Edmund Kesting

Edmund Kesting (German, 1892–1970) studied painting in Dresden at the Kunstgewerbeschule and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In 1919 he founded the private art school Der Weg. He met Herwarth Walden and published his woodcuts in the magazine Der Sturm until 1929. Inspired by László Moholy-Nagy's and Man Ray's photograms, Kesting himself began to experiment with photograms and photomontage in 1927. In 1933 National Socialists closed down Der Weg. No longer allowed to paint, Kesting devoted himself entirely to photography, namely to dance studies, commercial photography, and multiple-exposure simultaneous portraits. After 1945 he taught photography in Dresden, Berlin, and Potsdam.