The German image

Abstract

Abstract This important book is not a technical history, nor is it ‘sociological’ in any scientific sense; its main thrust is rather in the realm of ‘the history of ideas’ and ‘the history of taste’, and it is thus intimately concerned with human values and attitudes. In this way, and because human nature transceinds national boundaries with conspicuous ease, Fritz Kempe's work is not ‘merely’ about Germany, but about photography and people in general. Without constraining system and without claims to exhaustive coverage, the book manages to get at the spirit and core of relationships by discussing 24 topics, which range from local history (‘Bremen, Wannover, Kassel’) to episodic accounts (‘On the secret magic of the hruman image’). That is its special charm, and also its lasting testament, because photography is really too complex a field to permit a stereotype presentation, if the finer nuances of the human response are to be given their due. If anything is lacking—but it would be chnrlisll to expect a single volume to cover every base—it is a more extensive discussion of the daguerreotype's influence on German painters.