The Man with the Leica – Dr. Paul Wolff

Dr. Paul Wolff (1887–1951) is known as one of the first proponents of the 35mm film format, which was introduced in 1925 with the groundbreaking Leica I. Developed by the Leitz company, the light-weight, portable camera would go on to change the nature of photography for generations to come. 

With the exhibition L’homme au Leica, the Pavillon Populaire presents the first comprehensive retrospective of Wolff’s work in France. The showcase (open from 27 January to 14 April 2024) enables a broader audience to discover the multi-faceted – yet rarely exhibited – oeuvre of one of the most emblematic German photographers of the 1920s to 1940s. 

Wolff was not an artist in the conventional sense, but rather a ‘reliable supplier’ of images: together with his business partner, Alfred Tritschler, he ran a successful photo agency, providing clients with images of every genre. Their combined efforts yielded nearly 700,000 photographs – culminating in an unparalleled documentation of German society, from the Weimar Republic to the National Socialist regime and the post-war era. 

The exhibition features a diverse body of work marked by the popularisation of 35mm photography and the Leica brand – for which Wolff was a staunch advocate from 1926 onwards. More than 140 photographs, sourced from major private collections, are placed in a dialogue with publication media such as books, posters and adverts, as well as vintage Leica equipment. Within this richly layered context, viewers are able to critically investigate the role of ‘mainstream’ photography from not just a purely visual, but also a historical and sociological point of view.