what is new objectivity ?
New Objectivity was a movement in German art that came out during the 1920s. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, who was the director of the Kunsthalle in Mannheim, who used it as the title of an art exhibition staged in 1925 to showcase artists who were working in a post-expressionist spirit. Although principally describing a tendency in German painting, the term took a life in Weimar Germany as well as the art, literature, music, and architecture created to adapt to it. Rather than some goal of philosophical objectivity, it was meant to imply a turn towards practical engagement with the world an all business attitude, understood by Germans as essentially American.
What is the importance of new objectivity ?
The New Objectivity movement in photography, emerging in the aftermath of World War I, holds significant importance for the impact on visual storytelling. Characterized by its unembellished style, it sought to portray the world with a heightened sense of realism, rejecting romanticism and subjective idealism prevalent in earlier photographic approaches. The importance of New Objectivity lies in its commitment to capturing the truth of the world without manipulation. Photographers under this movement sought to present an unvarnished view of society, often focusing on everyday subjects and emphasizing the details of the objective world. Furthermore, New Objectivity brought a sense of social responsibility to photography, using the medium to document the complexities of the human experience. By moving away from idealized portrayals, photographers sought to engage viewers in a more critical dialogue about the realities of their surroundings. This movement paved the way for a more authentic, documentary style of photography that continues to influence contemporary visual storytelling, emphasizing the power of unadorned narratives and the importance of an unfiltered depiction of the world.