1980
Michael Schmidt
Ohne Titel, Berlin
Michael Schmidt
Ohne Titel, Berlin, 1980
Gelatin-silver print, 22.3 x 14.4 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur, gift Ulrich Görlich
1993-006-001
© Michael Schmidt
Ohne Titel, Berlin, 1980
Gelatin-silver print, 22.3 x 14.4 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur, gift Ulrich Görlich
1993-006-001
© Michael Schmidt
1945 (Berlin, DE) – 2014 (Berlin, DE)
He is a realist, not a documentarist, asserted Michael Schmidt, who had been taking pictures of his hometown Berlin and its inhabitants since 1965 (as exemplified in series such as Berlin nach 45, Berlin Kreuzberg, Ein-heit). The decisive color in Schmidt’s resolutely black and white photographs is gray—for him the “color of differentiation.” It is from this abstracting gray of his images that the complexity of neighborhoods such as Kreuzberg and Wedding emerges. Schmidt’s aim was to create connections through his photo series and to criticize without resorting to narrative or hyperbole. With his images he delved into the subconscious of the city, in search of the truth behind its edifices.