The exhibition at Collection Regard, Berlin, shows women’s legs photographed by Manfred Paul between 1986 and 1990. This cycle was created “en passant”, passing by, and almost exclusively in Berlin. The legs present themselves in nylon or naked, standing or elegantly crossed, entirely visible or in graphically appearing details. These works were never shown before. They will be completed with still life and portrait cycles of Paul, including photographs of Wolfram A. Scheffler and Sascha Anderson.
The photography of Manfred Paul engages itself in the existential question of human existence. These are photographs that became allegories to comprehend the decay of all matters as a condition for life.
Biography: Born 1942 in Schraplau, living in Berlin. After graduating from high school he worked as a quarry and track worker, followed by a photo laboratory apprenticeship and work as a photolab technician. He later took up work as a stagehand, theater photographer and freelance photo journalist before studying photography at the HGB Leipzig and camerawork at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen Potsdam-Babelsberg. He lectured in photography at the FWG Berlin, and was subsequently appointed Professor of Photography and Audiovisual Media at the FHTW Berlin. Teaching contracts at different art academies.
1973–1989 Berlin pictures. Parallel to these, work on the cycles Nature Morte and en passant. Beside this groups of works, the other most important are Lebenszeichen Verena, a portrait series (since 1971), Berlin Nordost (1973–1989), Interieurs (since 1983), Grenzenlose Räume – Bilder über den Abriss der Berliner Mauer (1989/90), Künstlerporträts (1992/2002), Selbstporträts (since 1996), Metamorphosen des Meeres (2002/2008) and Seestücke (2011).
His works are included in numerous national and international collections among others in the photography collection of the Berlinische Galerie, Kuferstich-Kabinett Dresden, Museum Ludwig Cologne, Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France Paris as well as in private collections in France, Germany and Switzerland.
EXHIBITION
En passant by Manfred Paul
September 10, 2015 – December 18, 2015
Collection Regard
Steinstrasse 12
10119 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 847 11 947
curated by Antonio Panetta, artistic director of Collection Regard
