Otto Lossen: The Enigma of Photography, Photochemistry and the Legendary Weissenhof Estate
The photographer Otto Lossen (1875–1938) is well known, yet remains, in essence, an enigma. In 1927, he was the only person to photograph the legendary Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart. It is an icon of modernist architecture, and as such, Otto Lossen’s photographs are also famous worldwide. About the photographer himself, however, almost nothing was known until now. In 1929, Otto Lossen became a member of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner.
Two researchers, who have painstakingly pieced together the story of Otto Karl Klaus Hermann Josef Maria Lossen, are now shedding astonishing light on the matter. Both are members of the Deutscher Werkbund, which initiated the Weißenhof Building Exhibition at the time.
Architectural photographer Wolfram Janzer (also a member of the Deutschen Fotografischen Akademie) speaks in the podcast with Corinna Weidner about Lossen’s journey from photochemistry to photography and his photographic work in Baden-Württemberg.
Inken Gaukel, an architectural historian and exhibition curator, explains the relationship between Lossen’s photographs, the famous architectural works and the preservation of historic buildings.
The exhibition “Dr Otto Lossen – The Photographer of the Weißenhof Estate 1927” is on display for a limited time only: until 19 July 2026, at the Weißenhof Workshop in the Mies van der Rohe House, Stuttgart
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