By-Ritvik Nikhanj
Who Was Wolfgang Sievers?
Wolfgang Sievers
was an Australian born photographer, born on the 18th of September 1913, who
captured the urban environment through architectural and industrial photography.
How Did The World
of Wolfgang Sievers Affect his Choice of Subject and way of Depiction?
Wolfgang Georg Sievers, an Australian urban photographer, born in Germany was one of the worlds finest
industrial and architectural photographer. Sievers, fled Nazi Germany to escape
war service and persecution for his Jewish ancestry, migrating to Australia,
Melbourne in 1938. Sievers first studied
archaeology but was unable to continue his studies due to Nazi political
oppression; Sievers later returned to Germany to continue his study at the
Contempora College of Applied Arts in Berlin, before migrating to Australia. After migrating, in South Yarra Melbourne, he
started his photographic journey in which he was influenced by his mother,
Herma Sievers, whom was an author and his father, Johannes Sievers, whom was an
arts professor and official. He began photography to capture the images for his
parents' books. He established his studio in South Yarra, where he worked for clients. Shortly after he volunteered for the Australian army as War was declared and served from 1942-1946. Following him being demobolised he established a studio at Grosvenor Chambers in Collins Street, Victoria.
His works consisted of stability and purity in which he was inspired to
photograph the work of modernist architects in which he acknowledged them
'clean forms and wonderful shapes'. His vast catalogue of work displayed post
war modernisation in which he depicted how pure the world is without violence
and harm, also resembled through Sievers being a passionate advocate for human
rights and an anti-war activist. Him escaping a war torn nation allowed him to
focus on purity and anti-violence examined through his pure work as he did not
believe that violence was a valid effort towards peace. His works displayed
Australia as a progressive and modernised continent to the world in which
mines, industry, gears and modernised architecture were portrayed. His works
captured new visions of Australia in which he gained influence from many modern
architects in which the buildings he captured were revolutionary. Sievers
attained inspiration from the forms and materials to make his own angled
compositions with the help of lighting and contrast through his many
photographs including his broad range of black and white and colour photographs
of the Kodak factory. His work emphasised the modern architectural and
industrial features of design spread through the complex.
Wolfgang
Sievers work was deeply sophisticated, as a result Sievers work was immersed
within European modernisation and the 'New Objectivity' movement which was
popular within Germany and Russia. His work consisting of aesthetic clean
lines, broad camera angles, geometric structures and modernised subjects based
on life, industry, gears, mining, architecture and machine, which were captured through
his sophisticated style of photography. Through lighting to create tone, contrast and accurate composition he captured black and white photographs which
he was able to sustain or apply artificial colours. To create a sense of drama
within his work, most of his photographs were captured within the night and the
scenes were arranged by cranes and the accurate placement of workers. His works
also resembled the concern he had with the machinery associated with the
environment.
Through Sievers
work received from architectural clients, agencies and industrial clients he
traveled through many regions, urban and remote, in which his own experiences
even in Germany shaped Sievers social conscience and interest in advocating for
human rights and environmental issues. Sievers sustained his work through
purity and even denied capturing the New Parliament house in Canberra, 1988, due to the lack of
purity of design arisen from a sustained concept, as he believed work should be
captured as a whole, not in bits, pieces or some interesting
perspectives. Sievers, unfortunately passed away on the 7th of August 2007. His
work is still highly commended by viewers in many museums globally, such as the Power house museum, in which photography lovers of 'modern' black and white photographs or photography students, locally and
internationally, commend how Wolfgang Sievers portrayed modernised
Australia.
Urban Photographs and Analyses
The image, 'Gears for Mining Industry', Captured within 1967 is one of Wolfgang Sievers most acknowledged urban photograph. The work of Sievers was dedicated to Vickers Ruwolt. Sievers intentions were to capture a symbolic photograph of Australian manufacturing to depict to the world that Australia was not just a land of raw materials, but a continent of industry, purity and modernisation. Through the composition of lighting used by Sievers, the leading lines visible within the gears create depth and generate a sense of present shadows within the image. Geometrical shapes are present through the gears and bolts, which exemplify squares, open semi-circles and cylinders which depict the taste of Sievers modern favouring within his images. The black and white image has many emotional-responses to in which how Sievers captured machinery, but shows how the industrialisation was vastly spreading detrimental consequences upon the environment. The black and white also contrasted his work through the night as his work displayed 'drama'. The long 18 hour composition of the scene displays texture evoking realism whilst also exemplifies repetition through the lights in the air which provide a long-depth of field. The repetition of the shapes and gears create balance whilst provide a sense of tension and mood within the scenario through a pattern. Perspective is accurately used through the worker evoking a deception of scale to the viewer through the angle of the photo which also establishes rules of thirds as the focus is spread vastly, evenly and accurately through the frame. The urban environment is successfully visible through the image.
Urban Photographs and Analyses
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| Wolfgang Sievers, Gears for Mining Industry, Vickers Ruwolt, Melbourne (1967) |
The image, 'Gears for Mining Industry', Captured within 1967 is one of Wolfgang Sievers most acknowledged urban photograph. The work of Sievers was dedicated to Vickers Ruwolt. Sievers intentions were to capture a symbolic photograph of Australian manufacturing to depict to the world that Australia was not just a land of raw materials, but a continent of industry, purity and modernisation. Through the composition of lighting used by Sievers, the leading lines visible within the gears create depth and generate a sense of present shadows within the image. Geometrical shapes are present through the gears and bolts, which exemplify squares, open semi-circles and cylinders which depict the taste of Sievers modern favouring within his images. The black and white image has many emotional-responses to in which how Sievers captured machinery, but shows how the industrialisation was vastly spreading detrimental consequences upon the environment. The black and white also contrasted his work through the night as his work displayed 'drama'. The long 18 hour composition of the scene displays texture evoking realism whilst also exemplifies repetition through the lights in the air which provide a long-depth of field. The repetition of the shapes and gears create balance whilst provide a sense of tension and mood within the scenario through a pattern. Perspective is accurately used through the worker evoking a deception of scale to the viewer through the angle of the photo which also establishes rules of thirds as the focus is spread vastly, evenly and accurately through the frame. The urban environment is successfully visible through the image.
'Stanhill Flats', Queens Road Melbourne, Wolfgang Sievers 1951
The image, 'Stanhill Flats' captured
by Wolfgang Sievers represents the modernisation within Australian architecture
back in the 1950's. The work of Wolfgang Sievers is a remark to the design of
Frederick Rombergs Stanhill Flats, capturing it in a black and white
photograph. Wolfgang Sievers had many different selected views to capture the
scene to highlight and emphasise the many pure forms vastly spread through the
piece of architecture. Lines of modern architecture is explored through tone
and contrast explored through black and white photography amongst the usage of
artificial and natural light sources to enforce upon 'dramatic' effects.
The low angle shot successfully emphasises the vertical and horizontal
lines situated within the architecture which structures the composition of the
building within the photograph. Organic shapes are visible through the curved
balconies whilst geometric shapes are present through windows which exemplify
the 'purity' that Sievers tried to achieve from modernised photography. The
solid and smooth materials used within the building, enforces upon a shallow
depth of field in the image. The image is vastly spread through the frame in
which minimal negative space is visible. The low angle perspective creates a
deception of the height of the building whilst depicts the three dimensional
building like a flat two dimensional object. Through the repetition of the
windows as geometric shapes, balance is maintained as a strong composition
within the image is generated. Sievers successfully explores the urban environment
through the photograph.
References
Agenda Matters 2013, Centenary of Wolfgang Sievers.
https://agendamatters.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/centenary-of-wolfgang-sievers/, (last accessed 20th September)
Architecture Media Pty Ltd 2016,Vale wolfgang sievers 1913—2007.http://architectureau.com/articles/obituary-8/, (last accessed 18th September 2016)
Art Gallery of New South Wales 2007, Gears for mining industry at Vickers Ruwolt, Burnley, Melbourne.
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/172.1989/, (last accessed 20th September 2016)
MUSEUM VICTORIA n/a, Wolfgang Georg Sievers, Photographer (1913-2007).
http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2586, (last accessed 19th September 2016)
Photo Web n/a, WOLFGANG SIEVERS. http://www.photo-web.com.au/sievers/default.htm, (last accessed 19th September 2016)
Smh 2016, Wolfgang Sievers is witness to our manufacturing decline.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/wolfgang-sievers-is-witness-to-our-manufacturing-decline-20140602-zrt09.html, (last accessed 19th September 2016)
