Magic Boat
Artist
Otto Steinert
(German)
CultureGerman
Date1957
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 15 3/8 × 11 7/8 in. (39.1 × 30.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 16 7/8 × 13 in. (42.9 × 33 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 16 7/8 × 13 in. (42.9 × 33 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
InscribedRecto: signed and dated in ink on board below image: Otto Steinert 1957;
Verso, in ink: FOTO UND COPYRIGHT PROF. DR. OTTO STEINERT ESSEN-FOLKWANGSCHULE "MAGISCHES BOOT" (1957); with pencil: Hafenmole/Sitges/Costa Brava (Fischerboot mit Gaslampen) 38;
Credit LinePurchase, gift of Drs. Lea and Nancy Wilds and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Photography Fund
Object number2005.4
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a vintage silver print mounted on board by the artist. It is a positive print of a negative, illustrating a boat which has a large hull and four large hanging lanterns. It is being pulled through the water with a large brace and ropes. The name of the boat, as written on the side, is Magin.Label TextOtto Steinert German (1915-1978) Magisches Boot [Magic Boat], 1957 Gelatin silver print Museum purchase, gift of Drs. Lea and Nancy Wilds, and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Photography Fund 2005.4 Steinert, a photographer, teacher, and physician was the founder of the Fotoform movement of postwar German photographers. Although Steinert trained as a doctor, around 1947 he abandoned that work to became a portrait photographer. He was best known as the founder and intellectual mentor of the Fotoform group of photographers, which reexplored the photographic techniques developed at the Bauhaus, the most advanced school of design in Germany between the world wars. The first two Fotoform exhibits, held in 1950 in Milan, Italy and in Cologne, Germany, emphasized abstract form derived from patterns found in nature and from darkroom manipulation of an image. These Fotoform exhibitions caused a sensation since photographs stressing abstract form had been prohibited in Germany after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus in 1933. The Magic Boat photograph is a prime example of Steinert's willingness to manipulate imagery, a theory that the Bauhaus espoused. This image is a positive print of a negative. The alluring image does appear magical as Steinert has presented it here. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 2006 Approved By: DS Approval Date: 01/31/2007ProvenanceSon of the artist, Stefan Steinert; purchase from Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne, Germany, by Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005.Exhibition History"Der Fotograf Otto Steinert," Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 1999 - Janury 2, 2000; Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2000. Similiar example Published ReferencesUte Eskildsen, _Der Fotograf Otto Steinert_, exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 2000, 117. Similiar example
