Through his extensive, personal photographic research, artist, collector, and curator of contemporary art Wilhelm Schürmann (*1946 in Dortmund) has created a series of impressive photographs featuring the post-war Ruhr district as a metaphor for the euphoria of Germany’s economic miracle and the ensuing phase of disillusionment. During the many times he strolled down the Steinhammerstrasse in Dortmund, the photographer—who grew up there—took countless sensitive and witty black-and-white photographs of the regional peculiarities of everyday life that highlight the typical cultural and social aspects of what was at the time the young Federal Republic of Germany. For our Collector’s Edition Schürmann has selected two motifs that portray the German microcosm in telling details, in front of which the eye of the beholder seems to move and back forth between the factual inventory and aesthetic appreciation. Thanks to the distanced perspective created by the passage of time the urban street corner—our first motif—becomes a quaint spot, and the domestic interior—our second motif—seems like an aesthetic role model for today’s fashions, preferences, and trends.
