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Announced by the publisher for April 2023, happy to pre-order now!
Background information
"Robert LEBECK got close to the people he photographed in his pictures. It is noticeable that those portrayed are often laughing. No matter whether celebrities like Elvis Presley, Romy Schneider, Alfred Hitchcock or Joseph Beuys, or whether average German citizens on the Reeperbahn at half past two in the night, while skinny-dipping on Sylt or at the 'Wine Battle of Altenahr'. He seemed to be able to find a human-comic side to every situation and photographed when people were kissing, drinking and dancing, but also when they were crying, begging or suffering. His photos radiate compassion, charity and above all curiosity.
Content
Photo book and catalog for the exhibition 'Hierzulande' in the Kunsthalle Lüneburg from April 15 to June 25, 2023 gathers reportages by Robrt LEBECK from and about Germany from 1955, when he photographed the war returnees in the transit camp Friedland, to 1983. Some pictures are almost part of the cultural memory, others, however, have rarely or never been published, such as the series about Karl-Marx-Strasse in Berlin-Neukölln from 1961: Berlin had been divided since spring, but there was no wall yet. But there were two mayors, two city administrations and two currencies. Robert LEBECK succeeded in creating a hitherto unnoticed gem with documentary pretensions and humanistic appeal. His photo reportages are legendary and make him an indispensable chronicler of our time." (© Steidl Verlag, 2023)