Robert Petschow and the New Vision
Thomas Friedrich Research Grant

The Thomas Friedrich Research Grant in Photography enables researchers to spend a year working on the holdings of the photography collection at the Berlinische Galerie. In 2019 the grant, endowed by photography patron Manfred Heiting (Heiting Library Trust), was used to research Robert Petschow.

Petschow was a well-known balloonist sportsman in the Weimar Republic. By 1935 he had almost 400 ascents to his name. His aerial photographs not only appeared in trade journals and illustrated magazines but were presented at his slide lectures. He also photographed voyages by the leading airships of the day.

To convey the sense of looking down from a balloon, Petschow often cropped the image, isolating his subject. As a result his aerial photography caught the attention of the avant-garde in the late 1920s. His images were included in exhibitions and publications now associated with the New Vision movement.

But Petschow’s actions after 1933 show that he soon distanced himself from the avant-garde. As chief editor of the newspaper “Der Westen” he quickly came to terms with the Nazi regime. In 1935 he volunteered to serve in the German air force.