About the Artist

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  • Umbo (Otto Umbehr). Self-Portrait at the Beach. c. 1930. Gelatin silver print, 11 7/16 x 8 9/16" (29 x 21.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2014 Umbo/Gallery Kicken Berlin/Phyllis Umbehr/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
  • Alternate Name(s) Dephot (Deutsche Photo-Agentur) (Studio Name)

Meeting Points

Artist Chronology

January 18, 1902
Born
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Dusseldorf
Summer–October 1920
Leaves school to practice art, causing a break with his family
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Essen
Fall 1921–December 1922
Studies at the Bauhaus with Johannes Itten, Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Klee, and Vasily Kandinsky
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Weimar
Fall 1923–March 1943
Lives in Berlin
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
Fall 1923–late 1924
Establishes the Werkstatten bildender Kunst GmbH with Bauhaus colleagues
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
1926
Makes photomontages for Walter Ruttmann's film Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
Late 1926
Working with Paul Citroen, Umbo creates his first photographs
Berlin
1927
Publishes photographs in Der Querschnitt, Uhu, and Weltmagazin
Contributor: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
1927
Adopts the pseudonym "Umbo"
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
1928
Umbo sends six photographs to Rodchenko for Novy Lef; two photograms are published
At location: Aleksandr Rodchenko
Contributor: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Moscow
1928
Cofounds Deutsche Photo-Agentur (DEPHOT) with Simon Guttmann
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
February 12–March 5, 1928
Foto – Malerei – Architektur at Kunstschule Johannes Itten
Berlin
March 25–May 6, 1928
Neue Wege der Photographie at Kunstverein Jena
Jena
Late 1928–1930
Teaches at Kunstschule Johannes Itten
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
1929
Franz Roh publishes Foto-Auge: 76 Fotos der Zeit
Stuttgart
1929
Werner Graeff publishes Es kommt der neue Fotograf!
Berlin
January 20–February 17, 1929
Fotografie der Gegenwart at Museum Folkwang

Kestner Gesellschaft v.V, Königstrasse 8, Hannover
March 10–April 7, 1929

Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Lützowstrasse 32, Berlin
April 20–May 20, 1929

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
June 6–29, 1929

Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
July 7–August 8, 1929

Leipziger Kunstverein, Augustusplatz 6, Leipzig
August 18–September 8, 1929

Lichthof des Neuen Rathauses, Dresden
September 15–October 6, 1929

Kunstverein, Rostock
October 20-November 10, 1929

am Adolf-Mittag-See, Städtisches Ausstellungsamt, Magdeburg
November 28–December 19, 1929

Landesgewerbeanstalt, Kaiserslautern
February 23–March 23, 1930

Vereinigung Göttinger Kunstfreunde, Göttingen
May 18–June 8, 1930

Essen
May 18–July 7, 1929
Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (FiFo) at Städtische Ausstellungshallen

Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich
August 28–September 22, 1929

Im Lichthof des Ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums, Prinz-Albrechs-Strasse 7, Berlin
October 19–November 17, 1929

Stadtmuseum, Danzig
(dates unknown)

Österreichisches Museum, Vienna
February 20–March 31, 1930

Agram, Zagreb
April 5–14, 1930

Münchner Bund/Verein Ausstellungspark München E.V. (as part of Internationale Ausstellung. Das Lichtbild), Munich
June 5–September 7, 1930

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo
April 1931

Asahi Shimbun, Osaka
July 1–7, 1931

Stuttgart
June–September 1930
Das Lichtbild exhibition
Munich
1932
Fotografien von Albert Renger-Patzsch, Umbo, Hugo Erfurth und Helmar Lerski at the St. Annen Museum
Lübeck
January 9–29, 1932
Surrealism at the Julien Levy Gallery
New York
February 20–March 11, 1932
Modern European Photography at the Julien Levy Gallery
New York
Fall 1932–November 1933
DEPHOT restructured and downsized as DEGEPHOT
Simon Guttmann and Umbo use the agency to cover resistance activities when Hitler comes to power. The regime discovers their intentions and shuts down the agency.
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
May 27–November 12, 1933
Century of Progress International Photographic Salon at the Chicago Camera Club
Korth is the official photographer of the exposition.
Chicago
November 7–19, 1933
Die Kamera. Ausstellung für Fotografie, Druck und Reproduktion at the exhibition halls of the radio tower
Berlin
1938–39
Contracts with Ullstein Verlag; works primarily for Der Stern
Contributor: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
March 1943–1945
Recruited and serves as a photographer
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
The Hague
August 1943
A bombing raid destroys his archive of negatives and prints
Affiliated: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Berlin
1945–80
Lives in Hannover
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Hannover
1947–50
Works as a photographer for Der Spiegel
Contributor: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Hamburg
May 13, 1980
Dies
At location: Umbo (Otto Umbehr)
Hannover

Walther Photographs

View this artist's works in MoMA's Online Collection

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