one goes to museum, as one can do here in Paris where there is so much access to photography exhibit. I had not heard of Albert Renger-Patzsch before, though it is clear now that in 1920s he was having some thoughts/approaches on what we would later see from the New Topographics: from the Bechers, all the way to Stephen Shore, but perhaps more to do with the approach of Luigi Ghirri. (I have an uneasy interest in New Topographics, though I will appreciate all the words from Robert Adams, and the words/pictures from Lewis Baltz.) while Albert Renger-Patzsch‘s thought were focused and insightful, his photography did a bit more migration on subject. in the 1920s he was treating subject just as the Czechs’ photographers of the time were doing, and then under a commission, he did a great service to architectural photography. in the photo below, less like what Becher would pursue and more like what Lewis Baltz would do later, there is the strong geometry within the frame— and the shadows brought up to an equal level of importance.

links: to Albert Renger-Patzsch on Wikipedia. New Topographics on Artsy

by Albert Renger-Patzsch.