Erich Retzlaff: Volksfotograf

Despite his current ignominy, in the early twentieth century Erich Retzlaff was a prolific photographer with a long publication list between the two world wars. Taken in its entirety, Retzlaff’s portfolio can be read as a narrative of an era that rejected uncertainty to become a celebration of the ordinary as an extraordinary thing. Retzlaff’s work is examined here from the perspective of a photographer illustrating the ‘corporate’ body of the German Nation, whilst exploring the use of his attempt at ‘heightened realism’ through the innovative use of colour and its relationship to the socio-political climate within which he worked.