1968

Englischsprachige Ausgabe

Zu diesem Photo- und Textband

This book presents the diverse photo series Robert Lebeck made in 1968, which form an alternative view of the year when social conflict and personal rebellion against authoritarian traditions found their passionate and often violent expression. Upheaval, protest, perseverance and failure—themes that are not always explored in retrospective mythicizing views of 1968—are clearly expressed in Lebeck’s photos, taken in locations from New York to Bogotá and Wolfsburg. Whether dealing with “Divorced Women,” Rudi Dutschke in Prague, Robert Kennedy’s funeral or Joseph Beuys at documenta, contemporary history encounters the integrity of photo reportage in Lebeck’s work. “The year of the student protests took place without me,” Lebeck recalls of 1968 in his autobiography. “When the barricades were burning in Paris, I was working in Florida on a series about two murdered co-eds; when students began protesting in front of the Springer Building, I was photographing the christening of Hildegard Knef’s baby; and when Russian troops marched into Prague, I was accompanying the pope’s visit to Bogotá.” A closer examination of Lebeck’s contact sheets, prints and reportages made during this epoch-making year on behalf of Stern, then one of Germany’s highest-circulation magazines, and presented in this book, reveal how Lebeck’s photos, despite his own assessment, capture the social changes of the time.

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»Das Jahr der Studentenunruhen fand ohne mich statt«, resümierte der deutsche Fotojournalist und Sammler Robert Lebeck in den Erinnerungen eines Fotoreporters seine Erfahrung des Jahres 1968. Bei genauerer Betrachtung der Kontaktbögen, Fotoabzüge sowie Reportagen von Robert Lebeck, die in eben diesem epochemachenden Jahr für den stern, eine der damals auflagenstärksten Illustrierten Deutschlands, entstanden, zeigt sich allerdings, wie sehr sich die gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen entgegen der Einschätzung des Urhebers in seinen pointierten Aufnahmen spiegeln.

In Robert Lebeck. 1968 werden die im mythisierenden Rückblick nicht immer wahrnehmbaren roten Fäden des Jahres zwischen Aufbruch, Protest, Beharren und Scheitern anhand beispielhafter Fotografie-Serien sichtbar, die Robert Lebeck etwa in New York, Bogotá oder Wolfsburg erstellt hat. Ob das Thema Geschiedene Frauen, Rudi Dutschke in Prag, Robert Kennedys Beerdigung oder Beuys auf der documenta lautet: Stets trifft in Robert Lebecks Arbeiten verdichtete Zeitgeschichte auf starke Fotoreportage sowie Fotokunst.

Der Fotograf

Born in Berlin, Robert Lebeck (1929–2014) studied ethnology before turning to photography. For three decades he traveled widely as a photojournalist for Stern, interrupted only by a short interlude as editor-in-chief for photography at GEO. He received the Dr. Erich Salomon Award from the German Photographic Society in 1991 and the first Henri Nannen Award in 2007 for his life’s work. Lebeck’s books with Steidl include Tokyo, Moscow, Leopoldville (2007) and Face the Camera (2016).