Reading · søren’s photography substack

I have had this book for a while. Darin is responsible for it coming to PHOTOBOOK 😉 SUNDAY today. I have followed with great interest, one of his consignors who collected with such vigour, that you cannot help be impressed. One of the topics Darin wrote about was a book by Paul Wolff…

Wolff & Tritschler was a company formed by the namesakes Dr. Paul Wolff (1887–1951) and Alfred Tritschler (1905–1970). Both pioneers of the Leica 35 mm camera, which was released in 1923.

Paul Wolff may, or may not have come by his Leica camera by accident. There is a quote from Wolff, which reads in part (excuse my translation):

By chance, I won a Leica as a prize in a photography competition in Frankfurt. Since then I have been driven to life and the unlimited world, which the small camera is called upon to capture.

Those were clearly the days when real prizes were awarded in photography competitions! Not just a drop on Insta, and a mention in a virtual zine…

Both Wolff and Tritschler were active photographers from the 1920s onwards. Wolff died in 1951, and the partnership came to an end, but the business was carried on by Tritschler on his own into the 1960s. The archive which survived the war is held by his family and includes around half a million negatives. Much of Wolff’s own archive was lost during the war. However, their many stories and many prints, which were with their various publishers remains.

Among their main achievements, were the first return flight of the Graf Zeppelin from Germany to Rio de Janeiro, during which they made many photographs and which resulted in countless magazine articles. An then there is the book, which Darin wrote about last week, about the 1936 Olympics.

It is important to acknowledge that the pair did do a lot of work which was encouraged by the regime in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Work which can only be described as propaganda for the Reich. However, I think their work prior to WWII and the rise of the Nazi regime deserves to be seen/discovered. Even some of the work made during the early days of the Nazi regime deserves attention.

[Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler - Zeppelin - 1930]

My introduction to the pair was through a 1935 photograph of the opening of a section of German Autobahn, which Wolff photographed on the 19th of May, 1935. The day it opened. I saw it at an exhibition in Paris many years ago, and made a note. I have always found this particular photograph to be excellent, and fun - given the number of cars - and it is a composition, which I quite like and have probably subconsciously drawn on many times. Yes, there is a darker side to the construction of the Autobahn, but in 1935, it was the arrival of a new era. A new time.

I was drawn to Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler because they reflected both the Bauhaus New Objectivity - an escape from Expressionism - to a more pure representational, no nonsense, style of photography. A more straight photography. The pair recorded many, many documentary projects up through the 1920s and into WWII.

If you wanted the handbook of what a handheld Leica can do, odds are you will find an example or two in this book.

Wolff and Tritschler were also early on the colour bandwagon. They photographed advertisements in particular in colour, long before many others, and during a time, when it was still customary to colour black and white photographs to make them look like colour, or draw illustrations for advertisements.

It is usually impossible, or at least very difficult to figure out whether it was Wolff, or Tritschler who made a particular photograph. Usually the stamp will carry the combined name of their company. However, given that they were both very good photographers, I do think their work deserves some real attention.

The book, which is fairly large, has examples of their work, their stories, as well as some of their advertising and colour work. I like their early New Objectivity photographs, and really enjoyed the Zeppelin images. But there is so much more, including the Olympic work, which Darin wrote about.

Think of this book as a bit of a how-to-book with fantastic examples. The work is great. The compositions and the way in which the pair photographed is very inspiring! You may need a bigger bookcase, or one with stronger shelves, but I can highly recommend this one!

Title: Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler: Light and Shadow Photographs from 1920 to 1950

Photographers: Dr. Paul Wolff, Alfred Tritschler

Publisher: Kehrer Verlag

Year: 2019