User:MrBill3/Sandbox/Michael Schmidt (photographer)
Michael Schmidt (6 October 1945 – 24 May 2014) was a German photographer known for stark black and white photography presented in series creating a strong emotional effect.[1]
Early life
[edit]Schmidt was born on the East side of Berlin, Germany.[1] His family moved to West Berlin before the Berlin Wall was built.[1] In his youth he worked as a police officer.[1]
Career
[edit]When he started working as a freelance photographer he had no formal training but took courses and was certified as a photo-designer later.[1] He spent four or more years on a single project.[1] Schmidt believed that placing a series of contrasting images together added greatly to their emotional impact, expressing this theory as, "1 + 1 = 3".[1] In 1987 he published a book, Waffernruhe (Cease-Fire), depicting Berlin after years of impact of the Cold War. It used images of nearly black streets, torn window screens, rusty girders and repeated photographs of the Berlin Wall.[1] Pictures from this project and others were part of the fourth biennial celebration of Berlin.[2] An exhibit in 1988 at the Museum of Modern Art was favorably reviewed by Andy Grundberg in The New York Times.[1]
Schmidt won the 2014 Prix Pictet an international award for photography that communicates sustainability to a global audience.[3] The award winning project, Lebenschmittel (Foodstuff) explored the global food industry.[3]
Further reading
[edit]- Jennings, Michael W. (Autumn 2003). "Not fade away: The face of German history in Michael Schmidt's 'Ein-heit'". October. 106: 137–50. doi:10.1162/016228703322791061. JSTOR 3397636.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Martin, Douglas (10 June 2014). "Michael Schmidt, photographic story teller, dies at 68". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
- ^ Madoff, Steven Henry (11 April 2006). "At Berlin biennial, art fits anywhere". The New York Times.
- ^ a b O'Hagan, Sean (21 May 2014). "Michael Schmidt wins Prix Pictet for sprawling global food series". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
O'Hagan, Sean (28 May 2014). "Michael Schmidt obituary". The Guardian.
"Michael Schmidt. Grey as Colour. Photographs until 2009". Haus der Kunst.
Conrad, Peter (7 June 2003). "A century through the lens". The Observer.
Searle, Adrian (19 April 2011). "Paul Graham: Smoke and mirrors". The Guardian.
Searle, Adrian (23 October 2006). "Out of sight". The Guardian.
Hagen, Charles (26 January 1996). "Seeking the meaning of being German today". The New York Times (photography review).
Grundberg, Andy (2 December 1988). "Urbane images of alienation and voyeurism". The New York Times (photography review).
Kimmelman, Michael (15 July 2003). "For London a summer of photographic memory". The New York Times.
External links
[edit]- List of works from Galerie Nordenhake.
- Farm to table: Michael Schmidt exposes the reality of what we eat – in pictures - selected photos from Lebenschmittel at The Guardian.