Robert Lebeck, born in Berlin, is one of the most important German photojournalists. This exhibition "Hierzulande" brings together selected reportages from Germany from 1955 to 1983.
Image gallery
ROBERT LEBECK: Hierzulande - Pudel
ROBERT LEBECK: Hierzulande, Romy im Auto mit Glowna
ROBERT LEBECK: Hierzulande, WSV
The compilation is a photographic gem:
it shows the rebellion of a young generation in post-war Germany, East Berliners before the Wall was built while shopping on Neukölln's Karl-Marx-Straße, the changes in Kampen on Sylt, which in the 1950s changed from fishing village developed into a meeting place for the rich and beautiful, the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955 at the Herleshausen border station and the political events in the Berlin Republic.
Lebeck photographed moments of kissing, drinking and dancing, but also while weeping and suffering.
With his charismatic gift of silent observation, he came close to people.
In March 1983, he drove through Germany without a specific destination or concrete plan and found his motifs: exuberantly celebrating carnival people, a dying forest in Swabia, hunger and poverty at the port of Hamburg, an old lady examining underwear on sale.
With his recordings, Robert Lebeck documented the small and large scenes of everyday life and thus captured a piece of contemporary history.
The work in Germany in particular posed a challenge for the photographer: "However, it takes work and the ability to abstract in order to extract a strong image from the everyday and familiar. Homeland images are difficult."
Lebeck's photographs have become part of cultural memory, and his scenes from real life have lost none of their topicality.
"I've traveled a lot in my life as a photographer, but all I really had to do to get a compelling photo was to step outside the front door, and I did that a lot."
