Werner Mantz

mounted, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, matted, 1928

The photographer to Rudolf Kicken Gallery, Cologne

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1989

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 43 (this print)

A related study:

Werner Mantz: Architekturphotographie in Köln 1926-1932 (Köln: Museum Ludwig, 1982, in conjunction with the exhibition), Kat. 1.23.2

This print is on double-weight paper with a slightly glossy surface. There is a small area of faint, unobtrusive, warm-toned discoloration in the lower right portion of the image. Two small pencil-point-sized indentations are visible adjacent to the left and right lower corners of the stairwell. There is light silvering in the print's dark areas, appropriate for a photograph of this age. When the print is viewed closely in raking light, the photographer's original retouching is visible in several areas throughout the print, perhaps most noticeably in the upper left corner. The print is mounted to thick buff paper. The mount has minor soiling on the edges, and paper tape remains on reverse.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Werner Mantz is regarded as one of the most gifted architectural photographers of the twentieth century.   His talents in this field were recognized early in his career, and he received numerous commissions from a variety of prominent architects, first in Germany and later in the Netherlands.  His work in Cologne especially, from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, forms a definitive statement of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement in architecture.  

The view here is from the top of a staircase, looking down, with alternating bands of light and dark creating a modernist graphic design.  A comparable staircase study, taken at the Ursuline School on the Georgplatz in Cologne, is reproduced in Werner Mantz: Architecturphotographie in Köln: 1926 - 1932.