The English illustrator Anna Atkins (1799-1871) was in every respect a modern woman. For the publication of her plant collections she used the latest technology, the recently invented cyanotype. In 1843 she used the process to create the first photo book in history, with images of breathtaking beauty and originality which often look like modern art. At first Anna Atkins worked for and with her father, the zoologist John George Children; later she chose the objects for her scientific compositions herself: algae and ferns. Atkins placed them on light-sensitive paper that turned dark blue in water after being developed, with the exception of the places that had been covered by the plants. Initially alone, and then with her friend Anne Dixon, she produced well over 10,000 copies of her photograms and assembled them in several books like albums. Today these rare copies are regarded as treasures and are preserved in museums and libraries.

Unusual perspectives, contrasts, and angles as the means to express changing living conditions: In the 1920s many new fields of activity opened up for photographers, who provided pictures for everything from magazines and books to advertising design. Yet it was not only its economic function that smoothed the way for photography. As a seemingly authentic reproduction of reality, political movements recognised that photography was a good means of persuading and controlling the masses. In contrast to the defamation of modernism in the fine arts, no creative limitations were imposed upon photography - this new pictorial language was already firmly established in the general visual memory, and all throughout the Nazi era it remained linked to progressiveness. Between 1918 and 1939, photography influenced the art world more than it had during hardly any other period. Keeping in mind the ongoing intensive debate about continuities and the different stylistic tendencies going in multiple creative directions during the 1920s and '30s, this catalogue offers insight into the complexity of the era's events. Eight thematic chapters introduce central aspects of art's exploration of photography and the entire spectrum of motifs involved in employing it in various contexts. Artists: Carl Albiker, Gertrud Arndt, Atelier Manasse, Ilse Bing, Karl Blossfeldt, Katt Both, Margaret Bourke-White, Walter Dexel, Max Ehlert, Hugo Erfurth, Alfred Erhardt, T. Lux Feininger, Hans Finsler, Max Goellner, Hein Gorny, Karl Theodor Gremmler, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Elisabeth Hase, Walter Hege, Heinrich Hoffmann, Lotte Jacobi, Paul W. John, Andre Kertesz, Fred Koch, Stefan Kruckenhauser, Karl Kruger, Adolf Lazi, Erna Lendvai-Dircksen, Helmar Lerski, Madame d'Ora (Dora Kallmus), Felix H. Man, Werner Mantz, Lucia Moholy, Martin Munkacsi, Max Peiffer Watenphul, Georgij Petrussow, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Hans Retzlaff, Leni Riefenstahl, Hans Robertson, Alexander Rodchenko, Werner Rohde, Lothar Rubelt, Willi Ruge, Erich Salomon, August Sander, Arkadi Schaichet, Max Schirner, Hugo Schmoelz, Fritz Schreiber, Herbert Schurmann, Friedrich Seidenstucker, Anton Stankowski, Sasha und Cami Stone, Paul Strache, Carl Struwe, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Hans Volger, Kurt Warnekross, Paul Wolff, Yva (Else Ernestine Neulander-Simon), Hannelore Ziegler, Willi Zielke. Text in German with an English supplement.