This book presents the photo publications of Dr. Paul Wolff and Alfred Tritschler, revealing both their extensive artistic skills and business acumen. Wolff (1887-1951) began his career in Weimar-era Frankfurt, and became one of the most important representatives of the small-format Leica camera, whose functions he conveyed to the amateur in his now-iconic photographic manuals. Together with his business partner Alfred Tritschler (1905-70), Wolff established one of the largest photo studios in Germany; through the wide dissemination of their pictures they left a lasting impact on the history of the German photobook.
Wolff and Tritschler's versatile approach encompassed industrial reportage, genre pictures, news coverage, advertising campaigns and even films. In this volume, their more than 1,000 known published works and many magazine contributions are gathered and illustrated in color for the first time. Texts drawing on primary sources explore Wolff and Tritschler's most important creations and reconstruct the history of their company. We see just how markedly the contexts for the production and consumption of photography changed between the Weimar Republic and Third Reich, and how Wolff and Tritschler exemplify the pivotal role which outstanding individuals played within this history. Their journalistic activities developed within the larger expansion of photographic illustration; their success was closely linked to the advancement of media reception and its use in political policies. This book's focus on their entire oeuvre, particularly the little-seen early and late output, makes it the most comprehensive evaluation of Wolff and Tritschler's multifaceted work to date.