Rudolf Koppitz (January 4, 1884 – July 8, 1936) was a Czechoslovak photographer, and photo-secessionist whose work is seen as maintaining the photographic style of pictorialism well past its heyday in light of the straight photography and modernist movements in photography at that time and was one of the leading representatives of art photography in Vienna between the world wars. Koppitz is best known for his works of the human figure and his use of the nude in natural settings.
During the First World War Koppitz found himself putting his talents to use as an aerial reconnaissance photographer. The bulk of his the body of work produced during this time consisted of landscapes captured during his areal reconnaissance work, his favorite of which was the study of water from the air and the geometric elements of flying machines that carried him into war.
After the war, Koppitz returned to the Institute to teach photography where in 1923 he took the nude self-portrait, In the Bosom of Nature, in which he framed himself by tree trunks, rocks, snowy mountains, and is posed to convey a dreamlike harmony reminiscent of a symbolist painting and graphic art. (See the photograph above)
Koppitz’s work is marked by a pronounced awareness of form, line, and the surface play of light and shadow. Early in his career, Koppitz was known for staging groups of subjects in the style of the Vienna Secession, the most well known example of this being his Bewegungsstudie, “Motion Study”.
His Bewegungsstudie (above) has become the Koppitz’s signature image, and was also his best-seller. Prints of the image were purchased by, among others, the Toledo Museum of Art; the New York Camera Club notable Joseph Bing, head of that club’s print committee; and the Englishman Stephen Tyng, who published it in a small portfolio of works from his collection.
Koppitz’s nude self-portraits fascinated his contemporaries as much as they do viewers today. The photographs were taken out of doors–high in the mountains of the Alps or at the seashore–with the assistance of his wife, Anna. Often symbolic, his images reflected the enthusiasm for nature that Koppitz nurtured throughout his life.
Koppitz’s photographs were shown in no less than fourteen juried or invitational exhibitions in the United States from 1926 through 1930, most importantly the Pittsburgh Salons of 1926, 1927, and 1928. This highly regarded annual exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art featured not only prominent American photographers, but also the Europeans. Koppitz was elected associate members of this prestigious salon, where Bewegungsstudie, along with many other Koppitz works, were exhibited. In addition to their exposure in salons, Koppitz’s photographs were featured in such American camera magazines as American Photography, Photo-Era, and Camera Craft.
Over the course of 30 years of work, Koppitz’s photography came full circle retuning in his later years to where he started, working with a renewed focus on nature and documenting the lives and condition of rural peasants. Koppitz is perceived by some as a progressive modern artist while on the other hand he was one of the more conservative photographers in his time, holding true to a number of traditions and always telling a story with his photographs.
Subscribe to Enlightened Male2000 by Email
Related posts:
How invigorating Rudolph Koppitz’s talent. His depiction of nude forms and nature. Each image so rich with it’s unique story, fleeting moments in time.
His ‘awareness of form, line, and the surface play of light and shadow’ – so skillfully brought to life, yet somehow captured in time, the exquisite beauty in the ’staging’ of Bewegungsstudie “Motion Study”.
It is perfect.
It is any wonder I feel it became his signature image. The contained grace is mesmerizing in its simultaneous simplicity and complexity.
The soothing grace of their femininity takes hold of me from some place so deep within, so disarmingly powerful.
I look with awe, aware every moment of her naked body has neither beginning nor conclusion. Neither words nor concepts can capture the wonder that springs to mind.
Quietly one sees and sees, more and more clearly comes what it is the artist could see.
Feelings and desires arise and fall away, like waves sweeping toward the sand and the water from which they seemingly appear, truly there is no place where they are separate, nor outside where they exist.
So too as I see and behold – there is in all the heavens no gap – for what is ‘out there’ made tangible by it’s dried ink, silver and fine paper – is beyond reach – for as it simultaneously arises inside me, it is untouchable like a wave to magically disappear from my world without trace.
Gone.
The emotion of thought, of feelings, of desire, so transient, such illusion.
Where is it now as I look away.
Momentary. Wonderous beauty.