1. Slide 3:
Deadpan is described by cotton as being “…a cool, detached and keenly sharp type of
photography.”
These photographs can be of emotive subjects, but what the photographer endeavours to
do is remove us (the viewer) from any emotional understanding, we can therefore see
beyond the limitations of perspective, context and subjectivity.
Slide 4:
Charlotte Cotton goes on to describe how deadpan evolved and became popular in the
1990’s and how it was a direct response to the 1980’s Neo Expressionism and subjective art
making or ‘Neue Wilde’ translated to mean new wild, which was as the title suggests how
the paintings where created, not with wild painting but more so ‘Wild Painters’ or "Heftige
Malerei" (Vigorous Painting). This type of painting was steeped in subjectivity and was one
of the most fundamental characteristics of neo-expressive art. I believe the artists lived up to
the name wild, in more than their art! Parties, alcohol and sex!
Images are Luciano Castelli, Bernd Zimmer, Rainer Fetting and Helmut Middendorf.
Slide 5:
Photography as art gained prominence in the 1990’s and as a result many new art spaces
and commercial galleries where opened. Many of these new galleries where converted
industrial buildings and factories, therefore the new style deadpan photograph
complimented these new art spaces.
Slide 6:
Although the art world acknowledged deadpan in the 1990’s many practitioners had been
working with this aesthetic for at least 50 years.
Deadpan is called ‘Germanic’ mainly because most of the early practitioners where German,
but also many where taught under the bernd Becher at The Kunstakademie in dusseldorf,
Germany. The school was instrumental in unshackling photographic education from being
taught professional photography such as photojournalism and encouraging its students to
create independent artistic pieces of art.
The Germanic characterisation also links back to the traditions of the 1920’s amd 30’s
German Photography known as New Objectivity.
 Albert Renger-patsch (1897-1966)
 August Sander (1897-1964)
 Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969)
These are the forefathers of today’s Deadpan photography.
Slide 7:

2. Slide 8:
August sander Face of Our Time.
Sander's Face of our Time was published in 1929 and it is a collection of some of the work taken, 60
portraits from his series People of the 20th Century. This work came under great scrutiny under the
Nazi regime in 1936 and most of his photographic plates were destroyed. He moved from Cologne
in 1942 which allowed him to save some of his negatives.
His son Erich, who was a member of the left wing Socialist Workers' Party (SAP), was arrested in
1934 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, where he died in 1944, shortly before the end of his
sentence.
Slide 9:
The most influential in the shaping of contemporary deadpan photography are Bernd & Hilla
Becher and many of their students through the Dusseldorf school have continued to shape and
influence deadpan as it is known today.
Their typologies such as Water Towers, Gas tanks and Mine heads are well known and their work is
still ongoing today.
Former Students:
 Andreas Gursky
Chicago Board of Trade 1999
Rhein II
Kamiokande 2007
Image 4 is to show the scale of his photography.
 Thomas Ruff
 Thomas Struth
 Candida Hofer
 Axel Hutte