Elger Esser

Elger Esser belongs to the youngest generation of photographers of the German Becher school – and this may surprise many, for his lyrical, atmospheric imagery seems at first glance to be in strong contrast to the strictly documentary, purely objective style of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The photographs of Elger Esser, large-format cityscapes and landscapes, are distinguished by their simplicity and tranquillity. Esser finds his motifs on his many travels through France, Italy, Holland and Scotland.

The focal points of the present exhibition are two series of photographs which Elger Esser conceived in 2002, completely independently of one another. In the first series, his Normandy Series Cap d'Antifer – Étretat, the artist follows the literary trail of Flaubert and his friend Maupassant. Flaubert commissioned Maupassant to search for a geologically interesting stretch of the Normandy coast for his roman satyrique "Bouvard et Pécuchet". Maupassant furnished Flaubert with a detailed report on the English Channel coast between Le Havre and Fécamp which is noted for its particularly spectacular rock formations. Unlike Flaubert, who condensed Maupassant's detailed descriptions and sketches into just one single page, Elger Esser used Maupassant's painstakingly executed documentation as a guide to an in-depth photographic exploration, 130 years later, of the Normandy coast between Cap d'Antifer and Étretat.

Fifteen impressive, large-format photographs of the sheer cliffs, gigantic crags and narrow beaches of the Normandy coast – a source of inspiration for many an artist, not least Courbet and Monet – are the product of this photographic expedition. What distinguishes the Normandy Series Cap d'Antifer – Étretat in particular is the artist's combination of vast, atmospheric panoramic views with drastic close-ups of unusual rock formations. Whereas his view of Cap d'Antifer, for example, shows the steep, diagonally receding coastline from afar – its composition is clearly reminiscent of landscape photography of the 19th century and, naturally, of its predecessor, veduta painting of the 17th century –, his photograph Passage de la Courtine has been taken in such close proximity to the cliff that the latter fills and forms the entire background. The actual subject matter of the photograph, the rocky landscape and seascape of this stretch of coastline, seems to have been reduced to fragments; the result is an almost abstract, autonomous composition.

Elger Esser's second series comprises a cycle of works produced in Tuscany in the same year. Driving through Tuscany in a vintage car, Elmer Esser took photographs of very familiar places. The resultant views are reminiscent of nostalgic postcard motifs, typical views of the Tuscan countryside with which we are certainly all familiar – the gently undulating hills of Tuscany bathed in bright yellow light, or an avenue lined with cypresses – the very epitome of the Tuscan landscape. They are the views from which we have all formed, whether consciously or unconsciously, our own notion of the Tuscan landscape. It is in these vast landscapes that Esser then places his vintage car, not just as a relic of bygone days but as a thematic link between these remote spots which Esser visits on his travels. Thus Esser deliberately confronts us with subjective reminiscences of places visited long ago.