Thomas Struth: Düsseldorf

 Talking about a number of pictures that were taken in Düsseldorf by Thomas Struth, it is possible to say at a glance that they are just ordinary aesthetic pictures. However, Struth was one of the few photographers to capture a snapshot of his city in the process of all the renovations built during hard times. He photographed ordinary streets and thus was able to document the emergence of post-war urban structures in Germany (Hak, 2017).  Struth’s photographs are not ordinary pictures, they are historically important images, as they contain a piece of history. He shows it like it is, without hiding anything. 

This photo, for example, shows how Germany has changed in historical terms. In the country, multi-story new houses are under construction. Costs a lot of cars, which shows the financial ability of people to buy them. Everything looks neat, clean, and well-maintained. The photograph looks insanely symmetrical as if everything was set up just to take a picture. 

Thomas Struth 
Sommertracce, Duseldorf
1980

'His photographs reveal the cultural, psychological and historical undercurrents beneath the surface of modernity.'(Whitechapel Gallery, 2011) This photo was taken only a year earlier than the previous one. However, again, looking at the composition, the idea that it was deliberately staged by the author comes to mind. 

Thomas Struth
Friedenstrasse, Dusseldorf
1979



Strass’s work is particularly notable for its special composition and symmetry. Everything looks exactly the way the author wanted it to. 'I am taking a photograph, I am conscious that I am constructing images rather than taking snapshots.'( Thomas Struth) At some points, it seems even artificial. All the photos are made in black and white, which gives the pictures some authenticity and mystery. 

'These photographs discover beauty in what had been, before the advent of modernity, considered off-limits to aesthetic contemplation: the allegedly soulless architecture of post-war Europe; the poor dwellings in the emerging world; the back areas and unacknowledged zones where museums, cathedrals and other spaces of spiritual and cultural gathering are purely functional sites of usage. But in many of his photographs, Struth does not simply discover but inscribes beauty in unexpected places.’(Baer, 2008)


References:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/thomas-struth-10-things-you-should-know/

https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/thomas-struth-photographs-1978-2010/

Ulrich Baer, ‘The Reluctant modernism of Thomas Struth’, in exh. cat., Thomas Struth, Napoli: MADRE Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, 2008

Comments

  1. Zoe Van-de-Velde8 May 2023 at 02:27

    Good there is a little analysis here now relate this to your own work and how this informed your composition/technical in self study

    ReplyDelete

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