The camera is superior to the eye, and the photograph can, and ideally should, portray the world more graphic than reality itself.—Andreas FeiningerThe basic principles underlying the photographic art of Andreas Feininger are clarity, simplicity, and organization. The eldest son of painter Lyonel Feininger, he was born in Paris in 1906. Upon completion of training as a cabinet-maker at the Bauhaus in Weimar in the early 20s, he went on to study architecture in the state schools of Weimar and Zerbst. It was while working as an architectural photographer in Stockholm that he developed the sweeping vistas and fine balance for which his pictures were famous. Emigrating to New York following the outbreak of World War II, Feininger was hired as a photo-editor by Life magazine. In his own work, he captured images of urban canyons, skyscrapers, bridges, and elevated railways in concentrated, atmospheric photographs that are regarded as classical works today. He applied the same enthusiasm to nature studies: his detail images of insects, flowers, shells, wood, and stones imbue these forms with a sculptural character. That's Photography presents the work of this classic photographer, who died in 1999.
