Los 4109

Berlin im Licht
Views of buildings illuminated for 'Berlin im Licht'

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Photographer: Martin Höhlig (1882-1948). Views of buildings and locations in Berlin illuminated for the project “Berlin im Licht” 1928. 100 vintage, ferrotyped gelatin silver prints on ivory paper. Each circa 22,5 x 16,5 cm and 16,5 x 22,5 cm (Album: 25,5 x 36 cm). Some with number in lower right corner in the negative, inserted in album pages, each captioned in white crayon below the image on the mount. Presented in original full brown leather album with gilt-stamped title "Berlin im Licht" on front cover, in modern slipcase.

In collaboration with various business organizations and lighting companies - including AEG, Siemens & Halske, and Osram - the city of Berlin launched a visionary publicity campaign for electric light advertising and urban illumination under the slogan Berlin im Licht (Berlin Alight), held from October 13 to 16, 1928. The event attracted nationwide attention and was widely regarded as a celebration of modern urban life. Composer Kurt Weill even contributed a song titled "Berlin im Licht" for the occasion.
Already in the early 1920s, designer Walter Dexel had begun developing fluorescent lighting for advertising purposes. From 1926 onward, he worked in Frankfurt, designing illuminated signage that aimed to integrate harmoniously with architectural façades. His work included large-scale rooftop lettering, illuminated phone booths, and advertising columns - reflecting the growing interest in using electric light as both a functional and aesthetic element in architecture and marketing.
To document the Berlin im Licht initiative, more than one hundred night photographs were produced. These images, reflecting the principles of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement, capture a wide range of locations and lighting installations across the city. The collection offered here comprises a complete set of this photographic series - an important and rare visual record. Only a few such complete albums are known to exist, including one in the collection of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, which was exhibited in 2008 and contains many of the photographs offered here.
The series includes views of modern commercial architecture, such as the department stores Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) and Michels & Cie. on Kurfürstendamm (both designed by Johann Emil Schaudt); the main branch of Michels & Cie. on Leipziger Straße; the furrier C.A. Herpich & Söhne on Leipziger Straße (Erich Mendelsohn); and several branch offices of Hermann Tietz (Hertie).
Further images document illuminated retail displays, signage, and advertising columns - including the Berlin im Licht column at Großer Stern and the well-known Persil column at Potsdamer Platz. Also represented are cinemas such as the Ufa-Pavillon at Nollendorfplatz (Oskar Kaufmann), the Ufa-Palast on Hardenbergstraße, and the Titania-Palast in Steglitz (Schoffler, Schlönbach & Jacobi). The album also includes hotels like the Excelsior near Anhalter Bahnhof (Otto Rehnig), and entertainment venues such as Potsdamer Platz with Haus Vaterland (Franz Schwechten) and the Columbia Tanz-Cabaret. – Slight toning in edges of album pages; binding edges and corners slightly rubbed with a few light surface scratches. All photographs with light pressure marks in corners from album slits, some with silver mirroring in edges and corners, some with light handling marks/creases, a few with surface scuff marks, otherwise most in good to very good condition.

Lit.: Franziska Nentwig, ed. Berlin im Licht. Berlin: Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, 2008, ill. pp. 2 and 224-236.
Fred Richter. Die Weltstadt im Licht: Berliner Nachtfotografien von Martin Höhlig aus den Jahren 1925 bis 1932. Quedlinburg: Edition Lichtblick, 2019, many illustrated.