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Rudolf Koppitz
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Rudolf Koppitz

Rudolf Koppitz (b. 1884, Schreiberseifen/Skrbovice near Freudenthal/Bruntál - d. 1936, Perchtoldsdorf near Vienna)
 
Following an apprenticeship as a professional photographer in Austrian Silesia, he attended the Imperial and Royal School of Graphics (k.k. Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, “Graphische”) in Vienna in 1912/13. His early works give evidence of the influence of his teacher, the Czech symbolist Karel Novák, and the circle of the Vienna Secession. Following these influences he had his penchant for ornament and a preference for stylized compositions. In 1913, Koppitz was appointed an assistant at the Graphische, but was shortly afterwards enlisted for war service. He was assigned different tasks in Galicia and later Italy in the area of reconnaissance photography which at that time still was in its very beginnings. Later, flying missions over enemy territory, he did a number of spectacular aerial shots.
 
After the war, he returned to the Graphische where he quickly got assigned as a teacher. In summer 1923, he married Anna Arbeitlang, who had also worked at the school as an assistant teacher. During this time he did his first nude photos: his preferred models were dancers, although he himself also posed nude before the camera. Extensive exhibition activities started in 1924. Until his death he participated in about 60 exhibitions in Austria and abroad. In 1929/30, he saw his biggest international successes: his most famous work, “Movement Study” (1925), was used as an illustration in the “Encyclopædia Britannica” as the most prominent example of “Art Photography”. Early in 1930, an exhibition of Koppitz's works travelled from New York to San Francisco. The works shown were still strongly influenced by Pictorialism.
 
In the same year, however, the FiFo (“Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbundes - Film und Foto”) came to Vienna after being shown in Stuttgart. It had decisive influence on Koppitz's artistic development. The “Neues Sehen” (New Vision) led him to turn away from symbolist compositions and toward a more factual and documentary oriented photography. His preferred subjects now were rustic life as well as rural and sports scenes. In 1936, the most comprehensive exhibition of his work took place: in a show entitled “Country and People”, the Museum of Art and Industry, today's MAK, presented a survey of 500 works focused mainly on rustic and rural subjects.
 
Curator (Bonartes Photo Institute): Monika Faber / Curator (Moravská galerie): Petra Medríková
Supplied by: Magdalena Vukovic (11 July 2013)

Rudolf Koppitz
Genealogy of Rudolf Koppitz
Lightbox > Portraits
   
Rudolf Koppitz, n.d., [Portrait of Rudolf Koppitz (1884-1936)], Photograph, Internet - Original source ill-defined, LL/86737
Rudolf Koppitz, 1923 (ca ?), Self-Portrait with Cameras, Gelatin silver print, Photoinstitut Bonartes, LL/51126
Leo Silver, 1929, October, [Prof. Rudolf Koppitz with his daughter], Gelatin silver print, Silver Print Gallery and Archive, LL/40759
   
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