Anna und Bernhard Blume

Anna (1936–2020) and Bernhard Blume (1937–2011) are among the most significant pioneers of staged and performative photography in Germany. Known for their often large-format, absurd black-and-white photo series, they made extensive use of the Polaroid medium, particularly from the late 1980s through to the 1990s, to radically deconstruct middle-class role models and identities.

In 2010, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie exhibited the Polaroids by Anna and Bernhard Blume. Ralph Goertz was given the opportunity to accompany the artist couple with his camera for the first time. The result is the first documentary film produced by IKS in collaboration with Kurt Wettengl and the Museum Oswall. Over a period of three days, Ralph Goertz spoke at length with the artist couple and gained a deep insight into their working methods.

Focus on the Polaroid works

Whilst their large-format photo series were meticulously planned, instant photography (often taken with a Polaroid SX-70) offered scope for spontaneous, intimate and at times uninhibited experimentation.

“Mutual” (from 1987/1988): This important phase began as a series of “mutual images”. The couple photographed each other in close-ups. The photographs were taken in Cologne and Tenerife, amongst other places, and were published in a legendary photobook in 1990.

“Principle of Cruelty” (1988–2000): In the 1990s, the Polaroids developed into a central, excessive body of work. What began modestly escalated into an “orgiastic, lustful deconstruction of physiognomy”.

Distortion and deformation: In these works, the Blumes subjected themselves to manipulation using everyday household and DIY items. Clothes hangers, plastic objects and hoses distorted their faces in front of the camera. The classic genre of the artistic self-portrait was thus, ironically, transformed into a series of shameless disfigurations.

Polaroid collages: Many works were not limited to single images. The couple cut up the coloured squares and collaged them directly into distorted, multi-part faces (in some cases as a homage to Francis Bacon).