MA-g
The Museum of Avant-garde

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Germany (1902—1980)
Born in Dusseldorf, Umbehr moved to Weimar at 19 years old to study at the Bauhaus, attending Itten’s foundation course. Expelled by Gropius, he moved to Berlin. In 1926 he started a small portrait photography studio with his friend Paul Citroen. In only two years Umbehr – or Umbo – became one of the most important photographers of the agency Deutscher Fotodienst (Dephot). He became Professor at the Moderne Kunstschule in Berlin. In the years leading up to WWII he captured urban landscapes and lifestyle of the Nazi era and continued to work as a photojournalist for Signal during the war. Nearly all his work was destroyed in a raid. After the war he collaborated with Der Spiegel and other magazines but without any major success and he eventually gave up photography around 1950.
Johannes Itten / Paul Citroen
Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Andreas Feininger / John Heartfield / Lucia Moholy / Walter Peterhans / Franz Roh / Jan Tschichold / Umbo (Otto Umbehr) / Piet Zwart / Eugène Atget / Albert Renger-Patzsch / Max Burchartz / Hans Finsler / Arvid Gutschow / Brett Weston / Max Ernst / Florence Henri / El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) / László Moholy-Nagy / Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)

Foto-auge

76 Fotos der Zeit / Photographic book with letterpress cover by El Lissitzky / Heliogravure / 20.6 x 29.2 cm / Stuttgart, 1929 (1973) / © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Refugees. September 1946 (Flüchtlinge. September 1946)

Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 15.7 x 24.5 cm / 1946 (1989) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 15.1 x 11.8 / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 15.1 x 11.8 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Umbo (Otto Umbehr)

Untitled

Clown Grock series / Original photography / Gelatin silver print / 11.8 x 15.1 cm / 1928 (1970s) / © 2020 Umbo / Gallery Kicken Berlin / Phyllis Umbehr / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn