Panoptikum

Herbert List was a classically educated artist who combined a love of photography with a fascination for surrealism and classicism.

Under the dual influence of the surrealist movement on the one hand, and of Bauhaus artists on the other, List photographed still life and his friends, developing his style. He has described his images as “composed visions where [my] arrangements try to capture the magical essence inhabiting and animating the world of appearances.”

In 1951, List met Robert Capa, who convinced him to work as a contributor to Magnum, but he rarely accepted assignments. He turned his interest towards Italy from 1950 to 1961, photographing everything from street scenes to contemplative photo-essays, from architectural views to portraits of international artists living in Italy.

In the final decade of his life, List’s interest in photography was finally fading out. He followed some publications for his 70th birthday with interest but declined offers for retrospectives of his work. From then on, he focused all his attention to his collection of Old Master drawings.

By the time he died in Munich in 1975, his photographs had been almost forgotten. Interest has revived recently, though, thanks to a fine monograph published by Schirmer Mosel and many exhibitions. His work is represented in the greatest collection of photography, from the MOMA NY to the V&A in London, The Getty Museum in LA to the Pompidou Center in Paris.