For the first time, the Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation is presenting a true photographic rediscovery: Fred Koch (1904-1947) has to be considered one of the most important photographers of the Weimar Republic. With his early death in captivity in 1947, however, he increasingly fell into oblivion. The Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation has been pioneering the actual art-historical significance of Fred Koch for New Objectivity photography since 2004 and is now presenting the elaborate research and attributions in a first-ever solo exhibition. His neo-objective black-and-white photographs primarily show detailed shots of plants and crystals, but also ice flowers, corals, conchylia, insects and X-ray photographs.

Fred Koch (1904-1947) Gips-Kristalle (Eisleben, vergrößert), vor Februar 1931 Silbergelatineabzug auf Barytpapier, 12,3 x 14,3 cm, bpk-Bildagentur / Fred Koch

His neo-objective black-and-white photographs primarily show detailed shots of plants and crystals, but also ice flowers, corals, conchylia, insects and X-ray photographs.

Fred Koch emphasizes the floral beauty, grace, and splendor of plants, thereby exploiting the stylistic means of neo-objective photography to the maximum. He directs his gaze frontally at the plant, photographs from below, dramatizes with targeted lighting to the point of surreal alienation and abstracts through extreme cropping. Koch used light reflections and strong shadows to dramatize the plasticity of the plant, almost theatrically. The other grandmaster of neo-objective photography, Karl Blossfeldt, also takes his plants in a rather sober, objective and austere manner, whereas Koch stages the plants like portraits.

In his intensive examination of Ernst Fuhrmann's "biosophy", Fred Koch develops a stylistic idiosyncrasy that is unparalleled. Fuhrmann's organic-ecological doctrine of the connections between human and plant life processes assumes an animalistic function of the plant as a demonic and sexualized living being. In his texts and captions, he compares plant parts with flesh, bones, hands, musculature, sexual and sensory organs. Following Fuhrmann's ideas, Koch's stagings deliberately arouse associations with sexual connotations, thus emphasizing the "living of plants" more pointedly than any other photographer of his time. In 1931, the writer Will Vesper praised Fred Koch's "masterly photographs of plants, which show the fantastic structure of these living beings as if under a magnifying glass [...]. It's like watching plants move, form, rejoice, fight, conquer, suffer and die, like living beings, which they are."

Koch was a tireless tinkerer, he designed special cameras for extreme depth of field in the macro range, optimized his equipment, and studied the lighting modalities down to the smallest detail. This makes him stand out especially in his photographs of crystals and minerals. In several texts, he reveals technical refinements and tricks to his readers: "Besides the character of form and material, with crystals, you have to pay special attention to their behavior to light." Knowing the complex spatial structures, strict laws, transparency, and light refraction factors of crystals, Koch brings out the aesthetic qualities of the material texture and the architectural construction of his motifs particularly brilliantly. In the richness of detail, sharpness, and precision, many of his crystal photographs surpass those of his contemporaries.

Koch deliberately staged his plant images with associations of sexual connotations, thus emphasising the "living of plants" more pointedly than any other photographer of his time. He emphasised the floral beauty, grace and splendour of plants, thereby exploiting the stylistic devices of neo-objective photography to the maximum. A tireless tinkerer, he designed special cameras for extreme depth of field in the macro range, optimised his equipment and studied the lighting modalities down to the smallest detail. This is what makes Koch stand out, especially in his photographs of crystals and minerals. In richness of detail, sharpness and precision, many of his crystal photographs surpass those of his contemporaries.

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