http://www.anamorfose.be/ New photos to the collection en Copyright (c) 2026 Xavier Debeerst xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) Thu, 07 May 2026 17:09:43 -0400 Zen-Cart v. v 2.1.4 14.02.2008 15:26 RSS 2.0 Feed 1440 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography Thu, 12 Nov 2015 12:26:10 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/dance-photography Dance Photography Dance is a challenge for photography. How to capture the movement and the choreography? What is the photographers point of view? Is he a partitipiant or an observer? Is the photographer standing on stage (Robert Kayaert) or in the theatre? Is he photographing during the spectacle or is there a special shooting, perhaps in the studio (Jos. Rentmeesters)? Lots of approaches are possible in dance photography. But the challenge remains to capture the movement and the power of the human body. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/dance-photography Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:51:12 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/human-like-objects Please scroll down to discover the catalogue It's astonishing to see the number of artists and photographers who use mannequins in their work. One of the best known is certainly Hans Bellmer. His use of the mannequin made him enter the Surrealist Circle. For Bellmer the use of the mannequin was a fetishist metamorphose for his sexual fascination for young girls. He was extremely involved with his mannequins. Or the Spanish painter José Maria Sert who photographed mannequins as study objects for his paintings. Continu reading ... xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/human-like-objects Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:53:58 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/human-like-objects/daisy-k-smith Daisy K. Smith, A passion for marionettes and glove puppets. More information about Daisy K. Smith can be found in the article section of this website. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/human-like-objects/daisy-k-smith Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:10:20 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/interwar-body-culture Broken dream of the free body Photo essay on interwar body culture The interwar period initiated many trends in art still relevant to our times. It was a melting pot of new ideas and insights closing off the previous, rather bourgeois era. The First World War is known as a confronting turning point in modern history. In the Twenties and Thirties political and technological evolutions mixed up the existing securities. Man felt abandoned and sought a new way of life. Many subcultures started to arise. In this period a new body culture, with its roots in the last years of the 19th century, flourished. A healthy and radiant body had become a purpose for many. A lot of time and means were invested in the achievement of this ideal. This renewed attention for the body occurred all over the world. This ‘body culture’ originated in the pursuit of a new and ideal world. But at the end of the interwar period the fragile dream was brutally destroyed and abused by Nazism and its race policy, with the Endlösung and the concentration camps as a consequence. A healthy body had become the symbol of a powerful nation: the body had become the subject of the Nazi propaganda campaigns. Nowadays body culture is still very much alive. Models and actresses are today’s heroes; they are the icons of a certain popular culture. As its social impact has increased enormously, the stardom of the models in advertising and in fashion photography is controversial. Hence the parallel with the interwar period: a basically ‘healthy’ phenomenon generating perverse consequences. In photography the human body has always been a rewarding subject. On the other hand the medium photography is historically an important instrument in the promotion of an idealized image. We shouldn’t be surprised that the body culture of the interwar period was extensively captured in photography and film. In this period photography experienced the same formal liberation as the other media. The source of today’s photographic language of the body is in the interwar period. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/interwar-body-culture Wed, 10 May 2023 11:50:33 -0400 http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/interwar-dance Physical exercise was an important part of the body culture. Especially for the inhabitants of the larger cities, who had little or no exercise, this was revolutionary. Athletes and sportsmen became the new heroes. There are many analogies with the present day situation: the focus on a healthy body, the (re)discovery of the countryside, recreative sports... Today the focus is on the individual. During the interwar period, however, the focus was on the masses and the community and the individual was of minor importance. The willingness of the people to participate in the mass spectacles inspired many political parties. Mass spectacles were (mis)used for political purposes. One of the major examples here are the Olympics of Berlin inn 1936. In the Forties Gerhard Riebicke photographed a similar mass spectacle in Berlin. In his photographical report we can clearly identify the relationship between gymnastics and dance. Dance lived indeed a new élan. The new scientific and philosophical insights had led to a modern body language. Especially Rudolf von Laban (1879 – 1958), founding father of the study of motion (Eukinetik), was the main innovator. The line between dance and gymnastics became more vague. The further liberation of the body and nude dancing were logical consequences. In the exhibition this phenomenon is documented by a rare series of photographs made by a student at the Labanschüle in Hamburg in 1927. Von Laban also contributed to the choreography of the Olympic Games in Berlin. One year later he fled to the United Kingdom. Under the influence of the photography of sports and gymnastics, dance photography evolved from portraits of the dancers to images of the dance as such. Movements and choreography became more and more important. All attention was drawn to the expression of the body. Light, cadrage and extreme angles contributed to an expressive form. Proportionally the dancer became smaller in the image providing more space to the environment. Montage and collage became the obvious next steps. Examples of this evolution are the pictures of Edith Dewilde, by Jozef Desiré Massot. Obviously also artistic and intellectual circles shared the enthusiasm for the mania for physical movement. Dance became a new source of inspiration for painters, sculptors and photographers. The sports photos by the Russian photographer Igor Kotelnikov (Russia, 1903) used by Vladimir Lebedev as sources of inspiration for his paintings and book illustrations are good examples of the interaction between the different arts. Film and photography fully used this new body language and founded a new movement photography. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/interwar-dance Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:05:10 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/interwar-gymnastics xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/interwar-gymnastics Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:06:02 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/olympic-games-berlin-1936 The healthy and powerful body as the symbol of a nation was masterly depicted by Leni Riefenstahl (1902 – 2003) in the film “Olympia”, a photo reportage about the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin. The antique roots of the games became the model for an ideal society. Riefenstahl turned the ceremony into a ritual, and at the same time into perfect propaganda for the Nazi regime. Although Riefenstahl remains very controversial up until today, her films and books are still references. There are a lot of picture postcards and official publications about the Olympic Games of 1936. In this exhibition, however, we have chosen to show the Games from the perspective of the spectator. The amateur photos provide a more intriguing image of the atmosphere and the political impact. For her film “Olympia” Leni Riefenstahl was inspired by that other cult film, “Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit” (1925) of Wilhelm Prager. Riefenstahl was involved in both productions: in “Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit” she acted, in “Olympia” she would direct as well. There are many analogies in the language of both films. “Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit” was a promotion picture to the modern body culture. The new health cult goes back to different myths. The German civilian is depicted as a fat bourgeois living an unhealthy and unethical life. The film had to motivate spectators to develop a healthy mind in a healthy body. Only fit and balanced individuals could save the nation. Gerhard Riebicke (Germany, 1878 – 1957) was the photographer on the set of “Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit”. Same of the photographs he made then have now become icons of present day nude photography. In the exhibition we show both film, next to a large number of original documents and photographs by Gerhard Riebicke. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/interwar-body-culture/olympic-games-berlin-1936 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:07:17 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/medical-photography Medical Photography xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/medical-photography Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:55:51 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/sportsmen Proud to be Sportsmen Historical and vintage portraits of sportsmen. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/sportsmen Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:57:18 -0500 http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/portraits The look of the Artists We have always been curious about the man behind a work of art. Mostly artists are put on a pedestal and become unreachable. Photography has brought the artist within the reach of the public. xavier@anamorfose.be (Xavier Debeerst) http://www.anamorfose.be/figure-photography/portraits Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:56:53 -0500