Urban Eyes: German-Speaking Émigré Photographers in New York in the 1930s and 1940s

When the National Socialists came to power, New York became a major city of arrival and a new base for German-speaking photographers. At this time, photography was undergoing a radical transformation as it sought to establish itself as an art form. The migrants, in turn, brought with them a broad spectrum of professional training and photographic skills. The camera served as a medium for engaging with the metropolis, reflecting on the experience of migration, building networks and simply surviving economically.

In order to comprehensively analyse the complex relationships between photography and exile in the context of the metropolis of New York, Helene Roth takes a closer look at the creative achievements and heterogeneous perspectives, but also the setbacks of migrated photographers. From a transnational perspective, she engages with the socio-cultural, political and artistic developments of the 1930s and 1940s.

English translation of Urban Eyes: Deutschsprachige Fotograf*innen im New Yorker Exil in den 1930er- und 1940er-Jahren, Helen Roth (Wallstein Verlag 2023)

Helene Roth is research assistant at Institute of Art History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.