Photo-Eye Fritz Block

Fritz Block (1889-1955) was one of the most dedicated proponents of Germany’s postwar New Building movement. From 1929, he also used the medium of photography to express the impulse of modernism along the ideals of New Objectivity and New Vision, travelling as a photojournalist to Paris, Marseille, and North Africa, as well as in 1931 to the United States. Being of Jewish origin, Block was banned from working as an architect and publishing his photographs in Germany by the Nazis in 1933. He subsequently turned entirely to photography on extensive trips abroad, and eventually emigrated to America in 1938. After his arrival in Los Angeles, he focused on colour slides for educational purposes that characterised his work from 1940 to 1955. He produced a particularly innovative series depicting California’s architectural modernism, which was widely distributed throughout the United States. The first book on Block’s work in photography features a vast range of images from his entire career. Vividly illustrated with some 450 photographs, including many in full colour and published here for the first time, Photo-Eye Fritz Block demonstrates Block’s significance in modern photography.