An exhibition with Rudi Weissenstein, Ellen Auerbach and Christian Boltanski, curated by Dr Sarah Hadda
Together with guest curator Dr Sarah Hadda, Grisebach is looking forward to showing the exhibition "Rudi Weissenstein - Exile and Photography" from 25 July 2019.
Rudi Weissenstein (1910 Iglau, Bohemia - 1992 Tel Aviv) was one of Israel's greatest photographers. He documented the everyday life of the Jewish state in the process of being established; his main theme was the dream of a homeland.
His optimistic images conceal the complex psychology and ambivalent emotions of the exiles. Weissenstein's works deal with the themes of hope, reconstruction and identity. Driven and characterised by the loss of his old homeland, the role of identity in the creation of a new society becomes visible in his pictures. Individual experiences as well as social memory play an essential role in this. His example from Palestine in particular shows how diverse the conditions of exile were for photographers from Germany. Like many others, Rudi Weissenstein had to work hard to build up his livelihood with his shop Pri Or (Hebrew: photo house), where he sold tourist, beach and soldier photos.
The photo artist Ellen Auerbach (1906 Karlsruhe - 2004 New York City), who emigrated three years earlier in 1933 and founded a small studio for children's portraits with her friend Liselotte Grschebina in Tel Aviv under the name Ishon (Hebrew: eyeball - pupil), followed a similar path before her life's journey took her to London and New York. Thanks to loans from the Akademie der Künste Berlin, Ellen Auerbach's works are also included in the exhibition in order to deepen the theme of exile and photography.
The exhibition also features works by the artist Christian Boltanski (*1944 - lives in Paris). Boltanski's paved photo wall "The Jewish School" (from the portfolio "The Frozen Leopard" II, 1992), for example, is reminiscent of the forgotten, who, as Siegfried Kracauer put it, seem to be "buried under a blanket of snow".
In combination with works by his contemporary Ellen Auerbach, the exhibition of Weissenstein's works, most of which have never been shown before, not only examines the art-historical characteristics of Weissenstein's photographic art, but also deepens and visualises the great theme of memory - both personal and collective - through the connection with Christian Boltanski's works.
The opening of the exhibition will take place on 25 July 2019 at 6 pm at Fasanenstraße 27 in Berlin. Prof Dr Liliane Weissberg (University of Pennsylvania) will speak.
Opening
25 July 2019, 6 to 9 pm
Grisebach, Fasanenstraße 27, 10719 Berlin
Exhibition
26 July to 21 September 2019
Mon. to Fri. 10 am to 6 pm, Sat. 11 am to 4 pm