Sigrid Neubert. Photographs: Architecture and Nature

Sigrid Neubert – Photographs. Architecture and Nature 9 Februarx – 3 June 2018 An exhibition of the Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Sigrid Neubert (b. 1927) is one of the most famous architectural photographers in Germany. For about 30 years, she worked for major architectural firms, developing her own style with her high-contrast photographs, which clearly define the structure of the buildings. Since the 1970s, she created equally impressive nature pictures, to which she dedicated herself exclusively from 1990 onwards. The retrospective at Museum für Fotografie is associated with a generous donation of essential works to the Sammlung Fotografie of the Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

For 150 years, the Kunstbibliothek has been collecting photographs; the first sheets acquired in 1868 were architectural photographs. Therefore, it seems fitting to commemorate the anniversary with a retrospective on the work of one of Germany's most important architectural photographers in the Museum für Fotografie: Sigrid Neubert passed her master's examination in 1954 at the Bavarian State Institute of Photography. After a period as an advertising photographer for the glass and ceramics industry, she concentrated entirely on architectural photography in the second half of the 1950s. Stylistically, she oriented herself to US models and developed her own visual language, characterized by atmospheric density and unusual perspectives.

Neubert worked for around 30 years mainly in Munich and Bavaria, but also in Austria with many important architects. She photographed for Kurt Ackermann, Alexander von Branca, Bea and Walther Betz, Hans-Busso von Busse, Hardt-Waltherr Hämer, Karl Schwanzer and Gustav Peichl, but also for outstanding, today unjustly forgotten architects like Paul Stohrer, Detlef Schreiber or Herbert Groethuysen.

With her catchy and contrasting photographs, which experienced worldwide distribution, Sigrid Neubert worked out the iconic effect of many wellknown buildings like the Olympia buildings by Günter Behnisch, the BMW ensemble of Karl Schwanzer, or the head office of the Hypo-Bank by Bea and Walter Betz. Her highly aesthetic photographs firmly anchored these buildings in public perception.

Photographs. Architecture and Nature is also presenting numerous groups of works that Sigrid Neubert dedicated to the photographic capture and creative design of natural phenomena. Her photographs of the Nymphenburg Park, the megalithic buildings on Malta or Gozo and the flower blossoms were published by Sigrid Neubert not only in exhibitions but also in illustrated books.

The special exhibition, curated by Ludger Derenthal and Frank See- hausen, is accompanied by a generous gift from Sigrid Neubert, which covers her entire oeuvre. This is a true fund of images that opens up many new looks and perspectives. Sigrid Neubert wrote in her book Gärten des Lichts. Betrachtungen zur Fotografie: "When we look at a pho- tograph long enough, we sink into a troubled sea of images. They now also belong to our invisible image treasure. We need these featured im- ages so that we can dream and wish and think and look and hear. "
A publication by Frank Seehausen is accompanying the exhibition: Sigrid Neubert. Architekturfotografie der Nachkriegsmoderne, Hirmer Verlag, about 336 pages, about 570 illustrations, ISBN 978-3-7774-3036-2, 45 €.