Board_Advisors_etc 3..5

Seealso:History of Photography: Interwar Years;
Manipulation; Photogram; Photography in Germany
and Austria; Surrealism

Biography

Born Otto Umbehr, in Dusseldorf, Germany on 18 January,

1902. Attended school in Saarland, Stuttgart, Duisburg,
      Aachen, and Dusseldorf (Germany), 1908–1916. Active in
      the ‘‘Wandervogel’’ youth movement, 1916–1917. Worked
      as a miner in Essen, Germany; worked in a pottery
      belonging to Kuno Jaschinsky in Goslar, Germany,
      1920; actor during a German tour of Maria Heide’sMys-
      terienspiel; took sculpture courses from Muck Lamberty
      in Naumburg, Germany, 1921. Higher education at the
      Bauhausin Weimar under Johannes Itten, Walter Gro-
      pius, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, etc. October 1921–
      February 1923. Studied with Friedel Dicker and Franz
      Singer in theWerksta ̈tten Bildender Kunst(art work-
      shops), Berlin, for the theater of Berthold Viertel,
      1923–1924, where responsibilities included stage design.
      Assumed the pseudonym, Umbo, 1924. Worked as a
      building painter, movie theater placard painter, a clown,
      and a production and camera assistant on films under
      Kurt Bernhardt and Walter Ruttmann, 1923–1926. As a
      self-educated photographer he aquired photography and
      dark-room equipment, 1926. Under Paul Citroen’s sup-
      port, worked as an independent portrait photographer,
      1926–1928. Co-founder of and photographer for the
      photography agency, Dephot, 1928–1933. Thereafter, in-
      dependent photo journalist. Photography work for the
      Ullstein publishing house in Berlin, 1938–1943. Special
      reporter at ‘‘Signal,’’ 1940. Photography contracts for
      Ullstein in North Africa (1941) and Italy (1942). Soldier,
      1943–1945. Married Irmgard Hirz, 1943 (divorced, 1950);
      one daughter, Phyllis. Lost all archives in WWII. Moved
      to Hannover, Germany, 1945. Advertisement and indus-
      trial photographer; press photographer for the Hanno-
      verschen Presse. Employed at the magazinesDer Spiegel
      andPicture Post, 1947–1951. House photographer for the
      Kestner-Gesellschaft (Kestner Society) in Hannover,
      1948–1949. USA trip, 1952. Instructor of photography
      at theLandesversehrtenberufsschule(State vocational col-
      lege) in Bad Pyrmont, Germany, 1957–1972 and at
      schools of applied art in Hildesheim and Hannover (Ger-
      many), 1965–1974. Member of the ‘‘Gilde Deutscher
      Lichtbildner’’ (GDL) (Guild of German Photographers),
      1977–1980. Died in poverty in Hannover, Germany, on 13
      May, 1980.

Individual Exhibitions

1927 Umbo; (pub) ‘‘Die Lunte,’’ Berlin
1928 Umbo; (political cabaret) ‘‘Im Toppkeller,’’ Berlin
1976 Umbo; Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
1979 Umbo-Fotografien von 1925 bis 1933; Galerie Spec-
trum, Hannover, Germany
1979 Umbo; Galerie Rudolf Kicken, Ko ̈ln, (mit Paul Citroe ̈n)
1981 Umbo; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, (wik Herbert
Bayer)
1987 Umbo(OttoUmbehr);GalerieFotohof, Salzburg,Germany
1995 Umbo—Vom Bauhaus zum Bildjournalismus; Bauhaus-
Archiv, Berlin
2000 Umbo; Galerie Rudolf Kicken, Berlin

Group Exhibitions

1928 Neue Wege der Photographie; Kunstverein Jena, Germany

1929 Film und Foto; Einzelpra ̈sentation:Umbo; Deutscher

Werkbund, Stuttgart, Germany

1929 Photographie der Gegenwart; Folkwang Museum Essen

1930 Das Lichtbild;Mu ̈nchner Bund, Munich, Germany

1932 Modern European Photography; Julien Levy Gallery,

New York, New York

1969 10 Photographen in Hannover; Galerie im Kubus, Hann-

over, Germany

1978 Das experimentelle Photo in Deutschland 1918–1940;

Galleria del Levante, Munich, Germany

1979 Dada-Fotografie und Fotocollage; Kestner-Gesellschaft,

Hannover, Germany

1979 Photographic Surrealism; New Gallery of Contempor-

ary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, and traveling

1980 Avant-Garde Photography in Germany 1919–1939; San

Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Cali-

fornia, and traveling

1981 Germany: The New Vision; Fraenkel Gallery, San Fran-

cisco, California

1982 Lichtbildnisse: Das Portrait in der Fotografie;Rheinisches

Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany

1983 Bauhausfotografie; Institut fu ̈r Auslandsbeziehungen,

Stuttgart, and traveling

1986 Photographie und Bauhaus; Kester-Gesellschaft Hann-

over, Germany

1987 Fotografie in der Weimarer Republik; Institut fu ̈r Aus-

landsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany

1990 Fotografie am Bauhaus; Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin, and

traveling

1992 Photo-Sequenzen. Reportagen, Bildgeschichten und Ser-

ien aus dem Ullstein Bilderdienst von 1925 bis 1944;Haus

am Waldsee, Berlin, and traveling

1994 Ku ̈nstermitderKamera.PhotographiealsExperiment;Kunst-

verein Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Ludwigshafen, Germany

1998 Signaturen des Sichtbaren—Ein Jahrhundert der Foto-

grafie in Deutschland; Galerie am Fischmarkt, Erfurt,

Germany and traveling

Selected Works

Paul Citroe ̈n, um 1927

Simultanportrait Gaby Meyer, 1927

Ruth, 1927

Drei Mannequins, 1928/1929

Schaufensterpuppen, 1928/1929

Tra ̈umende, 1928/1929

Pantoffeln, 1928/1929

Menjou en gros, 1928/1929

Unheimliche Straße(series), 1929

Kragen, 1930

Akt, 1930

Junge Ma ̈dchen ohne Stellung. Gesichter aus einem Arbeit-

slager(series), 1933

Die Wolkenkamera sieht sich auf der Erde um(series), 1935

Further Reading

Auer, Barbara, ed.Ku ̈nster mit der Kamera. Photographie

als Experiment. Heidelberg: Kunstverein Ludwigshafen

am Rhein, 1994.

Auer, Miche`le, and Michel Auer.Encyclope ́die Internatio-

nale des Photographes de 1839 a`nos jours/Photographers

UMBO (OTTO UMBEHR)