On occasion of the Duesseldorf Photo Weekend 2016 (12th – 14th February 2016) Beck & Eggeling will present two masters of photography. The space at Bilker Str. 4–6 is dedicated to Lucien Clergue's series Les Gitanes ("The Gypsies") and on the opposite side of the street (Bilker Str. 5), Viennese Galerie Johannes Faber is Beck & Eggeling's guest with a solo-show of Otto Steinert.
More than 40 galleries, museums and institutions will present photo-exhibitions and events within the scope of the fifth Duesseldorf Photo Weekend. The duration of most exhibitions going beyond the above dates. Beck & Eggeling will show Lucien Clergue – Les Gitanes and Otto Steinert – Galerie Johannes Faber (Vienna) at Beck & Eggeling until 2nd April 2016.
At the opening on 12th February, Beck & Eggeling will present a superlative music experience. In line with the theme of the works by Lucien Clerque, Tierra Negra – Raughi Ebert and Leo Henrichs – will accompany the evening with guitar music full of temperament, emotion and passion.
Born in 1934 in Arles, Lucien Clergue remained true to the South of France and its Mediterranean culture throughout his life – which inspired and influenced his artistic work significantly. Pablo Picasso was one of the first to recognize the young man’s talent and he opened many doors of cosmopolitan avant-garde circles for him. Clergue's photographic work can be found in many important museums worldwide and it is published in numerous international publications. In November 2015 the Grand Palais in Paris dedicated a comprehensive Retrospective in honour of the first anniversary of his death.
Born 1915 in Saarbrücken, Otto Steinert began taking photographs at the young age of 14. Until 1947 he practised as a doctor and at the same time he worked intensively with photography without ever having received a professional training. He was an amateur in the best sense of the word, started teaching photography in 1948 and from 1959 until his death in 1978 lectured at the Folkwang-School in Essen. In 1949, a working group for “free photography” was formed and named fotoform based on Steinert’s suggestion. His exhibition subjective photography travelled through Europe in 1951, the US and Japan. While he first concentrated on experimental, landscape and still life photography, he turned to the portrait in his work of the 1960s. Working on a contract in 1961–62, Otto Steinert created portraits of German scientists.
Otto Steinert shaped German photography of the 1950s and 1960s more than any other. In 1979 Steinert's private photo collection and library was purchased for the Photographic Collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen by the 'Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation'. His Estate was acquired largely for the Museum Folkwang in 1987. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the museum is currently presenting the extensive 'Steinert-Estate' in the exhibition "Absolute Design".