Max Baur: In the Bauhaus Spirit: Photographs 1925-1960
by: Stephan Steins

Hardcover. Edition Stemmle, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 136 pages. Bauhaus photography is well served by this first monograph on Max Baur, with many of the previously unpublished photographs also serving as a new source for Bauhaus studies. Working in Germany, at first providing images for postcards, Baur expanded his efforts to encompass landscape, portrait, and architectural images. In each of these genres, his work reflects the cool, objective approach of the Bauhaus style combined with the artist's elegant handling of light and perspective. In photos of stairways and colonnades, factories, and everyday objects, Baur was able to eliminate the extraneous and offer the essential nature of his subject. The book covers a period of vast changes in the world and in the life of the artist, but throughout there is a consistency of vision. An essay by William Ewing, director of the Mus e de l'Elys e (which specializes in photography), gives a brief description of the life and career of Baur with enthusiasm and warmth, while Edelmann-Pomplitz writes movingly about her experience as his student. In a letter to her, Baur expresses his credo most eloquently: "it is with light alone that we create images." This lovely work is a fine example of excellent printing and composition in harmony with content.