My first oil sketch, a prehistoric mammal, painted from a children's cosmos book.
Unforgettable, what a feeling of happiness this picture triggered. That I, the little boy I was back then, could make such an animal. Out of nothing.
For me, this is the core of the fascination that making pictures holds.
The second oil sketch. Same feeling.
Drawings I made of the residents of the "Haus Abendfrieden", a retirement home during my civil service.
"Mrs. B."
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"Mrs. W"
21 x 29,7 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"I don't even mind that it's raining into your nose"
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"Then after all"
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"The other Mrs. B"
26,5 x 21,4 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"Shaking palsy"
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"The indomitable"
29,7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"Miss. D, a very kind one"
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"noon"
22 x 16 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"hardboiled"
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"2 sketches"
each 13.5 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
" Expelled "
29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"Good-natured"
21 x 13.5 cm
House Abendfrieden
Every morning when I woke up: "What are YOU doing here?" Then she was gone again.
"Mrs. S, Mrs. K"
each 21 x 1.5 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
" Dressing"
Soapstone print 29.7 x 21 cm
Haus Abendfrieden
"6 sketches"
each 15 x 10,5 cm
Selbst während einer Radtour im Westen der Schweiz
N auf Borkum
Borkum
A commercial watercolor I found somewhere in Holland. At the time it made a huge impression on me because it looked so realistic with such simple means. An initial spark.
I didn't know for a long time that I had even photographed it.
2 Mig21s that were deposited on Potsdamer Platz after the Russians withdrew.
Foto: Martin Dammann
The Migs had been taken from a forest south of Berlin by a band of ravers. For a bottle of tequila, I was given permission to make a frottage of the planes.
Foto: Martin Dammann
Foto: Martin Dammann
Foto: Martin Dammann
"MigHaut"
Frottage of the entire exterior surface of an airplane (Mig21)
Graphite pencil, 792 sheets of Japan paper, each 70 x 48.5 cm
Total dimensions: 1260 x 2130 cm 1996
"MigHaut"
Presentation at the Werkleitz Biennale
Foto: Martin Dammann
Foto: Martin Dammann
Strange Loop
Tapestry, Bleistift und Ölfarbe, 220 x 220cm
2016
This is a footnote.
In my flat, Friedelstr., Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Early morning somewhere in Berlin-Mitte
Foto: Martin Dammann
Early morning somewhere in Berlin-Mitte
Foto: Martin Dammann
Bunker near Koksijde, Flanderns
Foto: Martin Dammann
Koksijde, Flanders.
Since my childhood, the French and German sides of my family have met on the Flemish coast between Christmas and New Year. I always take a photo of the house in the dunes.
Foto: Martin Dammann
Koksijde, Flandern.
Michel and Olivier
Foto: Martin Dammann
Brussels
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Mezquita"
3 views in which a fighter plane and pillars of the Mezquita in Cordoba permeate each other. Simulation created with my first Mac.
3 image files printed on 35mm slides
"Mezquita"
Installation for the master student presentation, HfK Berlin
Exterior view
3 slides, 3 slide projectors, back-pro film, wood, wire, dimensions: 3 x 3 x 3 m
"Mezquita"
Installation for the master student presentation, HfK Berlin
Interior view
3 slides, 3 slide projectors, back-pro film, wood, wire, dimensions: 3 x 3 x 3 m
Christian and Gels
Foto: Martin Dammann
Marcus and Christian at my place
Foto: Martin Dammann
Marcus at "Kunst und Technik", Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Marcus and Gels
Foto: Martin Dammann
friends
Foto: Martin Dammann
friends
Foto: Martin Dammann
Grandma after moving to our place
Foto: Martin Dammann
Small picture, big impact: a wartime photo found at a New York flea market. You could still read the serial number of the bomber on its tail. That was the initial spark for me to collect original photos.
Martin Dammann collection
"Sedimentation/Film1"
All individual frames of film sequences from newsreels from the 1940s were digitized, reduced in size and positioned in such a way that the actual movement of the film camera becomes visible again
Video- Loop, S-VHS, B/W, sound, 7.18 min, 1996
"I once saw a film with Paul Newman"
Reconstruction of camera movements in a feature film ("The Wild Sheep" by Michel de Ville, 1974)
Video- Loop, S-VHS, colour, sound, 4.07 min, 1996
"Winged Gazes"
All individual images from World War 2 combat films were digitized, reduced in size and positioned in such a way that the actual movement of the film camera or the firing and filming aircraft becomes visible
Video- Loop, S-VHS, B/W, sound, 3.03 min, 1996
"Winged Gazes"
Presentation in the Hybrid Work Space, Documenta X,
via Luxus Cont, 27/28. 9.1997
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Winged Gazes"
Presentation in the Hybrid Work Space, Documenta X,
via Luxus Cont, 27/28. 9.1997
Foto: Martin Dammann
Self and Christian
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mathias
Foto: Martin Dammann
Pavillon der Volksbühne, Berlin. Opening Abetz/Drescher
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Rüdiger Lange's off space "Loop" at the Volksbühne, Berlin. Opening Abetz/Drescher
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Rüdiger Lange's off space "Loop" at the Volksbühne, Berlin. Opening Abetz/Drescher
Foto: Martin Dammann
Berlin - Mitte, early morning
Foto: Martin Dammann
Berlin - Mitte, early morning
Foto: Martin Dammann
Christine and Jochen
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Flat Spin"
Video Loop, 2 projections, DVD/VHS, color, sound, 1997
"Flat Spin"
Installation at the 14th Kassel Documentary and Video Festival, Kassel
Video Loop, 2 projections, DVD/VHS, color, sound, 1997
"TeleBall"
All individual frames of a soccer scene are reduced to 1/4 of their size and then arranged in such a way that the ball always remains exactly in the center of the screen.
Video Loop, DVD/VHS, color, sound, 1997
“mark X”
Reconstruction of the movement of a flight over Berlin in 1945. Planned for a projection on a facade at Alexanderplatz in Berlin
Video Loop, DVD/VHS, color, sound, 1997
"Flat Spin"
Video Loop, 2 projections, DVD/VHS, color, sound, 1997
Marcus on the way to "Kunst und Technik"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Somewhere in Berlin - Mitte
Foto: Martin Dammann
Opening at "Abel"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Somewhere in Berlin - Mitte
Foto: Martin Dammann
DAAD one-year scholarship in London. Underway with Heike
Foto: Martin Dammann
First encounter with the "Archive of Modern Conflict".
In the kitchen of the AMC.
Foto: Martin Dammann
"FlashLight"
Video installation. 6 short film sequences in which a flashlight appears are brought to the same length and looped so that the flashlight appears in all videos at exactly the same time and freezes for 1 second.
Presentation at the Kunstruimte, Berlin
6 VHS videos, 6 video players, 6 monitors
"FlashLight"
Video installation. 6 short film sequences in which a flashlight appears are brought to the same length and looped so that the flashlight appears in all videos at exactly the same time and freezes for 1 second.
Video - Loop, VHS, colour, sound
"FlashLight"
Video installation. 6 short film sequences in which a flashlight appears are brought to the same length and looped so that the flashlight appears in all videos at exactly the same time and freezes for 1 second.
Video - Loop, VHS, colour, sound
"Rescription/Swinging"
All individual frames of a video take were reduced in size and positioned in such a way that the actual movement of the film camera becomes visible again.
Video, S - VHS/DVD, color, no sound, 1.24 min 1998
"Rescription/Ocean walk"
All individual frames of a video take were reduced in size and positioned in such a way that the actual movement of the film camera becomes visible again.
Video, S - VHS/DVD, color, no sound, 0.34 min 1998
A brief intermezzo at "Eigen & Art" gallery
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy, David and Conal in Oslo to see Munch. Just before the meeting with a very peculiar Norwegian collector, with whom we spent a crazy night
Foto: Martin Dammann
David in Oslo
Foto: Martin Dammann
Then a visit to Aunt Ingrid, in Hamar/Norway
Foto: Martin Dammann
Above Norway
Foto: Martin Dammann
At Christmas, I discovered some very strange Polaroids in my aunt's house in northern France. Only after a while did I realize that they showed us, our family. But from the point of view of a little girl who didn't feel at home at all. An abyss where I had never seen one. At first I had no idea how to deal with it artistically.
Polaroid by E.
"Eagle1"
"Eagle" is based on video footage of laser-guided bombs released by NATO during the Kosovo war.
All individual images were digitized and - starting from the last frame, immediately before the bomb hit - successively enlarged in such a way that the bomb's approach to the target is neutralized.
Light Jet - Print, 250 x 200 cm 1999
"Eagle2"
"Eagle" is based on video footage of laser-guided bombs released by NATO during the Kosovo war.
All individual images were digitized and - starting from the last frame, immediately before the bomb hit - successively enlarged in such a way that the bomb's approach to the target is neutralized.
Light Jet - Print, 250 x 200 cm 1999
"Eagle3"
"Eagle" is based on video footage of laser-guided bombs released by NATO during the Kosovo war.
All individual images were digitized and - starting from the last frame, immediately before the bomb hit - successively enlarged in such a way that the bomb's approach to the target is neutralized.
Light Jet - Print, 250 x 200 cm 1999
Presentation of "Eagle" in the exhibition "Einsiedler, vorübergehend", Folkwang Museum, curated by Necmi Sönmez
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Where"
4 video sequences in which I managed to catch the point at which an aircraft that had disappeared into the clouds reappeared.
Video - loop, color, no sound 1999
Photo from World War 2
Foto: Archive of Modern Conflict
New Year 2000 - all the hopes and expectations.
Foto: Martin Dammann
At Louisville airport
Foto: Martin Dammann
Louisville airport
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Show of Shows", Louisville. The largest militaria collectors' fair in the USA
Foto: Martin Dammann
Self in the "Executive In", Louisville
Foto: Martin Dammann
Louisville, at Ohio river
Foto: Martin Dammann
The first watercolors, after the Polaroids I found at my aunt's in Lille in 1999. New possibilities and more or less the end of my time as a video artist
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Maud, after Elsa"
watercolour, pencil, 76 x56 cm
A long exposure shot from the First World War: 2 soldiers watch from a tent as a signal pistol is fired.
Martin Dammann collection
"InTV (Jamie Shea shows us something)"
The reversal of the principle of "Eagle": A NATO speaker presents a video recording of a laser bomb during the Kosovo war. Starting from the first frame, all subsequent frames are successively reduced in size so that the images themselves appear to fly into the target. And the NATO speaker flies with them.
Video - loop, 16 sec, S - VHS/DVD, color, sound
"InTV (Jamie Shea shows us something)"
Presentation in the exhibition "No Vacancies", Berlin.
Curated by Angelika Richter and Galerie Barbara Thumm
Video - loop, 16 sec, S - VHS/DVD, color, sound
A photo from the Second World War: A Japanese plane attacks an American ship at low level
Martin Dammann collection
Strange Loop
Tapestry, Bleistift und Ölfarbe, 220 x 220cm
2016
This is a footnote.
Barry in front of his former house in Cape May
This is a footnote.
In the "Museum of Military History" in Sofia/Bulgaria: A "Panzer 38to" built in Czechoslovakia, used by the Germans and captured by the Russians. Now it is almost vanishing in the backyard of the museum
Foto: Martin Dammann
Ruppert, Beate and Christian
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike's opening at the Kunstwerke, Berlin. 2 days later the attack on the World Trade Center took place
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike at her opening at the Kunstwerke, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
9/11, Sothebys', London. People are watching the first images of the burning Twin Towers
Foto: Martin Dammann
9/11, London. In a cab to David and Timothy. One who hasn't noticed anything yet.
Foto: Martin Dammann
9/11, London. with David and Timothy in cab
Foto: Martin Dammann
9/11, London. David and Timothy in a Sothebys warehouse. Everything and nothing is as before
Foto: Martin Dammann
Eva near Hastings
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way home, Berlin, Volkspark Friedrichshain
Foto: Martin Dammann
German naval servicemen in World War 2
Martin Dammann Collection
Preparatory work for "Große Fahrt"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 30 x 30 cm 2001
From the album of a female Luftwaffe helper. With her partner who just returned home from the war
Martin Dammann Collection
Young men in their free time. Strange light, as if from another century
Martin Dammann Collection
A wonderful light, at the same time a scene that could hardly be more trivial. All sorts of things would be possible when painted. But it hasn't come to that yet
Martin Dammann Collection
Actually a quite unspectacular photo. . And yet there is something special in it. Perhaps it is for being a very personal scene and yet the face is cut off. But above all the light. That's it
Martin Dammann Collection
Charlotte, North Carolina. On the way to the SOS show
Foto: Martin Dammann
After the show, to "Ruth´s Chris"
Foto: Martin Dammann
An American who collects German helmets
Foto: Martin Dammann
At a parking lot in New Jersey: "Honk if you want the Middle East to glow". 2 1/2 months after 9/11
Foto: Martin Dammann
After the show, to "Ruth´s Chris"
Foto: Martin Dammann
After the show, to "Ruth´s Chris"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Angelika, at the Armory Show
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike and Waszem, Hollywood Park, Los Angeles
Foto: Martin Dammann
Nadja on the Hiddensee peninsula
Foto: Martin Dammann
With Heike and Waszem in the Mojave Desert. My first contact with the American West
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the Mojave. Looking back like the premonition of Lusk/Wyoming and what I would find there
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the Mojave. Heike is making a video work
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the Mojave. Heike and Waszem filming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Susanne
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy, Cliffs of Hastings, Great Britain
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy at the Cliffs of Hastings, Great Britain
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy, Cliffs of Hastings, Great Britain
Foto: Martin Dammann
Alex, a British expert of the German Air Force in World War 1. Here with the tail unit of a Russian airplane from the World War 2
Foto: Martin Dammann
Alex in his collection room. England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family reunion. Marion and Amal under the grown-ups' table
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family reunion. Michel and Marion
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family reunion. Philip with Maud and Elsa
Foto: Martin Dammann
Naval maneuvers, shortly before World War 1
Foto: Archive of Modern Conflict
American GI with 2 German girls, 1945
Foto: Archive of Modern Conflict
Girl during a party, Germany, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Austrian soldiers at a mountain lake in the Alps, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Children in a canal, Germany or Austria, 1920s
Martin Dammann collection
"Vorbei"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 114x168cm 2002
"Da sitzt sie"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 114x115cm 2002
"Die große Fahrt"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 114x148cm 2002
"Unmöglich"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 114x160cm 2002
"Am Jeep"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 114x148cm 2002
Story time
This is a footnote.
At Christmastime in Lille
This is a footnote.
At Christmastime in Lille
This is a footnote.
In a train. Weird light. Just like many years later in Montana
This is a footnote.
Heike
This is a footnote.
With Frank at the Vietnamese to buy photos
This is a footnote.
In Koksijde, Belgium. Philip and Amal
This is a footnote.
In a train. Weird light. Just like many years later in Montana
This is a footnote.
Girls train for war. Exercise of the “League of German Girls” (BDM) in the 3rd Reich
Book excerpt
Experiment or boozy idea? Time and place unknown
Martin Dammann collection
Soldier in captured camouflage gear for Russian snipers
Martin Dammann collection
"Descent", arrangement of the video camera
Martin Dammann collection
"Descent", video camera and model
Martin Dammann collection
"Abgang"
Video-Loop, S-VHS/DVD, colour, sound 2003
"Treffen"
Video-Loop, S-VHS/DVD, B/W, Ton 2003
An allied soldier in front of an abandoned fighter plane and a dog. I tried a few times to paint a warplane. But it always went terribly wrong
Children's theater, 3rd Reich
Martin Dammann collection
Man in floating tire
Martin Dammann collection
2 women on the beach, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
"Mothers"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 231.5 x 156 cm 2003
"Mothers"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 215 x 184 cm 2003
"Our boys"
Watercolor, lead pencil on paper, 150 x 168cm 2003
"Wald, böse"
Watercolor, lead pencil on paper, 116 x 175 cm 2003
"Aunt Hannchen"
pencil on paper, 20 x 30 cm 2003
"Quarter to ten"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 192 x 133 cm 2003
"In the boat"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 150 x 231cm 2003
Rudi, antique dealer in Berlin. Expert in military binoculars and pins from the 1920s, 30s and 40s
Foto: Martin Dammann
Rolf, photo dealer. With partner Ruth.
Foto: Martin Dammann
Militaria Collectors' Fair in Ciney, Belgium
Foto: Martin Dammann
Burning city, Germany, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Nadja, on Crete
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the "War and Peace" reenactment show in Beltring, South of England
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the "War and Peace" reenactment show in Beltring, South England. Reenactor dressed as a British "Home Guard" in World War II
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the "War and Peace" reenactment show in Beltring, South England. 2 reenactors from Hungary
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy with a 14th century funerary helmet
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy with a 14th century funerary helmet
Foto: Martin Dammann
Simon and Geoff in Volkspark Friedrichshain, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Street scene in Flanders. From a German album of World War 1
Martin Dammann collection
Excursion party in a grotto. From a French album, 1910s
Martin Dammann collection
Excursion party in a grotto. From a French album, 1910s
Martin Dammann collection
A (female?) doll is erected by a group of soldiers. Joke or carnival tree? Germany, 1930s
Martin Dammann collection
"Wald. böse 2"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 106 x 166 cm 2004
"There"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 190 x 270 cm 2004
"Cannoneers"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 141 x 204 cm 2004
"Negativland"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 159 x 126 cm 2004
"Vanishing point"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 145 x 250 cm 2004
"Big rouge"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 138 x 204 cm 2004
"Big rouge"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 138 x 204 cm 2004
"Pathet"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 163 x 250 cm 2004
"My god"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 274, 5x 190 cm 2004
" Small Foil 4"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 2"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 1b"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 3"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 5"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 6"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 8"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
" Small Foil 9"
Felt-tip pen, oil paint, watercolor on acetate sheet, 30.3 x 24 cm 2004
Heike at an opening, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
2 groups of women, same perspective, same era, but the picture on the right shows an American front theater, the one on the left female guards of a concentration camp
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the opening of "Vanishing Point", Georg Kargl Gallery, Vienna
Foto: Martin Dammann
Exhibition view of "Vanishing Point", Georg Kargl Gallery, Vienna
Foto: Martin Dammann
Over Germany
Foto: Martin Dammann
A night walk with flashlights
Foto: Martin Dammann
At an after-party in Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
A little later, at the same party in Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
A mystifying photo: A crowded, distressed high society, but what is happening? A stock market crash? Mass panic? Fake or real, inside or outside?
Martin Dammann collection
A mystifying photo: A crowded, distressed high society, but what is happening? A stock market crash? Mass panic? Fake or real, inside or outside?
Martin Dammann collection
Launcher grenades in World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Destruction of a village. Wehrmacht promotional demonstration, 1930s
Martin Dammann collection
A pilot from the 1930s, Janus-faced
Martin Dammann collection
A merchant ship set on fire, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
"Unknown girlfri"Light cone"end"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 102 x 71 cm 2005
"Waterfall"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 160 x 238 cm 2005
"Unknown girlfriend"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 119 x 82 cm 2005
"Small presentation"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 40 x 30 cm 2005
"Small presentation"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 40 x 30 cm 2005
"Erste Totale"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 192 x 277 cm 2005
"Zweite Totale"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 190 x 281 cm 2005
"Crowded expectation"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 179 x 264 cm 2005
"End of the Line"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 138 x 245 cm 2005
“Collecting militaria gives you something to talk about”
Interview with an American who collects German helmets from the World War II
DVD, 17 min, color, sound 2005
Installation "Collecting Militaria gives you something to talk about", Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin 2006
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Überdeutschland 2"
Photo print 167 x 167 cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP 2005
"Überdeutschland 5"
Photo print 167 x 167 cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP 2005
"Überdeutschland 1"
Photo print 167 x 226 cm cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP 2005
"Überdeutschland 4"
Photo print 167 x 237 cm cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP 2005
"Überdeutschland 3"
Photo print 231 x 151 cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP 2005
"Fly Bye"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 178 x 236 cm 2005
"Clearing"
Pencil on hardboard, 70 x 100 cm 2005
"Gentle transfiguration"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 233 x 154 cm 2005
"Shack"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 68 x 97 cm 2005
"The last two"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 129 x 134 cm 2005
"2 Lying"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 139 x 145 cm 2005
"Palms"
Pencil, marker, watercolor and adhesive tape on hardboard, 44.5 x 62 cm 2005
"Girl"
Pencil on hardboard, 116,8 x 165,5 cm 2005
"Unscharf Maskiert"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 152 x 237 cm 2005
"Hilda fading"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 170 x 117 cm 2005
Rudi, visiting Barry in New Jersey.
Photo taken at Barry's house
Shu, arrived in Louisville
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the Wiesenfest in Hohenberg, Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Studio visit
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father in the studio
Foto: Martin Dammann
Marion
Foto: Martin Dammann
Elsa
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Im Karree", Präsentation Galerie Barbara Thumm
Foto: Martin Dammann
Actiondon, an amphibian from the Permian. The first fossil I bought from Thomas. The skin preservation has something of photography, shadow play, but also of painting. A wonder
Martin Dammann collection
At the “Mineralis”, Berlin. The stand of Thomas and Barbara
Foto: Martin Dammann
The “Mineralis”, Berlin. This is where I met Thomas and Barbara
Foto: Martin Dammann
Burning village, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
From an American album of the 1910s
Archive of Modern Conflict Collection
4 Russian soldiers surrender. A dramatic photograph, which at the same time seems strangely removed from time. Doesn't it also look like “The Fall of the Blind” by Pieter Breughel?
Archive of Modern Conflict Collection
Black helpers of a transport or an expedition, dressed in European clothes. Location unknown
Martin Dammann Collection
2 women dressed in contrasting outfits. Europe, 40s
Martin Dammann Collection
"Explosion1"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 117 x 98,5 2006
"Explosion8"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 128 x 95 2006
"Explosion 3"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 86 x 133,5 2006
"Explosion 5"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 86 x 133 2006
"Explosion 2"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 105 x 107,5 cm 2006
"Explosion 4"
Foto Print, Edition: 3 + 2AP, 86 x 130 cm 2006
"Angels"
Watercolor, colored pencil, pencil on hardboard, 134 x 135 cm 2006
"Grand day"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 113 x 91 cm 2006
"Room"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 64 x 60 cm 2006
"Europa"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier, 144 x 229 cm 2006
"Heat"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 134 x 135 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 5"
Fiber pencil, color pencil on hardboard, 57 x 57 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 3"
Fiber pencil, pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 48.3 x 50.5 cm 2006Fiber pencil, color pencil on hardboard, 57 x 57 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 6"
Fiber pencil, colored pencil and pencil on hardboard, 57 x 57 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 4"
Fiber pencil, pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 3"
Pencil, oil crayon, fiber pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 5"
Fiber pencil, pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2006
"Unknown friend 4"
Pencil, colored pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2006
"Sunday afternoon"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 136.5 x 140 cm 2006
"Hammock"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 167 x 262cm cm 2006
"Blind Spot"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 145 x 93 cm 2006
"In a square"
Pencil, color pencil on hardboard, 3 parts, 250 x 330 cm 2006
"Short sitting"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 43.5 x 28.5 cm 2006
"2 girls"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 48 x 43 cm 2006
Barry with friend in New Jersey
Foto: Martin Dammann
Collectors on their way to the exhibition hall. MAX show, Pittsburgh
Foto: Martin Dammann
Shu with acquaintance. MAX Show, Pitsburg
Foto: Barry Smith
Rick at work in his hotel room
Foto: Martin Dammann
RIck, American photo dealer
Foto: Martin Dammann
Barry at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
Foto: Martin Dammann
Christoph, antiques dealer with material on an astrologer in the 3rd Reich
Foto: Martin Dammann
Material of an astrologer in the 3rd Reich
Foto: Martin Dammann
Model tank drivers. War and Peace Show, Beltring, South England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family outing. War and Peace Show, Beltring, South England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Haunted vacation cottages in a shady lake, Thuringia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father with the gravestone of his parents
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father with his parents' gravestone. I then engraved a picture of them both on it
Foto: Martin Dammann
Hollow way, part of a slide series. Beltring. I always wanted to do something with it A video, a photo series or even painting/drawing. But somehow I never found the right approach
Foto: Martin Dammann
Anke at our parents' home
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mother with Philip
Foto: Martin Dammann
Tanja and partner
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike on a bike tour
Foto: Martin Dammann
Self with model pictures of works of mine
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike in evening light. Would have everything for a watercolor
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike in the Fichtelgebirge. Too beautiful to paint
Foto: Martin Dammann
Lotta, on a hike in the Fichtelgebirge
Foto: Martin Dammann
Late at night
Foto: Martin Dammann
By chance in a store on the Köpeniker Straße
Foto: Martin Dammann
After a nasty quarrel
Foto: Martin Dammann
A moment in the studio
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Lithuania
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike in Lithuania
Foto: Martin Dammann
Reflected between a Soldier Studies print and the large drawing "Unknown Friends", which was hanging in an exhibition on the opposite wall
Foto: Martin Dammann
A Wehrmacht soldier with 2 French prostitutes
Foto: Martin Dammann
Austrian recruits being drilled. I bought a dull album just because of this one picture, because I couldn't get it out of my head. But I never did anything with it
Foto: Martin Dammann
The beginning of my first fossil preparation: A Bundenbach trilobite that Thomas had given to me
Foto: Martin Dammann
Already a little further
Foto: Martin Dammann
The imprint of a grasshopper from the Solnhofen limestones. Like a petroglyph. A miracle
Foto: Martin Dammann
"On ice"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 144 x 215 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Victim"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 50,3 x 75cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Indianer"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 56,8 x 72cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Texas Bar 2"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 75 x 56 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Flagg"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 75 x 50,5cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Plank Wall 3"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 75 x 54,8 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Lilli Marleen"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 75 x 51 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Little Skirts 2"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 52 x 75 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Little Skirts 2"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 64,6 x 63,3 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/POWs"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 61,7 x 63,3 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Dance"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 52,6 x 75 cm 2007
"Soldier Studies/Drawings"
Photo Print, Edition: 3 + 2 APs, 55,6 x 75 cm 2007
"Unknown friend/old man"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 65 x 93 cm 2007
"Ophelia"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 170 x 248 cm 2007
"Mask"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm 2007
"Unknown Friend/Flash"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 50 x 70 cm 2007
"Formation/Jura"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard, 250 x 374 cm 2007
"Harz"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard, 250 x 426 cm 2007
"Water"
Pencil, watercolor on paper, 116 x 168 cm 2007
"Hydra"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 149 x 97 cm 2007
Study on "Before me"
Bleistift, Buntstift auf Hartfaserplatte, 120 x 120 cm 2007
Sledging on the Kösseine, Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike and Greta, at my parents' house
Foto: Martin Dammann
In front of the Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Foto: Martin Dammann
Winter stroll
Foto: Martin Dammann
American war veterans and admirers at the SOS show. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
American war veterans and admirers at the SOS show. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
A former German fighter pilot from World War 2 as guest of honour at the SOS show in Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Cross-dresser impersonating a Russian soldier at the SOS show in Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the SOS Show in Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Hotel room. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael, painter friend
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike, on the Baltic Sea
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike and Greta
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family walk near Veurne, Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
On Koksijde beach, Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
Tussle
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father and son
Foto: Martin Dammann
Koksijde, Flandern
Foto: Martin Dammann
Dance troupe, photographed somewhere in a Berlin stairwell
Foto: Martin Dammann
“Soldier Studies”
Presentation as part of the exhibition “Wild Signals”. Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Foto: Martin Dammann
Greta, at Treptower Park
Foto: Martin Dammann
Diorama of a Jurassic swamp. Löwentor Museum Stuttgart
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mass mortality of fossilized eagle-headed lizards from the Upper Triassic. Löwentor Museum Stuttgart
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mass mortality of fossilized eagle-headed lizards from the Upper Triassic. Löwentor Museum Stuttgart
Foto: Martin Dammann
During the preparation of my 2nd Bundenbach trilobite. If you pour water over the slate, you can inexplicably see a fraction of a millimeter into the rock
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father and daughter. Color slide from the 3rd Reich
Martin Dammann collection
3 female members of a front theater in front of a house of the Nazi organization "Strength through Joy"
Martin Dammann collection
British reenactor, 1970s
Martin Dammann collection
From an American album from the 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Emblem of a German air force unit from the World War 2. Based on the early comics "Father and Son" by Erich Ohser alias E.O. Plauen, who was persecuted by the Nazis and driven to suicide in 1944
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Before me"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 187 x 210cm 2008
"Groundless"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 191 x 273 cm 2008
"Clouds/Silhouettes"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 142 x 192 cm 2008
"The other one"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 134 x 134 cm 2008
"The Big White"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 144 x 208 cm 2008
"By the light"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 139 x 88 cm 2008
"Crater lake"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 101 x 143 cm 2008
"Liberators"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 190 x 265 cm 2008
"Under the light"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 164 x 164 cm 2008
"White group colored"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 142 x 191 cm 2008
"In the bathing"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 100 x 68 cm 2008
"White Nights"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 189 x 279 cm 2008
"Into the night"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 100 cm 2008
"1st lover from behind"
Pencil on hardboard 27.5 x 28.5 cm 2008
"2nd lover/pattern"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard 30x47 cm 2008
"3rd Beloved/An der Pier"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard 50 x 70 cm 2008
"4th lover/forest walk"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard 30 x 42 cm 2008
"5th lover/legs"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard 27,4 x 33 cm 2008
"6th Beloved/On the River"
Pencil on hardboard 30 x 45,5 cm 2008
"7th Beloved/2 shadows"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard 33.2 x 33.5 cm 2008
Onto the ice, Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Atja on a winter walk in Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Barry at another SOS show. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Rick on the patio at Ruth's Chris. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Peter, examining photo albums
Foto: Martin Dammann
Peter +, photo collector. Specialist for the emblems of German Air Force units
Foto: Martin Dammann
On a walk, father and son
Foto: Martin Dammann
On a walk, father and son
Foto: Martin Dammann
Timothy and Paul in the basement of the Archive of Modern Conflict
Foto: Martin Dammann
With Georg at the opening of "Fremde Freunde" at the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
Foto: Martin Dammann
Rainer at the Venice Biennale
Foto: Martin Dammann
Tin figure diorama in the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingoldstadt
Foto: Martin Dammann
At "Uschi's". Meeting of Berlin flea market dealers and collectors
Foto: Martin Dammann
Frank
Foto: Martin Dammann
Couple at Hackbarths, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Couple at Hackbarths, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Parents
Foto: Martin Dammann
Winter walk
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike in Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
Aunt Lienchen's building project
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heikes father
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heikes father
Foto: Martin Dammann
At "Babette"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Oliver at "Kirk", Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Presentation of "Gut" as part of the exhibition "Einen Ort herstellen", Neuer Sächsischer Kunstverein, Hellerau
Site specific Installation, Inkjet Print
Presentation of "Gut" as part of the exhibition "Einen Ort herstellen", Neuer Sächsischer Kunstverein, Hellerau
Site specific Installation, Inkjet Print
David and Timothy in Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Fremde Freunde", Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Ground Floor
from left to right: "Harz", "Formation Jura", "Fremde Freunde"
"Fremde Freunde"
Kunsthalle Recklinghausen,
Video tour, 11.44 min 2009
"Fremde Freunde", Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, First floor
from left to right: "Harz", "Formation Jura", "Fremde Freunde"
"Fremde Freunde", Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Second floor
from left to right: "Liberators", "Kratersee", "Am Licht", Großes Weiß 2" und "Soldier Studies"
"Fremde Freunde", Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Second floor
from left to right: "Liberators", "Kratersee", "Am Licht", Großes Weiß 2" und "Soldier Studies"
Archegosaurus, an amphibian from the Permian with a conifer branch. Rotliegendes, Oberpfalz.
The solid limbs suggest that the animal has moved a fair amount on land. The branch may have been washed in from inland
Martin Dammann collection
Arcanthodes, a precursor of sharks. Permian, Oberpfalz. Normally the fossils at this site are as dark as the rock. Only when these fossils have sunk to a depth of several kilometers does the heat of the nearby magma turn the fossils white
Martin Dammann collection
Apocalyptic scenes during the invasion of the Soviet Union
Martin Dammann collection
From a World War II album
Martin Dammann collection
A test of courage or exercise
Martin Dammann collection
View and counter-view. Photograph by a German soldier in the Soviet Union
Martin Dammann collection
Propaganda photo of a bivouac somewhere on the southern front during World War II. The decisive detail is the small sign: "Vacation from me".
Martin Dammann collection
An officer on the beach of Belgium, World War 1
Martin Dammann collection
"7 Women"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 170 x 240 cm 2009
"Hut"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 145 x 221 cm 2009
"Schein"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 100 x 70 cm 2009
Study to "Hut"
Pencil on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2009
"2 in the back"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 100 x 70 cm 2009
"Decency"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 103 x 74 cm 2009
"Kleine Folie 10"
Oil paint, watercolor between acetate foil, 24 x 30.3 cm 2004
"Little group with mill"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 70 x 100 cm 2009
"At the edge"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 192 x 287.5 cm 2009
"Escapelands 1"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 50 x 70 cm 2009Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 192 x 287.5 cm 2009
"Escapelands 2"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 50 x 70 cm 2009Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 192 x 287.5 cm 2009
"Big White"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 179 x 224.5 cm 2009
"White man"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 120 x 120 cm 2009
Weihnachtsspatziergang in Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
Weihnachtsspatziergang in Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
Weihnachtsspatziergang in Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
A yellow evening sky, never seen like this before. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Foto: Martin Dammann
At a Hofbräuhaus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mickey and Barry
Foto: Martin Dammann
Dave, American collector of color slides from World War II
Foto: Martin Dammann
At an opening somewhere in Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Colleague Rainer, visiting the studio
Foto: Martin Dammann
Wiesenfest in Hohenberg, Oberfranken
Foto: Martin Dammann
Cornered
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thibaut, Barbara, unknown and Peter at Bar Babette, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Hipster (I suppose)
Foto: Martin Dammann
At "Muschi Obermeier's", Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Foto: Martin Dammann
Child in front of mother, forest bath in Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Julia in the Waldbad, Oberfranken
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike, Tempelhof Field, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Cloud and tree in sync
Foto: Martin Dammann
20.000 Militaria ebay photos. Toronto, Canada
Foto: Martin Dammann
20.000 Militaria ebay photos
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike, Greta, Tanja and Delphin, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
A strange scene, as if from the 17th century. The light. The poses.
Martin Dammann collection
Excursion party at a mountain lake. 1930s
Martin Dammann collection
Collage
Martin Dammann collection
American color slide, 1950s. Screenshot of the book "The Corinthians" by the Archive of Modern Conflict
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
American color slide, 1950s. Screenshot of the book "The Corinthians" by the Archive of Modern Conflictlict
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
American color slide, 1950s. Screenshot of the book "The Corinthians" by the Archive of Modern Conflict
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
American color slide, 1950s. Screenshot of the book "The Corinthians" by the Archive of Modern Conflict
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
"Sea of Love"
(My father, sleeping in the back of the living room)
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 191.5 x 158.5 cm 2010
"Thicket"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 191.5 x 158.5 cm 2010
"Kleiner Einfall"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 57,5 x 95 cm 2010
"2 Astrids"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm 2010
"Escapelands 3"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm 2010
"Descent"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 189 x 129 cm 2010
"Group with mill"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on paper, 195 x 288 cm 2010
"One more"
Watercolor, felt-tip pen on hardboard, 134 x 134 cm 2010
"Freiland"
Foto Print, Edition: 3, 2 APs, 222 x 154 cm 2010
"Cutting path (of light)"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 156 x 233 cm 2010
"Small lie"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 127 x 177 cm 2010
"Sunshines"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 101,5 x 143,5 cm 2010
"Meet the Germans"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 167 x 248 cm 2010
"Unknown girlfriend 2010/10"
Oil paint, watercolor, colored pen between acetate foil 35.5 x 28 cm 2010
"Unknown girlfriend 2010/1
Watercolor, felt-tip pen between acetate film 36 x 28 cm 2010
"Unknown girlfriend 2010/2"
Watercolor, oil paint, felt-tip pen between acetate film 36 x 28 cm 2010
"Unknown girlfriend 2010/3"
Watercolor, oil paint, felt-tip pen between acetate film 36 x 28 cm 2010
Heike transporting one of her works, Hohenberg, Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Bargaining for photos with Christoph. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
The only topic that upsets visitors: Ku Klux Klan objects. SOS Show, Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
After the show. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Christoph. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way in Montana. A light that no European who has not been there will believe. Thought for a long time that that was why it would not be paintable
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jerry and Judy in their Western collection room. Hamilton, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jerry, Western and Aviation artist. Hamilton, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jerry demonstrates how to throw a tomahawk. Hamilton, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
The "Surprise", 12 o'clock at night in the Leydicke; a burlesque show on the bar counter
Foto: Martin Dammann
Downpours in Istria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Back from the beach, Istria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Hannes in Istria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Before the thunderstorm, Istria
Foto: Martin Dammann
City in the clouds, Istria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Militaria dealer after a regional collectors' fair, Reichertshofen
Foto: Martin Dammann
Early in the morning at the parking lot of a Collectors' Fair. Reichertshofen
Foto: Martin Dammann
A British collector of aircraft photos from World War I, Reichertshofen
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heike and Greta in Hohenberg
Foto: Martin Dammann
Late, after a long journey
Foto: Martin Dammann
Baltic Sea
Foto: Martin Dammann
With Heike at an opening
Foto: Martin Dammann
I cannot show the relationship between photography and fossils any clearer. Above a biplane from the First World War, below a fish from the Permian, almost as if it had been photographed underwater
Martin Dammann collection
I have no better way of showing the proximity of photography and fossils. Above a double decker from the First World War in front of a dramatic sky, below a fish from the Permian, almost as if photographed underwater
Martin Dammann collection
A church, covered by layers of water like the fish from Messel on the left, once deposited in the lake bed. There's probably a whole village down there
Martin Dammann collection
For the first time at Thomas´ place, to search for fossils. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Dempsey Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas in the quarry. Behind him the layered block being quarried, in front the slabs set up to dry before being finely split. All in intense heat and at an altitude of almost 3000 m. Dempsey Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
The old Prep, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
My first big find appears, the fins of a Pharaeodus. Dempsey Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Suddenly a layer with fish next to fish. Results of a catastrophe about 50 million years ago. Dempsey Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Suddenly a layer with fish next to fish. Results of a catastrophe about 50 million years ago. Dempsey Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas and Barbara in their trailer. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas during preparation. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Result of 2 weeks. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
In front of the Trailer. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
British prisoner of war in World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Probably a Phillipina. From an American album, Word War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Probably a Phillipina. From an American album, Word War 2
Martin Dammann collection
A Ukrainian woman poses and dances for the camera of a German soldier in World War II
Martin Dammann collection
Mixed sunbathing on a Russian T34. Single photo, unfortunately without any context. It may therefore have been taken during or after the World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Absurd scene depicting Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
Martin Dammann collection
Shot-counter-shot: Emblem of an American bomber, with pin-up and kill markings, which became the trophy of a German flack unit, which in turn shot down the bomber and honored a photo of the bombers fragment to its commander
Martin Dammann collection
Probably from the 50s. The shadows behind the two make it
Martin Dammann collection
Even more shadows
Martin Dammann collection
Cross-dressing. A group of soldiers and their partners have swapped clothes and uniforms. The atmosphere is nevertheless modest
Martin Dammann collection
Improvised soldiers' theater "Circus Boos"
Martin Dammann collection
Supporters of the "Aktionsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Deutscher" AUD, a nationalist splinter party from the 1960s, which surprisingly later switched to the Greens. 1960s
Martin Dammann collection
Soldiers descend into a huge explosion funnel
Martin Dammann collection
In the waves
Martin Dammann collection
Water battle. Time and place unknown
Martin Dammann collection
A young man goes through the poses of an Luftwaffe pilot. Hard to believe it is him. But the uniform fits his skinny body
Martin Dammann collection
The last moments before a group of soldiers are separated from their partners
Martin Dammann collection
A little boy being drilled
Martin Dammann collection
Two Russians hold an injured female soldier while German soldiers carry grenades and grin at the group
Martin Dammann collection
An injured Russian prisoner of war
Martin Dammann collection
Pin-up on an American bomber, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
In a ghetto, probably in Poland. German soldiers rarely posed with the Jewish inhabitants there. Here one did. Is there a certain affectation to be felt? If so, the gulf still seems unbridgeable
Martin Dammann collection
Demolition of a house. Why? Norway or Finland?
Martin Dammann collection
Sometimes the camouflage in World War 2 is reminiscent of paintings from the 1950s and 60s. Here at Hockney's swimming pools
Martin Dammann collection
"The long moment"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 121 x 120 cm 2011
"denser"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 170 x 242 cm 2011
"Schonung"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 141 x 227 cm 2011
"Nowhere"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 192 x 134 cm 2011
"Wiesenfest"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 141 x 366 cm 2011
"Waldbad 1"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 163 x 238 cm 2011
"Waldbad 2"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 163 x 245 cm 2011
"5 Männer (freigestellt)"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm 2011
"It will not go away"
Drawing, watercolor on hardboard, 145 x 220 cm 2011
At the SOS Show, Louisville
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas. At the SOS Show, Louisville
Foto: Martin Dammann
Like a vision - as seen at a wedding in Italy
Foto: Martin Dammann
Philip at Christmas in Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
Secret - room that came to light during the demolition of a house
Foto: Martin Dammann
Enrico inspecting the room
Foto: Martin Dammann
2nd visit to Jerry, Western and Aviation artist. Hamilton, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way to the gallery. Hamilton, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
A collection of photos I bought from Jerry for the Archive of Modern Conflict.
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jerry with Judy and his gallerist in front of his paintings. Hamiltion, Montana
Foto: Martin Dammann
Adriano with a Christmas present, Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
On New Year's Eve in St. Idesbald, Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
Amal and Mario in the dunes of Westhoek, Flanders
Foto: Martin Dammann
Schwedter Straße, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
In Lille, France
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the studio
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the Berlin art fair
Foto: Martin Dammann
Mother before the opening of "Blind Spot", Georg Kargl Gallery, Vienna
Foto: Martin Dammann
Rolf +, Militaria dealer
Foto: Martin Dammann
My first find from Kemmerer 2011. The preparation immediately brought surprises: The slab is prepared from below. A Mioplosus, which had been bitten by a crocodile, sank dead to the bottom of the lake and has smashed headfirst through the dorsal fin of the main fish, which was already lying in the silt. The small fish on the top left is by far the rarest, a mooneye. These only came into the lake from tributaries to spawn
Foto: Martin Dammann
For the first time in the badlands of Wyoming. Jebs' Ranch. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas, friend and mentor, who slowly and gently taught me the many things you need to know here. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
After many days of searching, the first big find. The skull of an oreodon, plus more bones to the right. A small piece of stone with bones had fallen out and rolled to my feet. Otherwise I would never have climbed the steep slope. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Unmissable to the trained eye (which I had not yet had at the time): a skull that has emerged from the sediment. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Unmissable to the trained eye (which I had not yet had at the time): a skull that has emerged from the sediment. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Unmissable to the trained eye (which I had not yet had at the time): a skull that has emerged from the sediment. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
... a fossilized bird's egg. Very rare. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A moment in "Triangle 4", one of 2 restaurants in Lusk
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas helos me with the Oreodon that I found. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
More precisely, he is bringing it out. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
I have glued too much. This makes the plate break when it is lifted. Lusk, WyomingMore precisely, he is bringing it out. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
But this also has its good side: it shows that the animal is wonderfully preserved and all the bones are in place. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
After many hours of preparation (every day as a reward after work in the studio): The large "mass mortality" plate from last year in Kemmerer.
Foto: Martin Dammann
From a civilian album from the 1920s. It is difficult to decide why this group of people came together. But the effect of all the faces and looks is strong
Martin Dammann collection
Pin-up, painted on an American bomber. In the foreground, the mechanics servicing the plane
Martin Dammann collection
A soldier in a primitive field camp, probably Finland or northern Russia. The birch trees are very battered, whether from a bombardment or a storm is unclear. But the light. From a box of negatives, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
At a gaming table in the USA, 1962
Martin Dammann collection
Is the woman in front of a picture or an actual landscape? Photo of a German soldier by an Italian woman
Martin Dammann collection
From the album of an air force mechanic
Martin Dammann collection
Members of a front theater during World War II in the East. From the album of an artilleryman
Martin Dammann collection
Photo taken by an American Signal Corps photographer, during the liberation of a concentration camp. Found at an American military collector's market
Foto: Martin Dammann
In every respect the opposite image to the photo above left: The perpetrator side, reversal of light dark, winter and spring, leisure and liberation, horror and recreation. A poorly developed photo creates the contrast
Martin Dammann collection
A very strange photo. A staging in a team room. A champagne bottle, a figure with a mask, inflated condoms. But for what? A joke, a birthday, congratulations, a long-distance wedding?
Martin Dammann collection
"Afterwards"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 118 x 83.5 cm 2012
"Mündung"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 115x178 cm 2012
"Reader"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 142 x 196 cm 2012
"Reader"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 142 x 196 cm 2012
"Jammertal"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 161x263 cm 2012
"In the loop"
Aquarell, Bleistift, Gaffa-Band auf Papier, 155 x 245 cm 2012
"Slope"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm 2012
"Evening meal"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 182 x 272,5 cm 2012
"Koksijde"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper 169 x 237 cm 2012Watercolor, pencil on paper, 182 x 272,5 cm 2012
"Little dance 1-5"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper 116 x 86 cm, resp. 86 x 116 cm 2012
"Stefan"
Pencil on paper 21.6 x 28 cm 2012
"Snow"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on hardboard 90 x 142 cm 2012
"White noise"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 164 x 236 cm 2012
"Lichtung"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 165,5 x 238 cm 2012
After the search for photo albums. Eating on the top floor of a Frank Loyd Wright building. Somewhere on the highway. Lousiville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the SOS Show. Lousiville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
In a bar in the evening. Lousiville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the SOS Show. Lousiville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
An expert with a medieval "frogmouth" helmet, an early tournament helmet. AMC, London
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the morning. On the way to the studio
Foto: Martin Dammann
Conal and David, on the road in central England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Goodbye from Graham. Middlesbrough, England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Graham with his wife. Middlesbrough, England
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thunderclouds are coming. High time to leave the quarry. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Reenactment of the Battle of Leipzig
Foto: Martin Dammann
Back from the field of glory
Foto: Martin Dammann
Militaria dealer, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heiko with sniper mask from the 1st World War
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the bank
Foto: Martin Dammann
Self with a load of albums for the Archive of Modern Conflict
Foto: Martin Dammann
Anke and Leonie at our parents' home
Foto: Martin Dammann
The imprint of a jellyfish from the Jurassic of the Solnhofen limestones. The fossilization of bones is allready hard to believe. But something as fleeting as a jellyfish? A miracle
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas in the old cabin at the quarry. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A lotus fruit, Green River Formation, 55 million years old. Fossil Butte Museum, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A fern leaf. Washed into the sediments of an ancient lake. Fossil Butte Museum, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Detail of the fern leaf. I often admire the pictorial quality of fossils. Even though - or perhaps because - there is no artistic intent. Fossil Butte Museum, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
One of the most beautiful plant displays I know. Fossil Butte Museum, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Another cloud, this time harmless. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A fossilized bee. One more miracle. Fossil Butte Museum, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas and Stefan. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas in the paper layers of his quarry. That is where most of the plants and insects come from. It really is almost like reading a book. Kemmerer, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
He was a co-founder of one of the first citizens' initiatives in Germany to prevent the pit from becoming a garbage dump
Foto: Martin Dammann
An early carnivore from the Messel Pit. Stomach contents and even hair are preserved. According to one theory, it is not the soft tissue itself that is preserved, but only the iron-containing secretions of the bacteria that decomposed the hair and soft tissue. Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt
Foto: Martin Dammann
Two split sides containing a swallow-like bird from the Messel Pit. The animal was prepared from one side, then cast in resin and also prepared from the other side. In the end, all that remains is the wafer-thin layer that forms the fossil itself. If you hold such a slab up to the light, you think you are looking at a photo of the animal. Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt
Foto: Martin Dammann
A calamite from the Permian. Almost as if painted. Actually a little is painted, with varnish. But not by me
Foto: Martin Dammann
From a soldier's album. Across the river, probably the enemy. Nearby Compiegne, where both Germany's surrender in World War 1 and that of France in World War 2 were signed.
Martin Dammann collection
Three girls surprised while bathing. Time and place unknown, probably Russia, taken by a German soldier
Martin Dammann collection
A soldier's somersault in France, World War 1
Martin Dammann collection
Crossdresser during a carnivalesque sports festival in occupied France, 1940
Martin Dammann collection
One of those pictures that are good without me being able to say why. Maybe it is for the human silhouette painted on the wall, the man's posture, his expression. The light, the graininess
Martin Dammann collection
A photo from the 1930s or 40s. Most likely considered harmless at the time
Martin Dammann collection
Photo from World War 1. A dead French soldier is lying in the foreground. A German soldier crouching next to him has been carefully retouched out of the negative. A sign of remorse? Or shame?
Martin Dammann collection
Selfie of an officer in World War 1
Martin Dammann collection
German soldiers in front of a battle painting in occupied Paris. The statics of the monumental image versus the blurred movement of the soldiers looking at it
Martin Dammann collection
Group portrait of a middle class society. One could do a lot with the light and shadow. But in the meantime, this is almost too good a motif for me
Martin Dammann collection
Surreal parade with a fighter squadron towards the end of World War 1
Martin Dammann collection
Ruthenian peasant girl, 1910s
Martin Dammann collection
Chained black men guarded by an askari. From the album of a German settler in German East Africa
Martin Dammann collection
"The phantasmagoria of childhood"
Watercolor, pencil and colored pencil on hardboard, 118 x 170 cm 2013
"On the shore"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon and colored pencil on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2013
"Escapade"
Pencil on hardboard, 174 x 112 cm 2013
" Mirror of color/suffragette"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon and colored pencil on hardboard, 144 x 144 cm 2013
"Very small suffragette"
Pencil on paper, 20 x 30 cm 2013
"Suffragette in lead"
Pencil on paper, 100 x 126 cm 2013
"left right"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 143 x 245 cm 2013
"Prediction"
Watercolor, pencil, traces of work on hardboard, 31 x 43 cm 2013
"Mining in despair"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 166 x 226 cm 2013
"They're nice up close"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 188 x 266 cm 2013
"Wedding"
Watercolor, oil crayon on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2013
"The tree"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 170 x 120 cm 2013
"Inside the gorge"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 175 x 107,5 cm 2013
"Winter garden"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 143 x 220 cm 2013
"Little winter garden"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 62 x 95 cm 2013
"Le Relais", a restaurant in an airport building from the 1930s. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the main hall of the airport building. You almost think you can still hear the voices of the passengers. Especially if you have been looking at American photos from the 1910s to the 1950s all day. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Greetings to Shu. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
In front of the Expo Center. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Heiko, photo dealer. Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Brennraum"
Installation, Atelier Ruart, Paris
Installation, ink jet print, 190 x 1300 cm 2014
An evening walk in Lennep
Fotos: Martin Dammann
An evening walk in Lennep
Fotos: Martin Dammann
Barry shows his father our apartment
Foto: Martin Dammann
Living room
Foto: Martin Dammann
Corridor
Foto: Martin Dammann
And finally me
Foto: Martin Dammann
Meeting at the AMC, London
Foto: Martin Dammann
No room left at the front. AMC, London
Foto: Martin Dammann
An evening walk in Lennep
Fotos: Martin Dammann
Barry shows his father our apartment
Foto: Martin Dammann
An evening walk in Lennep
Fotos: Martin Dammann
Christian, gallerist and photo dealer, Munich
Fotos: Martin Dammann
Christoph, curator
Fotos: Martin Dammann
In an abandoned hut of miners. Red Mountain, Colorado
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Aus dem Über Heraus", Kunstsaele, Berlin
Video tour, 4.49 min 2014
"With your back to the wall"
Märkisches Museum, Witten
Video tour, 2.31 min 2014
Nika on the island of Rügen
Foto: Martin Dammann
„aus dem über heraus“, Kunstsaele, Berlin
Fotos: Martin Dammann
Cretaceous bird from Liaoning, China. Black Hills Insitute, South Dacota.
As if from a medieval dance of death painting
Foto: Martin Dammann
290 million year old puddle with twigs and seed cones from primitive conifers. Permian, Rotliegendes, Upper Palatinate
Martin Dammann collection
The tip of a conifer branch during preparation. 290 million years old, it could also be the image of a Christmas tree. Or a masterly Chinese ink drawing. Permian, Rotliegendes, Upper Palatinate
Martin Dammann collection
No beams of sunlight. A palm frond from Thomas' quarry, blown into the lake during a storm 50 million years ago.
Green River Formation, Kemmerer, Wyoming
Martin Dammann collection
Nika visits us in Wyoming
This is a footnote.
Nika visits us in Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the pyramid. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A turtle found by Thomas during the excavation. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas with 2 turtles. Possibly a male and a female that have sought refuge in a den. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
From the album of a man who excessively photographed women and girls on the beach in the GDR
Foto: Martin Dammann
Father and son in front of a wall of light, it seems
Martin Dammann collection
Overlaps between my photos, those of my father and my collection
Project
"Aus dem über heraus 6"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 1"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 2"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 4"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 8"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 5"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 7"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus 3"
Photo print, variable size 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 02"
Pencil, watercolor, gaffa tape on hardboard, 93 x 118 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 01"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 04"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 63,5 x 28 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 11"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 29 x 39 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 14"
Pencil, gaffa tape on hardboard, 144 x 143 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 09"
Pencil, colored pencil on hardboard, 144 x 143 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 15"
Pencil, colored pencil on hardboard, approx. 55 x 30 cm 2014
"Small chaise"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 70x50 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 08"
Pencil, watercolor, felt-tip pen on hardboard, 57.5 x 57 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 16"
Watercolor, traces of work on hardboard, approx. 17 x 24 cm 2014
"Pas de deux"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on hardboard, 143 x 101.5 cm 2014
"weiter weg"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 140 x 95.5 cm 2014
"Drawing 01/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 100 x 70 cm 2014
"Drawing 03/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2014
Drawing 04/2014"
Watercolor, pencil, traces of work on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2014
"Drawing 035/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 42 x 29 cm 2014
"Drawing 06/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 42 x 29 cm 2014
"Drawing 06/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 42 x 29 cm 2014
"Drawing 10/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2014
"Drawing 11/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2014
"Flash/drawing 13/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 43,5 x 57 cm 2014
"Acquaintance"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 140 x 105 cm 2014
"Drawing 02/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 70 x 100 cm 2014
"Drawing 12/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 142 x 142 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 12"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard, 94 x 124 cm 2014
"Drawing 15/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 142 x 142 cm 2014
"Drawing 15/2014"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 142 x 142 cm 2014
"Drawing 14/2014"
Pencil on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2014
"Bride"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 100 x 70 cm 2014
"The cuddly one"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 140 x 92 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 13"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 143 x 192 cm 2014
"This fire"
Watercolor, Gaffa tape, pencil on paper, 143 x 234.5 cm 2014
"Aus dem über heraus Zeichnung 10"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 132 x 207,5 cm 2014
"Butterfly"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 137 x 199,5 cm 2014
"Inferno"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 133 x 94 cm 2014
"With the back to the wall"
Watercolor, pencil, colored pencil on paper, 160 x 227 cm 2014
"Aunties"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 115 x 170 cm 2014
"Stadtpark"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 160 x 230 cm 2014
"Ben"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 42 x 42 cm 2014
"Out once again"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2014
Strange Loop
Tapestry, Bleistift und Ölfarbe, 220 x 220cm
2016
This is a footnote.
A scene from the World War 1, place and exact time unknown
Martin Dammann collection
Drunkenness, violence, or a combination of both? What does the hand on the far left mean? Photo by a German soldier in World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
From a small series of photos of American recruits with their girlfriends on the beach, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Virginia at the SOS Show. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Two reenactors. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Russian women with portraits of relatives during a ceremony to celebrate the end of the World War 2.
At the park of the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin-Treptow
Foto: Martin Dammann
During Christmas time, Leonie and Anke on a breakwater. Flanders, Belgium
Foto: Martin Dammann
During Christmas time, Leonie and Anke on a breakwater. Flanders, Belgium
Foto: Martin Dammann
Opening of " Zum Resultat beruhigter Tumult". Last room. Nuremberg Art Gallery
Foto: Martin Dammann
Parents
Foto: Martin Dammann
Evening stroll in Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way to the Korean restaurant in Yorkstraße
Foto: Martin Dammann
Leonie at our parents' home
Foto: Martin Dammann
Gas masks for horses. Dealer booth at a militaria collectors fair. Reichertshofen
Foto: Martin Dammann
The head of a primeval mammal (Oreodon). Found 1 or 2 years too late. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A turtle (Stylemis) shows up. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
The Oreodon I found in 2013, finally prepared. So-called sesame bones were found in the tail, the existence of which was previously unknown in oreodonts. They suggest a way of life in trees or in water
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas with a crocodile from the Messel Pit. As the fossil has been prepared from both sides and is cast in resin, its silhouette appears like a photograph from a moment 50 million years ago
Foto: Martin Dammann
Element of a photo series as part of the exhibition "Fire and Forget". Kunstwerke, Berlin
Martin Dammann collection
American seaman during a fire-fighting exercise, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Are the men protecting themselves from heat or something else from the light? A free-floating photo, open, strange, without any context. 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
Are the men protecting themselves from the heat or something else from the light? A photo without any context, 1940s
Martin Dammann collection
American pilots in front of a derelict bomber that they may once have flown. Pacific, World War 2
Martin Dammann collection
Painting a pin-up on an American bomber, World War 2
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
Painting a pin-up on an American bomber, World War 2
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
Mechanics in front of a pin-up of "their" bomber. World War 2
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
A German pilot wearing an American jacket, possibly captured or received from a pilot he shot down
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
"Easie Elsie", photo of the fragment of a downed American bomber that was given to the commander of a German anti-aircraft unit. The swastika framed in hearts symbolize German planes that were shot down by the bomber
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print
Photo of a British prisoner of war with a tattoo of a woman on his chest
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
"Louise, My Ideal" pin-up on an American bomber. World War 2
Installation "My Ideal", Inkjet Print, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
At first I thought this was a picture glitch. Or an experiment. But it's a view of a fortified beach from inside a bunker. World War 2, probably Atlantic Wall
Martin Dammann collection
Another photo that does not look like a real scene at first glance
Martin Dammann collection
"Waterfront"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 161 x 230.5 cm 2015
"Small white noise"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 56 x 104 cm 2015
"The second white noise"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 141 x 192 cm 2015
"Auftrag versus Oberfläche"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 160 x 231,5 cm 2015
"Minor surface tension"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 50 x 71 cm 2015
"By the barbed wire"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 140 x 104,8 cm 2015
"Dirt road"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 116 x 170 cm 2015
"Zeigen und Schweigen"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 154 x 220 cm 2015
"Zum Resultat beruhigter Tumult"
Video round tour, Kunsthalle Nürnberg,
"Jagdflieger sein ist ein schönes Land"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 3 parts, 288 x 405 cm 2015
Berlin, New Year
Foto: Martin Dammann
Berlin, New Year
Foto: Martin Dammann
Barry, Mickey, Virginia and Michelle. And Floyd. Before the obligatory dinner at "Jack Ruby's". Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michel, Louveciennes
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas looks at photos from Lusk
Foto: Martin Dammann
Philip
Foto: Martin Dammann
EHF Workshop of the Adenauer Foundation, Cadenabbia, Italy
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jean in front of "Hin und weg", at the exhibition "Schuld", Galerie InSitu, Paris
Foto: Martin Dammann
A moment in Berlin-Tiergarten
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jörg during a guided tour of the work areas at Berlin Zoo
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jörg and Björn, in Kreuzberg
Foto: Martin Dammann
A grand display of marine mammals at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Classic and yet, also as an artist, I can only admire the presentation
Foto: Martin Dammann
A moonfish and other sea creatures at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris
Foto: Martin Dammann
A family in front of a prehistoric mammal from the Quercy quarries. Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris
Foto: Martin Dammann
The great defilee of land mammals at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. A grandiose dance macabre from the 19th century
Foto: Martin Dammann
The two Thomassiis working their way into the hillside. Urals, Russia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jebs' badlands, our hunting grounds: Table Rock and Pyramid. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the old Indian Camp. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas at the ceremonial ring of the old Indian camp. Special plants form two large rings at the site. We believe that when the Indians danced, the earth was compacted in such a way that they now have different vegetation. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A wall of water is moving across the plain. We have just made it out of the canyons. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas shows me a discovery. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
At Barbara's after a thunderstorm drove us out of the canyons. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Bringing out the skull of an Oreodon. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
One of these magic moments from Lusk
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas drops by. Shortly afterwards, he found the enormous tooth of a titanotherium. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
With Michael in Triassic plant layers. Piz da Perez, South Tyrol
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael in his storeroom. San Candido, South Tyrol
Foto: Martin Dammann
A locality discovered by Michael. Piz da Perez, South Tyrol
Foto: Martin Dammann
One of the oldest fossilized animals. It comes from the Ediacaran of Australia, approx. 600 million years old. It is unclear whether this fauna is at all related to our animal lineage
Foto: Martin Dammann
Plate and counterplate with the branch of an early conifer. Urals, Russia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Plate and counterplate with the branch of an early conifer. Urals, Russia
Foto: Martin Dammann
The branch looks like an ink drawing of an entire tree. As is so often the case with fossils, the composition and dynamics are knee-buckling. Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology in Munich
Foto: Martin Dammann
The 7th proto-bird Archaeopterix ever found. Even the feathers are preserved as impressions. Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology, Munich
Foto: Martin Dammann
An archetypal amphib. Again with a composition and tonality that can make one jealous. Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology, Munich
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Nothing but water"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 119 x 140 cm 2016
"Do we have to be afraid"
Watercolor on hardboard, 230 x 170 cm 2016
"Small landscape with tree on paper"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 48 x 79 cm 2016
"Small landscape with tree on hardboard"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 42 x 42 cm 2016
"Waterfaller"
Watercolor on hardboard, 140 x 140 cm 2016
"Little dazzler"
Watercolor, scratch marks on hardboard, 50.5 x 50.5 cm 2016
"There and then"
Photo print, variable size
"A small beginning"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 70 x 70 cm 2016
"Small field"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 60 x 60 cm 2016
"Spotlight"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 145 x 100 cm 2016
"Comfort"
Watercolor, pencil, scratch marks on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2016
"Small blur"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 50 x 70 cm 2016
"Little blur 3"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 70 x 50 cm 2016
"Skin"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 230 x 159 cm 2016
"Heat"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 115 x 115 cm 2016
"Small floater"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 50,5 x 72,5 cm 2016
"Spritztour"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 55 x 60 cm 2016
"Kleines Waldstück"
Aquarell, Bleistift, Kratzspuren auf Hartfaserplatte, 70 x 50 cm 2016
"Small journey"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 50x70 cm 2016
"Auf weissem Grund"
watercolour, pencil on paper, 198x267,5 cm
2017
"Am Strand"
Watercolour, pencil on paper, 115 x 170.5 cm
2016
"Freundliche Übernahme"
"Draper in masonic dress"
Aquarell, Bunt- und Bleistift auf Hartfaserplatte, 143 x 202 cm 2017
"Where every prospect pleases"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier114 x 167, 2016
"Greetings"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier, 178 x 290 cm,
2016
"Im Dschungel"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier, 41 x 57 cm,
2017
"Kein schöner Land"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Hartfaserplatte, 130 x 170 cm
2017
"Verschwinder"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Hartfaserplatte, 118 x 93 cm
2017
"Gelegen"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Hartfaserplatte, 70 x 100 cm,
2017
Kaffekränzchen"
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier, 92 x 113,5 cm,
2017
"Kein schöner Land"
Ausstellungsansicht, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
2017
"Kein schöner Land"
Ausstellungsansicht, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
2017
"Kein schöner Land"
Ausstellungsansicht, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
2017
"Kein schöner Land"
Ausstellungs-Rundgang, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
2017
"Die Esser"
Watercolour, pencil on paper, 207x287cm
2017-2018
Study for "Die Schatzsucher"
Watercolour, pencil on paper, approx. 75 x 95 cm
2017
Colonialism: Nuns with Christianized children, probably New Guinea, turn of the century
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
2 soldiers and 2 settlers in Africa hunting with a native. Around 1900
Martin Dammann collection
Colonialism. A white settler (or a pastor?) with natives. Possibly German - New Guinea. The woman on the left and probably also the person on the right is wearing a German belt buckle. Their hats are modeled on navy caps.
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Colonialism. Native policemen administer corporal punishment to one of their comrades, under the supervision of a white officer and a white settler. Probably German New Guinea
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Colonialism. Two white settlers re-enact the punishment of an African. German Southwest Africa (Cameroon), turn of the century. The inscription was added later
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
A group of African women and men in chains are forced to do earthworks. On the right and in the background Askaris supervising, on the left a German settler. German East Africa (today Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda)
Sammlung Martin Dammann
Colonialism. Typical, professional portrait of a "native", probably New Guinea. Such photos were produced in large numbers, mainly as souvenirs for tourists. They are highly staged and often follow a European-influenced pictorial canon
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Colonialism. An African wedding party in western dress and habitus.
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Colonialism. Execution of a black man in German East Africa. Black people, Askaris as well as German settlers, military personnel and a priest are present. Drastic photos like these are the exception in albums of colonialists.
Martin Dammann collection
Colonialism, turn of the century. A photo postcard intended as an Easter greeting, possibly showing a group of Nama in German Southwest Africa.
Greeting postcards of this type were not uncommon. They also exist in other contexts up to the Second World War
Sammlung Martin Dammann
Colonial wedding in German New Guinea, 1907. The bride and some of the guests are natives from the local upper class
Sammlung Archive of Modern Conflict
Colonialism. Excursion company, German New Guinea, possibly Bougainville. Surprising how at ease the gathering of white men, women and indigenous girls seems to be
Archive of Modern Conlfict collection
Colonialism. Excursion company, German New Guinea, possibly Bougainville. White men and women with indigenous girls. In the background 3 indigenous boys. Exploitation or document of an attempt at an alternative way of life? Or both?
Archive of Modern Conlfict collection
Colonialism. Excursion party, German New Guinea, possibly Bougainville, turn of the century.
Archive of Modern Conlfict collection
Colonialism. Official in Java, around 1900, dressed in a combination of traditional elements and western uniforms.
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Colonialism. Studio portrait of a black woman in European clothes. The background is an exotic fantasy landscape, but the staging follows classic European studio settings. But why are the shoes missing? From an album of colonialists in German East Africa
Collection Martin Damman
A "foreign volunteer" of the "Turkistan Legion" with his German instructor or commander. 1944
Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, London
A German front-line theater performance during World War II. A robot and a gun with the name "Ultra". Which is surprising, since "Ultra" was the British code name for decoding enemy messages.
Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, London
World War 2. A German soldier with a doll in his dugout.
Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, London
Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, London
3 photographs of a colonial soldier taken prisoner of war in France, presumably from 1940. From the album of a German soldier.
Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, London
A black woman photographed in a French, Belgian or Dutch city. Photo and caption by a German soldier during World War II.
Sammlung Martin Dammann
Militaria Collector
Barry arrives at the hotel. Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
photo by Martin Dammann
On the way to the Militaria Fair, Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Militaria Collectors
Barry on his way to the Militaria Fair. Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Barry at his table. Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
Photo taken by Martin Dammann
Visitors to a military fair. The man on the left is wearing a helmet of Saddam Hussein's presidential guard. Its design is strongly reminiscent of the mask of "Darth Vader". SOS show, Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme: Martin Dammann
Militaria Collectors
During a brief outage of the skylights. Militaria Fair in Louisville, Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme: Martin Dammann
Reception in the Barbara Thumm gallery for the 20th anniversary.
Aufnahme: Martin Dammann
Family gathering
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Backed into a corner
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
At a rest house in the Urals, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Militaria Collectors
Dealer, SOS show, Louisville/Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Militaria Collectors
Barry in his hotel room, Louisville/Kentucky, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Collector in Canada
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
American school class at Wounded Knee Cemetery, South Dakota, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Former "Minuteman" missile silo, South Dakota, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
father with grandson
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Tourists descending from a former volcano.
"Craters of the Moon", Idaho, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Geri, Brighton, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Living room
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Christoph and acquaintance, Myslivska, Berlin, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Treptower Park, Berlin, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Oliver in front of a map with markings of his customers
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Berlin, Frankfurter Allee
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
fossils
Psygmophyllum, an enigmatic plant from the Permian, Ural/Russia
Fossils
Permomatveevia perneri a Permian scorpion that I found, drew and described.
Fossils
A small fly from the Permian, Urals/Russia, found in 2017
Fossils
A tortoise (Stylemis) from the Oligocene of Wyoming. The brown represents the interior of the animal, which was filled with sediment.
Fossils
Plate and counter plate with a Permian fern, Ural/Russia
Fossils
2 views of the skull of a proto-mammal (Oreodon). The fragment had washed out and lay at the bottom of a canyon. One can see the beginning of the spine and the perfectly preserved ear region.
Fossils
Small turtle (Stylemis) crushed in transit, during reconstruction.
Fossils
Small tortoise (Stylemis) during excavation. The shells can be white, grey, green, yellow or even pink. Oligocene, Badlands of Wyoming, 2017
Fossils
First bone fossil sighting (fragment of a leg bone) in a canyon, Badlands of Wyoming, 2017
fossils
The skull of a proto-mammal (Oreodon) looking out of the slope of a canyon, Badlands of Wyoming, 2017
Fossils
3-D scan of a rock in which a primordial mammal and a primordial reptile died huddled together, probably in a flooded cave. Triassic. From an article on the internet.
fossils
The finds of an excavation campaign. Lusk/Wyoming, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
In Ferro's kitchen. South Tyrol, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
In Permian sediments, Urals, Russia, 2017
Looking for fossils
Michael with a Permian plant fossil (Biarmopteris pulchra). Urals/Russia, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Procession to celebrate the end of World War II. In a small village in the Urals. Russia, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Michael documenting the finds, Urals, Russia, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Nika entering a lava bubble. Craters of the Moon, Idaho/USA 2017
Photo taken by Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Thomas wonders to which animal this bone could belong to. It looked very strange.
Only when I dug in it become clear: the lower jaw of an Archaeotherium. The scull lay just besides.
Badlands of Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
The moment when the turtle depicted to the right came into sight.
Badlands of Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Whilst brining out a small turtle.
Badlands of Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Susan preparing an Eocene palm with 8 leafs. Such leafs would be washed into the ancient lake by storms and torrents.
Kemmerer, Wyoming/USA 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Picnic with Thomas and Nika in the lowest outcrops (Chadronian).
Badlands of Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Nika, Tristan and Thomas in search of petrified wood
Blue Forest, Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
Thomas on his way to where the Archaeotherium is located
Badlands of Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Looking for fossils
On the Bighorn Mountains. They consist of an uninterrupted sequence of strata from the Miocene (at the foot of the mountains, ca. 20 million years) to Precambrian sediments at the top, which are up to 2 billion years old. So whilst driving this street one travels straight through the entire history of the earth.
Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming/USA, 2017
Aufnahme Martin Dammann
Concubines or prostitutes. From the album of a German settler in German East Africa (today Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda)
Sammlung Martin Dammann
"Im Wasser 1" presentation "Rohkunstbau, Mind the Gap", Lieberose Castle, 2018
Foto: Martin Dammann
With Marc in front of "Im Wasser 1", Lieberose Castle, 2018
Foto: Martin Dammann
Marc, Lieberose Castle 2018
Foto: Martin Dammann
Ondrej
Foto: Martin Dammann
Visiting Barry in New Jersey. He has been working on the chronicle of an air force unit for 20 years. The jacket is a gift from one of the pilots
Foto: Martin Dammann
On a shooting range in New Jersey
Foto: Martin Dammann
Found at a shooting range in New Jersey
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way to a restaurant, New Jersey
Foto: Martin Dammann
Hiltrud
Foto: Martin Dammann
An ancestor of deer and elk was washed up in the loop of a small river 34 million years ago. White River Formation, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Suddenly there are two Thomases. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Excavating a large skull. You might have a look at "Warpig" in 2022 Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A very special moment. The year before, I had found the lower jaw of an Entelodon at this spot. Right now the skull has turned up right besidest. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Excavation of an oreodont skull. Many people are only interested in the skull. I often also take away a fair portion of the matrix in which the animal is embedded. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Excavation of an oreodont skull. Often only the skull itself is recovered. But I usually also take some of the matrix in which the animal is embedded. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way to the canyons we came across a water turtle. It is now coming with us to the next pond
Foto: Martin Dammann
The finds after 2 weeks of searching. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas at the old Indian camp. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A walk near Lennep
Foto: Martin Dammann
" Abstieg "
Gallery In Situ, Paris Exhibition view 1
Foto: Martin Dammann
" Abstieg "
Gallery In Situ, Paris Exhibition view 2
Foto: Martin Dammann
" Abstieg "
Gallery In Situ, Paris Exhibition view 3
Foto: Martin Dammann
" Abstieg "
Gallery In Situ, Paris Exhibition view 4
Foto: Martin Dammann
"The finder"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 78.5 x 118 cm 2018
"The treasure hunters"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 197,5 x 267 cm 2018
"The treasure hunters", sketch
Watercolor, pencil on paper, appx. 50 x 70 cm 2018
"Oberflächenspannung"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 177 x 248 cm 2018
"A small clan"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 68 x 99,5 cm 2018
"Paddlers"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 122,5 x 165 cm 2018
"In water 1"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 3 parts; 195 x 420 cm 2018
"In water 2"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 2 parts, 195 x 310 cm 2018
5mm MDF board on which the middle section of "Im Wasser 1" was stretched
Work traces, watercolor on white coated 5mm MDF board, 195x145 cm 2018
"Searching 2"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
"Searching 3"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
"Searching 1"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
"Searching 4"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
"Searching 5"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
"Searching 6"
Pencil, oil crayon and watercolor on paper, 40 x 57 cm 2018
Publication of my book
“Soldier Studies, Cross-dressing in the Wehrmacht”
published by Hatje Cantz Verlag
Barry with his analysis of the coded entries in the pay book of a German pilot from World War II. Louisville, Kentucky
Foto: Martin Dammann
David
Foto: Martin Dammann
Viewing archive material in an office in Toronto
Foto: Martin Dammann
Preparatory works for "In water 3"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Opening at Bar K, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
In the living room
Foto: Martin Dammann
Elisa and Isabelle, Turin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Joep
Foto: Martin Dammann
We did not see that movie
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael in the Urals
Foto: Martin Dammann
On the way to a site in the Urals
Foto: Martin Dammann
Another site. The plant that appeared here was later described as a new species
Foto: Martin Dammann
A Psygmophyllum leaf from the Urals. It is a miracle that something as fine as a leaf can survive in these sandy, unstructured sediments - over almost 300 million years
Foto: Martin Dammann
In a café in Yekaterinburg. Thomas in front of a wallpaper with plants with keys hanging from them. The perfect illustration of what he is looking for. Plus this one winking head. Impossible to make that up
Foto: Martin Dammann
Sand ripples from a beach in Asturias during the Upper Jurassic period in Asturias.
Museo del Jurásico de Asturias
Foto: Martin Dammann
Fossilized raindrops from the time of the dinosaurs. A whole movie plays before my mind's eye.
Museo del Jurásico de Asturias
Foto: Martin Dammann
After a hot day in the canyons: We confirm to Thomas that he has indeed found an Entelodon skull. And in his second year!
Foto: Martin Dammann
Such a sight is very rare: When turtles have weathered out this far, they are usually already missing a few plates. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Easily overlooked in the shadows: the skull of an early deer (Leptomeryx). Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
This is the lower jaw of the first known canine predecessor (Hesperocyon). It had the size of a Pinscher. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas looks at the textbook excavation of the Entelodon skull. We had both walked past the site at other times. But there was nothing to see. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Does not look like much. But it was already clear that these are fragments of a bird bone. And for some unfathomable reason, they almost never survive in these sediments. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
The prepared and reassembled bird bone. We showed it to an expert at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, who identified and described it as a new species
Foto: Martin Dammann
Here are 2 excerpts from the paper
Foto: Martin Dammann
People have been searching and researching in this area for over 150 years. I would never have dared to dream of finding a new species there
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jeb with "Soldier Studies"
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Im Wasser 3"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 3 parts, approx. 195 x 435 cm 2019
"Jeder im jeweils"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 195 x 289 cm 2019
"Taking a picture"
Watercolor, pencil, oil pastel, tape on paper, 92 x 114 cm 2019
"H drawing 8"
Pencil, colored pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2019
"Raid"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 133 x 90 cm 2019
"Mayence"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 133 x 90 cm 2019
"Endgame"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 155 x 195 cm 2019
"H drawing 6"
Pencil, colored pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2019
"A drawing 1"
Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 50 x 50 cm 2019
"H drawing 5"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil and gaffa tape on hardboard, 73.5 x 90 cm 2019Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 50 x 50 cm 2019
"Perhaps a candid moment"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 142 x 192 cm 2019
"H drawing 7"
Pencil on hardboard, 35.5 x 56 cm 2019
"H drawing 2d"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil on hardboard, 67 x 45 cm 2019
"H drawing 5"
Pencil, watercolor, colored pencil and gaffa tape on hardboard, 73.5 x 90 cm 2019Pencil, watercolor on hardboard, 50 x 50 cm 2019
A little boy cornered. At the "Wiesenfest" in Hohenberg, Upper Franconia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Laura at Gorgonzola Club, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
With the parents
Foto: Martin Dammann
There is a watercolor by Anders Zorn in which you can see the bottom of the lake in the shadow of a rowing boat. That would be a challenge
Foto: Martin Dammann
Moving out of the studio at Rummelsburger Bucht
Foto: Martin Dammann
During the studio move. Models from previous exhibitions
Foto: Martin Dammann
Deconstruction of the studio at Rummelsburger Bucht. Joep with a helper
Foto: Martin Dammann
Deconstruction of the studio at Rummelsburger Bucht.
As if nothing had ever happened
Foto: Martin Dammann
Part of the shoulder bone of an entelodon. In the hard streaking light, it reminds me of photos of comet Chury, which were delivered by the Rosetta mission
Foto: Martin Dammann
That gave me an idea 2 years and a pandemic later
Foto: Martin Dammann
An "exploding fish" from Kemmerer, Wyoming. This happens when animals have sunk to the bottom of the lake and have not been overlaid quickly enough. Then they start to decompose and the slightest water movement carries away scales and bones
Foto: Martin Dammann
Sometimes all that is left is an airy cloud of bones and scales. Such fossils are usually thrown away. They make me want to draw.
Foto: Martin Dammann
At Thomas's before the next expedition
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael is already dreaming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Ascent to the saurian track site
Foto: Martin Dammann
A plate with lots of imprints. Like a clay slab with inscriptions
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael shows us the layers he has detected
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas has found a large saurian track in the scree
Foto: Martin Dammann
Visit to Georg Kandutsch and his private museum on the Nockalmhof. Carinthia, AustriaThomas has found a large saurian track in the scree
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas at a tricky point
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Ex-girlfriend"
Exhibition view, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Ex-girlfriend"
Exhibition view, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
The ruins of a completely destroyed city in winter. A surreal scene, as if underwater. From a diary from the 1st World War
Martin Dammann collection
A strange photo: what looks like a cumulus cloud is actually a huge fire. Taken by a reconnaissance plane during World War 1 - yet on the ground
Martin Dammann collection
"Coming of age" in the 3rd Reich. Teenagers in the Reich Labor Service. Actually too old for such a child's play, it appears like a re-enactment of childhood - while the call-up for military service draws ever closer
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
Two French Tirailleurs Sénégalais during the occupation of the Rhineland. Double portrait of a Mainz photo studio, 1920s
Martin Dammann collection
Two French colonial soldiers from Algeria or Morocco during the occupation of the Rhineland. Double portrait from a Mainz photo studio, 1920s
Martin Dammann collection
A French colonial horseman from Algeria or Morocco with a partner during the occupation of the Rhineland. It is unclear whether the woman is German or French and what the relationship between the two was. Double portrait from a Mainz photo studio, 1920s
Martin Dammann collection
Installation project for the virtual gallery "New Viewings" of Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
Montage: Martin Dammann
Installation project for the virtual gallery "New Viewings" of Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
Montage: Martin Dammann
Installation project for the virtual gallery "New Viewings" of Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
Montage: Martin Dammann
"Marshmalllow
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 133 x 90 cm 2020
"M"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 118 x 93 cm 2020
"Tiergarten"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 193 x 290 cm 2020
"North Sea"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 93 x 118 cm 2020
Hovering over "Tiergarten"
Foto: Martin Dammann
"N"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 93 x 118 cm 2020
"Angel (always smile)"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 192 x 143 cm 2020
"Angel (always smile)"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 140 x 220 cm 2020
"Flight of fancy"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 68 x 152 cm 2020
"Woman screaming"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 115 x 115 cm 2020
"Linked"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 195 x 155,5 cm 2020
"On top of me"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 100 x 70 cm 2020
"Tipping point"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 200 x 140 cm 2020
"Head full of images"
Watercolor, pencil on hardboard, 50 x 70 cm 2020
Nika in Puglia
Foto: Martin Dammann
Neighborhood gathering
Foto: Martin Dammann
A workshop of historians on the subject of "Trophy photography of soldiers" at the Sorbonne, Paris
Foto: Martin Dammann
At a session of the workshop "Trophy photography of soldiers"
Foto: Martin Dammann
Family reunion in Turin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Preparation of an oreodon from Lusk, Wyoming. Found 2017
The removed chunks
08.03. 2021
Preparation of an oreodon from Lusk, Wyoming.
The slab with the fossil is reassembled
09.03. 2021
Preparation of an oreodon from Lusk, Wyoming.
Slowly the spine, ribs and head emerge
19.04. 2021
Preparation of an oreodon from Lusk, Wyoming.
08.06. 2021
Preparation of an oreodon from Lusk, Wyoming.
Done. I wanted to see the animal as it probably lay in a cave - and then 34 million years in the mountain
31.10. 2021
Thomas unchained. Permian sediments, Carinthian Alps, Austria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael and Thomas dig in. Carinthian Alps, Austria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Part of a large fern frond from the Permian. Carinthian Alps, Austria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Michael has uncovered a beautiful fern frond. Carinthian Alps, Austria
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas in front of his Warpig from 2019
Foto: Martin Dammann
The photographer's shadow obscures the person being photographed
Martin Dammann collection
In occupied France, 1941
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
A very strange, inconspicuous picture. Circumstances and location unknown. But I know I could make something out of it
Martin Dammann collection
Through the shadows in the water you can see the bottom of the lake!
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
A beading scene that I copied from some AMC album into my folder for possible templates. The place, time and circumstances are completely unknown. But maybe this is exactly it
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
"Soldier Studies Lentos"
Installation as part of the group exhibition "Transformation and Return", Lentos Museum, Linz, Austria
Inkjet print, 383 x 1177 cm 2021
American press photo, 1940
Archive of Modern Conflict collection
"5th will-o'-the-wisp"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 115 x 115 cm 2021
"3rd will-o'-the-wisp"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 160 x 230 cm 2021
"1st will-o'-the-wisp"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 170 x 115,5 cm 2021
"2nd will-o'-the-wisps"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 155 x 195 cm 2021
"4th will-o'-the-wisps"
Watercolor, pencil on paper, 155 x 195 cm 2021
"Father"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper, 155 x 240 cm 2021
"Will-o'-the-wisps no.12"
Oil crayon, pencil on paper, 58 x 21 cm 2021
"Will-o'-the-wisps no.13"
Oil crayon, pencil on hardboard, 58 x 21 cm 2021
"Will-o'-the-wisps no.09"
Pencil on paper, 39 x 49 cm 2021
"Will-o'-the-wisps no.08"
Oil crayon, pencil on paper, 21 x 29 cm 2021
Nika
Foto: Martin Dammann
While working on "Lusk1"
Foto: Martin Dammann
David and Tom in Toronto
Foto: Martin Dammann
An exhibition on black rodeo riders at the Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Big Bend National Park, Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
The remains of a cactus. Big Bend National Park, Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Diorama at Fort Davis, Texas, depicting African-American "Buffalo Soldiers" in a battle against Indians
Foto: Martin Dammann
Fort Davis, Texas. The preserved houses of the officers
Foto: Martin Dammann
Fort Davis, Texas. In front of the entrance to the commanders house. The original furnishings were reassembled from houses in the area
Foto: Martin Dammann
Not far from Crosbytown, West Texas, after a sandstorm with reddish dust. Like the transition to another world
Foto: Martin Dammann
By chance we met Joe and his Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum. Crosbytown, West Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Joe has been digging for fossils for 40 years and therefore knows everything, the layers, the bygone life forms. Here with the cast of a mastodon skull
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the same time, Joe was a creationist and convinced that the earth was created by God 6000 years ago. Things that I would never have thought could be made to coincide. I wanted to spend a few weeks searching and filming with him. Unfortunately, he died in 2023
Foto: Martin Dammann
A Comanche shield, the core of which consists of an iron shield from Spanish conquistadors.
Canyon Panhandle Plains Museum, Canyon, Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Ant perspective. Maybe one day I will have time to draw a science fiction comic. Palo Duro Canyon, Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Dan and Sven during a workshop on "Trophy photography by soldiers", Sorbonne, Paris.This time in Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Elissa, the initiator of the workshop and Lou
Foto: Martin Dammann
Lou, with camo helmet in front of "Sea of Love"
Foto: Martin Dammann
At the workshop "Trophy photography of soldiers", Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Opening at the Bark Gallery , Berlin
Foto: Martin Dammann
Somewhere in Texas
Foto: Martin Dammann
Western art has always attracted me. Just like an Eskimo might dream of Hawaii.
Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio
Foto: Martin Dammann
Sea Urchins from the Jurassic of Morocco. One almost thinks they are moving again - just like with Pygmalion.
Huston Museum of Natural Science
The enormous skin - imprint of a Triceratops
Huston Museum of Natural Science
Foto: Martin Dammann
Even parts of the skin itself are preserved and have completely changed the image we have of Triceratops. It probably had quills
Huston Museum of Natural Science
Foto: Martin Dammann
A giant sloth.
Huston Museum of Natural Science
Foto: Martin Dammann
Thomas on the first morning in Lusk
Foto: Martin Dammann
Branding on Jeb's farm. Neighbors and the whole family help. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A skull! When I dug it out, I thought it was a sabre-toothed cat. But during preparation it turned out to be a bear dog. Not quite as spectacular, but even rarer here. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Jeb with his portrait. Over the years, we have become friends. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
A small skull. I only saw it the second time I walked past. The double bone crest makes it recognizable as Leptictis, a living fossil that was still walking around between the legs of dinosaurs. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
The skull of a primitive horse. Without the pandemic, I would probably have found it 1 or 2 years earlier and more complete. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
The would-be saber-toothed cat. Lusk, Wyoming
Foto: Martin Dammann
Expedition to Kyrgyzstan to search for insect fossils. With professors from the University of Osh, Kyrgyzstan
Foto: Martin Dammann
After 2 days of traveling, finally at the site in the far west of Kyrgyzstan. At the back left, the hill where Russian palaeontologists searched in the 1970s
Foto: Martin Dammann
One immerses oneself in another world. Images emerge
Foto: Martin Dammann
A shepherd also passed by
Foto: Martin Dammann
The wing of a giant grasshopper-like insect surfaces
Foto: Martin Dammann
Some of the wings still show the insect's camouflage pattern. A tiny window into a 270 million year old world. Madygen, Kyrgyzstan
Foto: Martin Dammann
A winged insect in reverse position. Unfortunately, the matrix is so soft that we have not yet found a good method for preparing the fossils. Madygen, Kyrgyzstan
Foto: Martin Dammann
One of our most beautiful finds, a cicada-like insect. Thomas was the lucky one. Madygen, Kyrgyzstan
Foto: Martin Dammann
A farewell portrait for our host, Mama Sala. Madygen, Kyrgyzstan
Foto: Martin Dammann
"Will-o'-the-wisps No. 15"
Watercolors, pencil and oil crayon on hardboard 88 x 155.5 cm 2022
"Will-o'-the-wisps No. 14"
Watercolors, pencil, tape and oil crayon on hardboard 42 x 42 cm 2022
"Will-o'-the-wisps No. 16"
Pencil, watercolors and tape on hardboard 70 x 50 cm 2022
"Will-o'-the-wisps No. 17"
Watercolors, pencil, oil pastels and tape on paper, on multipages 59 x 30 cm 2022
"Will-o'-the-wisps No. 17"
Watercolors, pencil, oil pastels and tape on paper, on multipages 59 x 30 cm 2022
"12 755 000 000 days"
Watercolor, pencil, gaffa tape on paper 140.2 x140.2 cm 2022
"Titano tooth"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 43.2 x 57.2 cm 2022
"Titano tooth fragmented"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 44,5 x 44,5 cm 2022
"12 755 000 000 Days - Finding"
Discovery and removal of a fossilized mammal skull in Lusk, Wyoming
Video, total 24.10 min Excerpt here: 7.09 min 2022
"12 755 000 000 Days - Searching"
Searching for fossils in Lusk, Wyoming
Video, 8;26 min 2022
"Lusk 1"
Watercolor, pencil, felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, oil crayon on paper 8 - parts 247.5 x 340 cm 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Daphoenus vetus"
Video Loop, 30 sek. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Daphoenus vetus"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 35 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Leptictis haydeni"
Video Loop, 30 sek. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Leptictis haydeni"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 26 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Mesohippus bairdii"
Video Loop, 30 sek. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Mesohippus bairdii"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 21 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Mesohippus bairdii"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 30 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Mesohippus bairdii 2"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 21 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Poebrotherium wilsoni"
Video Loop, 30 sek. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Poebrotherium wilsoni"
Excerpt from video - Loop, 31 sec. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Stylemis nebrascensis"
Video Loop, 30 sek. 2022
"12 755 00 00 Days /Stylemis nebrascensis"
Auszug aus Video - Loop, 13 sek. 2022
"12 755 000 000 Days - Finding"
Discovery and removal of a fossilized mammal skull in Lusk, Wyoming
Video, min 2022
"In the Chadron"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on hardboard 98 x 150 cm 2022
"In the Chadron"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on hardboard 98 x 150 cm 2022
"At Moon Mountain"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 28,5 x 43cm 2022
"Get out of here", "Concretion", "Jeb's Land", "A Good Day"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 28,5 x 43cm 2022
"Night white"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 37 x 133,5 cm 2022
"104°Fahrenheit"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 90,5 x 155 cm 2022
"Get out of here"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 174 x 86 cm 2022
"Dreaming awake"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 140,5 x 200,5 cm 2022
"Concretion"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 54,3 x 90 cm 2022
"Jeb´s Land"
Watercolor, pencil on paper 54,3 x 36 cm 2022
"Palaeoplancus"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 29 x 64 cm 2022
"A good day"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 54,3 x 36 cm 2022
"104° Fahrenheit", "In the Chadron", "Night White", "Palaeoplancus", "Moon Mountain", "Wall of Water"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 140 x 195 cm 2022
"Wall of water"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 57 x 85,5 cm 2022
"Lusk 2"
Watercolor, pencil, felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, oil crayon on paper 8 - parts 247.5 x 340 cm 2022
"Warpig"
Watercolor, pencil, oil crayon on paper 140 x 200 cm 2022
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On my book “Soldier Studies, Crossdressing in the Wehrmacht”
Private photographs have always fascinated me. Again and again, amongst the piles of sentimental, banal, poorly lit and faded photos, images appear that a professional could never have shot, because they have come about as a result of the mistakes that professionals do not make. Professional photographs have a distinct direction, produce clear images and unambiguous messages. Amateur photographs function in different ways. They are chaotic, unfocused, and the most striking amongst them are often difficult to categorise. This makes them special. But it also poses a problem. How is one to find such a photo again amongst the thousands of others?
The simplest solution is to place the one you’ve found alongside photographs that are in some way similar. And in this way - simply by sticking them in folders – one sees the emergence of groupings, fields and categories that are often as unpredictable as the photographs from which they are constructed.
In collating them, it struck me that from time to time there were photos of cross-dressing soldiers – and I began to collect them.
During the Second World War, as during the First, great efforts were made, through all manner of entertainment, to distract soldiers from the existential threat they faced. Not for altruistic reasons, of course: in the end, the aim was to embolden the will to fight. The National Socialists had an additional goal in mind, which was to remind the soldiers of their Heimat (homeland) through the use of professional theatrical performances. These Front Theater shows were financed and put in place by the Propaganda Ministry and the ‘Strength Through Joy’ organization.
There was however another kind of ‘Front Theater’, organised by the Wehrmacht units themselves, often spontaneously cast with more or less suitable musicians and actors from within their own ranks. While, thanks to the abundance of official documents, state theatrical operations have been well researched, practically nothing has been written about these ‘soldier theaters’. One would have to piece together the relevant fragments and information from the vast number of first-person accounts: memoirs, letters, reports by veterans as well as the unit chronicles that have often been written by amateur historians. This work has yet to be done, and so the closer one comes to the subject of this book, cross-dressing soldiers, the more one draws a blank.
It seems plausible that, across the centuries, soldiers have always responded to their longing and desires not only by imagining what they were missing but – also – by trying to evoke its immediate presence. The phenomenon of soldiers dressing up in female clothing can be traced across all nationalities and conflicts that have been photographically documented, while the written sources go even further back. Strangely enough there is a particular plethora of such material in German photo albums from the Second World War. By this, I mean that, in every twenty to thirty wartime albums, one will normally find one or two photographs of soldiers dressed up as women.
Even if the majority of soldiers were heterosexual, we can see evidence of homo- and transsexual orientation with unusual clarity. This is remarkable, given that, if there is one genuine taboo in German photo albums of the Second World War (in contrast to, say, American ones), then it is the explicit representation of sexuality. This is even more striking if one considers that in the Third Reich homosexuality could lead to imprisonment in a concentration camp. Above all, it is surprising how openly these men express their desires: even on photos which show a larger group of men watching a performer whom one might assume to have a homo- or transsexual orientation, it does not appear that the heterosexual men are keeping their distance. Without exception, all these men seem to be completely abandoned to the moment and to their own desires, in a unique state of bliss that makes itself evident in all the photos, no matter how different the situations in which they came about.
In this way, the photos afford us insights that are distinct from what we can see in all other photographs of soldiers at war. A whole kaleidoscope of emotional states are on show. Desire for women. For men. To be a woman. To be elsewhere. To be someone else. To return, perhaps. Normality as the exception in the midst of a permanent state of exception. Fears, not just regarding one’s own, uncertain fate, but social anxieties and conventions seem – perhaps only for a brief moment - to be at a distant remove.
And this with soldiers, men, who are part of the most devastating catastrophe to have affected humanity up to this point. Every one of them might have experienced, and committed, terrible things. Perhaps they still will. But here they reveal themselves, quite unexpectedly, as tender and open.
Four fundamental cross-dressing situations can be identified:
To begin with, there are the slapstick scenes created by the youthful recruits in the seclusion of their barracks. They come across as playful and boyish in anticipation of the kind of thing that occupies adolescents anywhere in the world. These scenes are sometimes mixed with violent fantasies, albeit in a way that seems relatively harmless; we see remnants of childhood games, not a reflex trained by concrete experiences. Not with weapons. Not with women. War is still far away, although the familiar world is already beginning to fade.
Then there are the formally-organized and -rehearsed productions in front of larger audiences in the context of unit celebrations and entertainment corps performances far removed from the front line: in army depots at home or on the way to the front, at military hospitals and even in POW camps. They were normally put on in conjunction with other performances and musical concerts, with a great deal of effort and attention going into them. They are highly reminiscent of the carnivalesque antics that were common – at least in the German-speaking world – at festivals and other ritual celebrations. And yet, quite a different tone is perceptible in these moments compared to similar peacetime photos.
Perhaps the most striking photos show improvised cross-dressing at the front line, by means of which, in a small circle of comrades, and with the simplest of means, their absent female partners are ‘conjured up’, so to speak. The state of bliss into which they were able to transport the participants – for this is no longer an ‘audience’ – is hard to grasp. It is difficult to conceive of a greater gap between pragmatic reality and illusion. And this in turn explains why even the most rudimentary of transformations manages to bring about such a powerful effect.
Longer photo sequences depicting front-line performances were produced almost exclusively during the so-called ‘phoney war’ in Spring 1940, during which German soldiers, awaiting the attack on France, were stationed in small deserted villages on the Franco-German border, often for weeks and months. In this still intact and relatively familiar environment, the soldiers were largely left to their own devices, and could make uninhibited use of the domestic and household objects left behind. This led to the production of particularly excessive scenes, including entire pageants playing out marriages and jaunts, surreally parading through the otherwise abandoned villages and landscapes.
One unusually extensive photo sequence was produced not much later in occupied France. This playful scene presents a French ‘lady of the castle’, possibly in original dress. This seems less the evocation of a faraway beloved, and more the reproduction of a scene that the soldiers themselves might have experienced; reacting more to social hierarchies than to sensual longing. And so the scene ends not with erotic overtures from the soldiers but, with a communal leap into the water, the return of the cross-dressing ‘Comtesse’ to the circle of his comrades.
In these frontline productions, the behaviour seems to get cruder. This can plausibly explained in terms of an increasing brutalization. But, as in most conflict situations, the more attentively one looks, the more nuances become visible. The staged attacks appear to be consensual. In the many years I have been working with these soldier albums, I have never come across a comparable photograph involving a woman. All this proves, of course, is that the actual assaults were not documented on photographs. It is, in fact, most likely an indication that the participants in these scenes remained aware that they were not actually in the presence of women.
In the final category we find easily the most elaborate performances; those produced during and after the Second World War in the many Allied prisoner-of-war camps, often in front of large audiences and after lengthy preparations. The unique quality of these performances lies in the fact that they were not subject to the existential pressure of the wartime situation, but are the expression, and result, of the quite literally exclusive male societies in which prisoners had to stay put for months and years, and the longing and desire that went with that experience.
At the margins, the distinctions become more blurred. At times, the transformations are so unsophisticated that one wonders whether, for example, the man in the nightshirt is actually imagining himself to be a woman. Or is just the imagination of the photographer? Perhaps it’s not even that, and what we are seeing is nothing more than a projection of our own contemporary gaze.
And who could say whether the homecoming soldier, gazing into the camera so melancholically in the final photograph, is thinking back to carnival festivities of the pre-war years, or to the moments that are the concern of this collection?
Martin Dammann, Berlin, April 2018