Hello, Friends—
I am a university professor currently finishing a book about the German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch and I have a question that I hope might benefit from the combined wisdom of this forum. I trust some of you may have heard of Renger-Patzsch as a key photographer of the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). To make a long story short, I’m looking for an image to use in my book to illustrate a passage in which he describes his first experience with photography. The passage comes from an essay written in 1953 in the German publication Photo Magazin. In my translation, the passage reads:
“In the year 1911—I had just turned 14—I took my first picture. I took advantage of my father’s absence, borrowed his Bentzin field camera and, using a 13 × 18 Chromo-Isolar plate and a Goerz Series IV, f/7.7 focal length 210mm lens, photographed an acquaintance. Together, shaking in anticipation, we developed the plate in iron-oxalate developer.”
What I am looking for is a high-resolution image (300dpi) of either the specific 13 × 18 Bentzin camera or possibly an old advertisement for one (or anything else that is relevant). If you know of anything, please send me a note—I would be most grateful!
Thanks!
Renger-Patzsch Scholar
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