Michael Schmidt (6 October 1945 – 24 May 2014) was a German photographer.^[1] His subjects of interest were Berlin and "the weight of German identity in modern history."^[2]

In 1965 Schmidt began photographing the streets, buildings and people of West Berlin in a semi-documentary approach.^[1] He went on to make a series of "ambitious projects" there, all in black and white and becoming more impressionistic, until his death in 2014.^[1] Each project was exhibited, then published as a book. Schmidt was a member of the Düsseldorf School of Photography.^[1]

In 1976, he founded the Werkstatt für Photographie (Workshop for Photography) in Berlin.^[1][2][3]

U-nit-y was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1996, Frauen was shown at the Berlin Biennale in 2010 and Lebensmittel, a series about the global food industry, at the Venice Biennale in 2013.^[1] A retrospective of his work was held at Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2010. His book Waffenruhe (1987) was included in Parr and Badger's The Photobook: A History, Volume II.^[1] He died in 2014, a couple of days after winning the Prix Pictet for Lebensmittel.^[4]

Life and work

Schmidt was born on 6 October 1945 in East Berlin,^[1] five months after the German surrender ended World War II in Europe. His family crossed to West Berlin before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.^[1][2] He began photographing in 1965 when he was 20 years old.^[1]

In 1976, Schmidt founded the Werkstatt für Photographie [de] (Workshop for Photography) at the Volkhoschschule (Adult Education Center) in Berlin.^[1][2] The school "played a critical role in Berlin becoming a transatlantic forum of exchange between European and American photographers."^[2]

His early series about Berlin, Stadtlandschaft (Urban Landscapes) (1974–1975) and Berlin, Stadtbilder (Berlin, Urban Images) (1976–1980), "mapped out the city in which he lived in a semi-documentary way".^[1] Other series about Berlin include Berlin-Wedding (1976–1978); Berlin nach 45 (Berlin after 45) (1980); Waffenruhe (Ceasefire) (1985–1987), about the Berlin Wall and those affected by it;^[5] and Ein-heit (U-ni-ty) (1991–1994), contemporary urban landscapes and portraits from Germany mixed with historical images from the National Socialist / Nazism period, his response to the fall of the Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany.^[2]

Natur (Nature) (1987–1997) contains black and white images of the German landscape.^[6] Lebensmittel (foodstuff) took seven years to make, with Schmidt travelling worldwide. He photographed "across the spectrum of mass food production, from factory farms"^[7] (including salmon farms and dairy farms), and bread factories,^[8] "to industrial slaughterhouses and on to plastic-wrapped, sanitised portions of food in supermarkets."^[7][9]

He died on 24 May 2014.^[8][10][11]

Publications

• Berlin Kreuzberg. Berlin: Bezirksamt Kreuzberg, 1973.
• Berlin, Stadtlandschaft und Menschen. Berlin: Stapp, 1978. ISBN 3-87776-208-5.
• Berlin-Wedding: Stadtlandschaft und Menschen. Berlin: Galerie u. Verl. A. Nagel, 1978. ISBN 3-9800057-1-2.
  • Second edition. Koenig, 2019. With texts by Heinz Ohff and Thomas Weski in English and German.
• Berlin-Kreuzberg. Stadtbilder = Berlin-Kreuzberg, Urban Images. Berlin: Public Verlagsgesellschaft, 1984. ISBN 3-89087-001-5.
• Stadtlandschaften 1981 = Urban Landscapes 1981. Essen: Museum Folkwang, 1981.
• Benachteiligt. Berlin: Senator für Gesundheit, Soziales und Familie, 1982.
• Bilder 1979–1986. = Images 1979–1986. Hannover: Sprengel Museum, 1987.
• Waffenruhe = Ceasefire. Berlin: Dirk Nishen, 1987. With a story by Einar Schleef.
  • Second edition. Foundation for Photography and Media Art with the Michael Schmidt Archive; London: Koenig Books, 2018. ISBN 978-3-96098-302-6. With a new afterword by Thomas Weski.
• Ein-Heit. Zürich/Berlin/New York City: Scalo, 1996. ISBN 3-931141-17-9. Edited by Thomas Weski.
  • U-nit-y. Zürich/Berlin/New York City: Scalo, 1996. ISBN 978-1881616641.
• Landschaft – Selbst – Waffenruhe – Menschenbilder (Ausschnitte). Münster: Westfälischer Kunstverein; Munich: Kunstbunker Tumulka, 1998. ISBN 9783925047428. "Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Oct. 24, 1998-Jan. 3, 1999, and the Kunstbunker Tumulka, Feb. 2-Mar. 7, 1999."^[12]
• Frauen = Women. Cologne: Walther König, 2000. ISBN 3-88375-423-4.
• Irgendwo. Cologne: Snoeck, 2005. ISBN 3-936859-18-3.
• Berlin nach 45 = Berlin after 45. Göttingen: Steidl, 2005. ISBN 978-3-86521-090-6. Edited by Ute Eskildsen. With contributions by Janos Frecot.
• 89/90. Cologne: Snoeck, 2010. ISBN 978-3-940953-43-8.
• Lebensmittel = foodstuff. Cologne: Snoeck, 2012. ISBN 978-3-940953-93-3.
• Natur = Nature. London: Mack, 2014. ISBN 978-1-907946-58-5.

Award

• 2014: Prix Pictet for Lebensmittel^{[9][4][13][14]}

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Michael Schmidt: U-ni-ty, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, January–March 1996.^[1][15]
• Grey As Colour: Photographs Until 2009, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2010. A retrospective of his work.^[1]
• Une autre photographie allemande, Jeu de Paume, Paris, 8 June – 29 August 2021. A retrospective of his work.^[16]

Group exhibitions and during festivals

• Frauen (Women, 1997-99), Berlin Biennale, Berlin, 2010.^[1]
• Lebensmittel, Venice Biennale, Venice, 2013.^[1]
• Work shortlisted for the Prix Pictet, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014.^[1]
• Conflict, Time, Photography, Tate Modern, London, November 2014 – March 2015.^[17]

Collection

Schmidt's work is held in the following public collection:

• Museum of Modern Art, New York City^[2]