Neues Sehen

Neues Sehen, or New Vision, was an avant-garde photographic movement of the 1920s that used unusual viewpoints, close-ups, and sharp contrasts to renew visual perception.

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Bird's-eye view: A viewpoint from directly above a subject, looking downward. Elevated viewpoints turned streets and buildings into abstract patterns.
Weimar Republic: The German state established after World War I, lasting from 1918 to 1933. Its cultural ferment provided a setting for New Vision photography.
László Moholy-Nagy: A Hungarian artist and Bauhaus teacher who explored photography, photograms, and modern visual perception. His teaching and writing gave New Vision a forceful theoretical voice.
Film und Foto: A 1929 Stuttgart exhibition surveying contemporary photography and film. Its international survey presented New Vision as part of a wider photographic transformation.
Modernism: A broad cultural movement that sought new forms suited to modern life. New Vision translated modernist ambitions into photographic form.
Worm's-eye view: A viewpoint close to the ground, looking upward at a subject. Low-angle photographs made architecture and machinery seem monumental.
Bauhaus: A German school of art, design, and architecture founded in 1919. Bauhaus artists and teachers helped develop experimental photographic practice.
Alexander Rodchenko: A Russian artist and photographer known for dynamic compositions and unconventional camera angles. His photographs made steep diagonals and elevated viewpoints signature strategies.
The New Vision: László Moholy-Nagy's 1928 book on photography, film, and modern visual culture. The book articulated the movement's program for expanding visual experience.
Photography: The practice of making images by recording light on a photosensitive surface or sensor. The movement expanded photography beyond imitation toward deliberate visual construction.