Photographic Retrospective

On March 3, 2018, at 19:00, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is inviting guests to the vernissage of Robert Lebeck. 1968. The exhibition will remain on display until July 22, 2018.

“The year of student unrest took place without me,” the German photographer, photo journalist and collector, Robert Lebeck (1929-2014) said in Erinnerungen eines Fotoreporters (Memories of a Photo Reporter), summarising his experience of the year 1968: “While the barricades were burning in Paris, I was working in Florida on a series about two murdered students; while students demonstrated in front of the Springer high rise, I was photographing the christening of Hildergard Knef’s child; and while the Russians were marching into Prague, I was accompanying the Pope to Bogotá.”

However, taking a closer look at the contact sheets, prints and reportages by Lebeck that were taken for Stern during that historic year, and which are presented in a comprehensive manner for the first time in this exhibition, it is clear to what degree societal changes are reflected in his distinctive pictures, despite what the photographer himself states.

Upheaval, protest, perseverance and failure: In Robert Lebeck. 1968, the leitmotifs of that specific year that are not always visible at first, are made tangible in the exemplary photographic series Lebeck took in places such as New York, Bogotá, Kassel, Belfast and Wolfsburg. Many of the exhibited photos have never been published before and are completely unknown. Whether Geschiedene Frauen (Divorced Women), Rudi Dutschke in Prague, Robert F Kennedy’s funeral, or Joseph Beuys at documenta, Lebeck’s works range from concentrated contemporary history and powerful photo reportage, to artistic photography.

The book that complements the exhibition is produced by Ralf Beil and Alexander Kraus, designed by Cordula Lebeck, and published by Steidl Verlag in Göttingen.

Further information at: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Steidl Verlag and Robert Lebeck