Erwin Blumenfeld : I was nothing but a Berliner : Dada montages 1916 - 1933

Revised version of the author's doctoral dissertation, Braunschweig : Hochschule für Bildende Künste, 2008.
Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Berlinische Galerie, Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Fotografie und Architektur, Berin, from 27 Feb. to 1 Jun. 2009.
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We cite from the COVER:
"Raised in late Wilhelminian Berlin, trwin Blumenfeld was caught between the downfall of Prussia and the ideals and promises of a provocative avant garde. His friendship with Paul Citroen and Walter Mehring, who found recognition as painter and poet respectively, the association with Berlin's bohemia surrounding Else Lasker-Schüler and Herwarth Walden's Galerie Der Sturm, and his closeness to George Grosz collided with his career in the garment trade. Blumenfeld sensed the urge to write, paint, and act on stage, but still he pursued the career of a businessman and, in 1923, opened a shop for women's leather goods in Amsterdam."
"The montages and short stories, created during his spare time, are located somewhere between the intimacy of diary records and film scenario visions. In Blumenfeld's production factory, theater, film, art, and literature were kneaded together with experiences from daily life and assembled into a visual entity. His cynical and extremely individualistic approach, humor, scorn, and anarchy were perfectly Dada. The bankruptcy of Blumenfeld's shop, sealed in 1933 by the National Socialist seizure of power in Germany, finally forced him to try his luck as a professional photographer. In the autobiography, he expressed his gratitude to Hitler for this. He subsequently extended his manual principle of montage to light effects and chemical processes of development. Blumenfeld's whores, angels, goddesses, and madonnas of the montages returned as beauties fixed for eternity in photography."
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