toire of forms by including combinations of whole
bodies with facial silhouettes, inspired especially by
Mary Wigmann‘s pupil Gret Palucca.
In the middle of the 1930s, mainly for financial
reasons, Kesting turned towards architectural and
advertising photography. In this course, he photo-
graphed the entire Green Vault of the Dresdner
Kunstsammlungen. His object and advertising photo-
graphy, while sometimes being reminiscient of the
cool and emotionless style ofNeue Sachlichkeit,do
betray that Kesting was not at home in this field:
they lack the necessary technical perfection. Kesting
worked mainly for the firms Minos (photography)
and Auto-Union (cars).
Kesting’s most impressive series, a photomon-
tage of the devastated centre of his native city of
Dresden in 1945, shortly before the end of the war,
is ‘‘Der Totentanz von Dresden’’ (Dance of the Dead
in Dresden), in which dancing skeletons are set into
the ruins of the city. In his use of this traditional
painterly motif,Der Totentanzhas a unique place in
post-war German photography of the devastation
of World War II.
Kesting’s activities as a painter saw a new upswing
after the war, when he founded the artists’ group ‘‘der
ruf’’ (The Call). In 1946, he led the workshop ‘‘Photo-
graphie und Film’’ at theStaatliche Hochschule fu ̈r
Werkkunstat theHochschule fu ̈r Angewandte Kunst
in Berlin-Weißensee. As a result of his position on
formalism and socialist realism in the German De-
mocratic Republic, Kesting was forced to leave his
teaching position in 1953. The department of photo-
graphy was dissolved. Kesting was employed at the
Deutsche Hochschule fu ̈r Film und Fernsehenthree
years later. During these years he experimented with
photochemical painting. Furthermore, he again took
up portraiture, photographing artist friends from
West Berlin as well as the cultural and political estab-
lishmentofEastGermany.
Kestings’s works are scattered all over the world.
Numerous early plates are lost, and many of Kest-
ing’s prints from these are not extant either, and are
known only in reproductions. Many of his photo-
graphs have posthumously been dated and regis-
tered by his wife, since Kesting himself did not care
much about systematic registering of his work. He
saw photography as a ‘‘forward-looking work.’’
FranziskaSchmidtSeealso: Architectural Photography; History of
Photography: Twentieth-Century Pioneers; Manip-
ulation; Moholy-Nagy, La ́szlo ́; Montage; Multiple
Exposures and Printing; Photogram; Photography in
Germany and Austria; Portraiture
Biography
Born 27 July 1892 in Dresden-Lo ̈btau. Study at theKunst-
gewerbeakademieDresden in the subjects wood sculp-
ture, carpentry, decorative painting, and restoration,
1911–1916;Akademie der Bildenden Ku ̈nste, Dresden
(drawing), 1915; served as a wireless operator in the
German Army in France, 1915–1918; continuation of
his studies at theAkademie der Bildenden Ku ̈nste, Dres-
den, 1918–1922. Autodidactic studies of photography,
from 1917. Founded the private art school ‘‘Der Weg—
Schule fu ̈r Gestaltung’’ (The Path—School of Design),
which was inspired by the European avant-garde, espe-
cially constructivism, 1919; met Herwarth Walden and
came into close contact with the group of artistsDer
Sturm, Berlin, 1921–1923; marriage with Gerda Mu ̈ller,
former pupil of the ‘‘Weg’’ school, 1922; founded the
second ‘‘Weg’’ school in Berlin, 1926; increased interest
in photography, prompted by Moholy-Nagy and El Lis-
sitzky, from 1926; works with photomontage (sandwich
technique), from 1929; photographer for advertising
(photo and car industries), 1932; prohibition to paint
and publish, declared as ‘‘entarteter Ku ̈nstler’’ (degener-
ated artist) by the Nazis, 1933–1945; confiscation of
works by Kesting, 1937; commercial assignments for
optical industries in Dresden and portrait photogaphy.
Founded and organised the group of artists ‘‘der ruf’’
(The Call), Dresden 1945; supervision of the workshop
‘‘Photographie und Film’’ at theStaatliche Hochschule
fu ̈r Malkunstin Dresden, 1946; professor at the class of
photography at theHochschule fu ̈r Angewandte Kunst
in Berlin-Weißensee, 1948–1953; dismissal in the course
of the debate on socialist realism, 1953; appointment at
theDeutsche Hochschule fu ̈rFilmundFernsehenin
Potsdam-Babelsberg, 1956; experiments with ‘‘chemical
paintings,’’ 1955. Died in Birkenwerder, East Germany,
21 October 1970.Selected Individual Exhibitions
1916 Kunsthandlung Emil Richter, Dresden, Germany
1919 Edmund Kesting; Galerie Ernst Arnold, Dresden, Ger-
many (paintings)
1923 Edmund Kesting; Galerie ‘‘der Sturm,’’ Berlin, Germany
1931 Kunstschule ‘‘der Weg,’’ Dresden, Germany
1936 Kunstausstellung Ku ̈hl, Dresden, Germany
1959 Edmund Kesting; Kunstausstellung Ku ̈hl, Dresden, Ger-
many (Zeichnungen und Aquarelle)
1962 Edmund Kesting—Malerei, Grafik, Fotografik;Sta ̈dtische
Kunstsammlung, Karl-Marx-Stadt (today Chemnitz), Ger-
many; travelling to Weimar and Stralsund, Germany
1964 Edmund Kesting—Malerei, Grafik, Fotografik; Bunte
Stube, Ahrenshoop, Germany
1966 Edmund Kesting—Arbeiten aus fu ̈nf Jahrzehnten; Kun-
stausstellung Ku ̈hl, Ahrenshoop, Germany
Edmund Kesting; Galerie Wort und Werk, Leipzig,
Germany
1967 Edmund Kesting; Rathaus, Birkenwerder, Germany
1969 Edmund Kesting. Portra ̈t, Grafik, Fotografik;Sta ̈dtische
Kunstsammlungen, Go ̈rlitz, Germany
1972 Der Weg—Neue Schule fu ̈rKunst; Galleria del Levante,
Mailand and Munich, Italy, and Germany
1980 Edmund Kesting—Malerei, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druck-
grafik 1907–1968; Galerie am Sachsenplatz, Leipzig, GermanyKESTING, EDMUND