No other photographer has captured life on the island of Sylt with such great focus over decades as has Bleicke Bleicken (1898–1973). He wanted to “take pictures”: fascinated with the medium’s means of expression since the 1920s, he pursued clearly defined objectives in the process - at first, to use them for advertising purposes, yet subsequently also to document the major changes on the island of “the rich and the beautiful”, to draw attention to the threat of the
irrecoverable, and to portray the “other” Sylt. After the early encounter with the Schleswig-Holstein-based landscape photographer Theodor Möller he draw his inspiration from the photographer of Neue Sachlichkeit, from Albert Renger-Patzsch as well as from the latter’s hero, Andreas Feininger. Presumably also in contact with Arvid Gutschow and Raoul Hausmann, he developed a wide variety of subjects, ranging from family pictures to experimental light studies and social documentary photography to meditative landscape scenes. “Put little in the picture, but do it big”, was his motto.
The richly illustrated book accompanying the exhibition “Bleicke Bleicken: Sylt – Meine Insel” is published by Kehrer Verlag and can be purchased at the museum shop and at bookstores (39.30 €).