An exhibition in Cologne collects the work of seven photographers from both sides of the Berlin Wall, offering a fresh look into the years between its construction and its collapse

By J.S. Marcus

Many of the world’s pioneering camera companies were located in Germany, where brands such as Voigtländer, Zeiss, Goerz, and Leica were all established before the First World War. But it wasn’t until the creative chaos of the Weimar Republic that Germans really figured out what to do with their cameras. That period gave the still-emerging discipline of photography the giants August Sander, creator of analytical but humane portraits, and Albert Renger-Patzsch, who could make flowers look like animals and factory floors look like forests. READ ON