian speaking,[5] but in the German countryside, as in the remoter corners of France, Belgium, and Britain, the centralising nationalism of the age meant that use of regional languages was powerfully discouraged. Nevertheless, Schutt's mother Anna, who kept the house and looked after the little animals accommodated in the garden in case of special meals, is described as "Sorbian". His father, Alfred Schutt, worked at Vetschau station, where he was responsible for looking after the points on the track.[4][6] As a school boy Schutt was already taking photographs round the town with the camera "Agfa Box" he had received as a particularly lavish birthday present,[1] until he handed it in to the Russian commander after the entire region fell under Soviet Military Administration in 1945. (Private ownership of cameras was forbidden in the Soviet occupation zone at this time.)[4]

In 1947, Schutt embarked on an apprenticeship in pharmacy, working in the photography department of a Vetschau business called "Spreewald-Drogerie Petzold".[4] Tasks in which he gained proficiency included selling film and the uses of a darkroom. After three years he moved on to the "Foto-Brausewetter" specialist photography business in Cottbus. The heart of the business was a large photo-laboratory employing ten laboratory assistants. Schutt mastered the technical skills needed to develop, copy, and enlarge photographs.[1][7]

Schutt's career as a photo-journalist began in 1952 when he was approached by a local newspaper editor and accepted an invitation to become a part-time photo-reporter for the Brandenburgische Neueste Nachrichten [de]. His first commission involved a visit to a garden festival at Forst, since 1945 a border town, some 35 km / 20 miles to the east, beyond Cottbus. The route was nevertheless relatively level, which was important for a photo-journalist whose sole means of travel was his bicycle. The recently launched Brandenburgische Neueste Nachrichten was a stand-alone and modestly equipped publication, and on getting home to Vetschau later that day Schutt went straight back to the photography department of "Spreewald-Drogerie Petzold", the specialist shop where he was employed, in order to develop his film and print off the pictures, which he was able to deliver to his editor's desk the next day.[4][7] He was helped in this task by a colleague who soon became his wife. After they set up home together and Schutt became a full-time press photographer, films were developed at home and the pictures were dried off not in a photo-laboratory at the back of a shop, but in their own family kitchen.[8] Things changed after the Lausitzer Rundschau relocated its operations to Cottbus during the second half of 1952, even if the role of a staff "photo-journalist" remained somewhat "niche" among regional newspapers in the "German Democratic Republic" for many years. The Brandenburgische Neueste Nachrichten had been launched as the local newspaper of the "National Democratic Party" (NDPD), a "bloc party" permitted to exist as a component of the tightly controlled East German "National Front" party grouping, whereas the Lausitzer Rundschau, as the local mouthpiece for the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) was much better resourced. During or before 1953 Schutt switched to the Lausitzer Rundschau, becoming the newspaper's first - and for some time its only - full-time press photographer. During more than four decades with the "Rundschau" Erich Schutt emerged as one of the best known press photographers in east Germany. He remained a member of the newspaper's staff till his retirement at the age of 63.[3][8][9]

In 1966, at the conclusion of a three-year distance learning course of study, Schutt obtained a degree in Journalism at the specialist School of Journalism of the Association of GDR Journalists [de] attached to the University of Leipzig, widely seen as the most prestigious university-level institution for training journalists in a country which attached great importance to "training" its journalists.[2] He started drawing his pension in 1994, but for at least twenty-five years after that he still kept turning up with a camera. Exhibitors and admirers of his work can make their own selection from at least sixty-five years' worth of Schutt's photographic output, carefully stored in his private collection of several thousand negatives, prints, and enlargements. Frequently he made himself available at exhibitions to guide visitors, communicate his enthusiasm, and discuss his pictures.[6][9]

Schutt's choice of subject matter, while to some extent driven by the requirements of publishers and for that reason characteristic of many of East Germany's better known photographers, is unusually wide-ranging. Unsurprisingly, there is a focus on the mining industries and related energy production which featured prominently in the daily life of Lower Lusatia| (Niederlausitz, and to some extent still do. The Spree Forest features frequently. Reflecting his own family background, there is also an emphasis on various aspects of Sorbian and Wendish culture.[6][10][11][12] Commentators note that during his career Schutt consciously tried to avoid photographing carefully staged "press photograph" scenes.[3] Schutt's extensive photograph archive remains privately owned, but many of his pictures have also found their way into the German Federal Archives. Due to the approach taken by the management of the German Archives, those of Schutt's images included in the Federal Archives are far more likely to be accessible online than his other works, with the result that when it comes to subject matter the Schutt images accessed most easily online are not necessarily representative of Schutt's overall output. However, between 2016 and 2018 Schutt collaborated with the Deutsche Presse-Agentur to have approximately 1,500 images from his life's work digitally recorded and catalogued.[13]

Alongside published volumes of his pictures, Schutt's work continues to feature in public exhibitions. In 2012 more than eighty of his photographs were included in an exhibition at the Wendish Museum in Cottbus. Although his work occasionally also appears at international exhibitions, the entire body of what can readily be lumped together and categorised dismissively as the party sponsored photo-journalism of East Germany still attracts relatively little interest or recognition among commentators outside Germany.[2]

Schutt died on 19 November 2023, aged 92.[14]

Memberships

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Schutt was a member of various organisations and associations, including the short-lived East German "SIGNUM" group [de] of leading East German photojournalists,[15] the Photography Commission of the Cultural Association of the GDR,[7] and the Photojournalism Commission for the National Executive of the GDR Union of Journalists.[16]

Published output (selection)

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  • Thomas Kläber, Norbert Krauzig und Erich Schutt: Cottbus – Schöne Seiten einer Stadt. ALfa-Verlag, Cottbus 2002, ISBN 3-935513-05-4
  • Erich Schutt: Cottbus 1950 – 1995. Steffen-Verlag, Cottbus 2011, ISBN 978-3-940101-94-5
  • Erich Schutt: Fotografien der Niederlausitz 1948–1991. Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 2012, ISBN 978-3-7420-2214-1
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erich Schutt.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Erich Schutt – Bildchronist der Niederlausitz". Niederlausitz Aktuell. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Thomas Wiegand (20 April 2012). "Wer ist Erich Schutt AFIAP? Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Fotografie in der DDR". Review / Rezension. Literaturhaus Nordhessen e. V., Kassel. ISBN 978-3-7420-2214-1. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Andreas Fritsche (11 April 2012). "Arbeiter abgelichtet: Bildband zum Lebenswerk des Pressefotografen Erich Schutt". Review / Rezension. Neues Deutschland. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Mit dem Rad zum Auftrag und ins Heim-Labor". Der Erich kommt, haben sie damals gesagt auf den Feldern und in den Fabriken, in den Tagebauen und Kraftwerken. Der gerade 80 Jahre alt gewordene Erich Schutt aus Vetschau ist die Lausitzer Fotografen-Legende. Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Das Dreikaiserjahr – Trauer in Cottbus hält sich in Grenzen". - Vor 130 Jahren -. Wochenkurier Lokalverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Elserterheide. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Erich Schutt führt durch die Ausstellung "Fotografien der Niederlausitz 1948-1991"". Stadt Cottbus/Chóśebuz. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "schutt_rotebrause-cottbus". Band 15 der edition rote brause .... erich schutt 1950 – 1995. Steffen GmbH, Friedland. ISBN 978-3-940101-94-5. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b Thomas Klatt (14 April 2011). "Die jahre des Anfangs .... Warum die Lausitzer Rundschau in Bautzen gegruendet wurde, nach Goerlitz umzog, und dann nach Cottbus kam". "Ich wohnte damals noch in Vetschau. Oft bin ich mit dem Fahrrad auf Arbeit gefahren - und natürlich wieder zurück. Die Filme habe ich in meiner Küche entwickelt." - Erich Schutt, langjährige Fotoreporter bei der Lausitzer Rundschau. (The full quote appears in the right hand-column of the article.). Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus .... Sonderausgabe zu 60 Jahren Rundschau. p. 11. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Wie der erste Cottbuser Pressefotograf für Aufsehen sorgte in der Welt". Erich Schutt wird 90. Der Cottbuser Bildreporter hat bedeutende Kapitel von 75 Jahren Rundschau-Geschichte mitgeschrieben und unzählige Prominente wie Juri Gagarin oder Willy Brandt fotografiert. Für das perfekte Foto hat er fast alles auf sich genommen. Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Erich Schutt zeigt Bilder aus der Lausitz". Claudia Schewillis schaut verschmitzt auf das Foto mit dem kleinen Mädel in der Schleifer Tracht. "Das bin ich - als Patin angekleidet, und damals war ich gerade acht. Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  11. ^ "DDR - Spreewald-Meerettich". Bauern verladen im Spreewald-Dorf Lehde den im Spätherbst gernteten Meerrettich auf ihre Holzkähne und transportieren das Gemüse zur Verarbeitung nach Lübbenau [um 1970]. (Photo by Erich Schutt/ullstein bild via Getty Images). Getty Images, Seattle WA. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Altmeister der Pressefotografie". Das Wendische Museum präsentiert ab dem 20. April in der Cottbuser Mühlenstraße und ab dem 22. April im Heimatmuseum Dissen eine umfangreiche Ausstellung mit Fotografien des Cottbuser Pressefotografen Erich Schutt. Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Zentralbild digitalisiert Lebenswerk des DDR-Fotografen Erich Schutt". PICTORIAL – Art Buyer’s Digest, Wörth am Rhein. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Fotograf aus Cottbus im Alter von 92 Jahren gestorben – ein letzter Gruß". Lausitzer Rundschau. 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Die Gentlemen der Fotografie geben sich die Ehre". Erich Schutt, Peter Leske, Ernst-Ludwig Bach, Peter-Heinz Junge, Gerhard Kiesling, Uli Kohls und Horst Sturm lauten die Namen renommierter Pressefotografen, die einst der Berliner Gruppe Signum angehörten. Lausitzer Verlags Service GmbH (Lausitzer Rundschau), Cottbus. 30 August 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Erich Schutt .... geb.: 1931 Vetschau". Presse in der DDR - Beiträge und Materialien. Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
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