Monika von Boch

Monika von Boch (German, 1915-1993) is one of the few major female representatives of the subjective photography movement. Born in the Saar region, she was an active self-taught photographer, before she engaged in Otto Steinert’s class at the Staatliche Schule für Kunst und Handwerk in Saarbrücken from 1950 to 1957. Influenced by Steinert (and a participant in his subjective photography show in 1954), she turned to experimental techniques such as camera-less photography and various combining practices. She had a distinct interest in abstraction but stayed rooted in the ideas of nature and landscape. Around 1960 she connected with Steinert’s assistant Kilian Breier and the artists’ group neue gruppe saar. A freelance photographer until 1980, she turned to ceramics and graphic art in her later career.