Description

Dirk Alverman – Klein Paris
Publisher: Steidl, 2011
Hardcover, 112 pages, German
Size: 25x19cm
New in seal

Dirk Alvermann grew up in Düsseldorf. His parents’ house was 15 minutes away from the glamorous Königsallee. As a young photographer, he walked through the city with his camera for 2-3 hours a day to take pictures of this and that. He found the children and boys “turning their wheels” particularly exciting who wrestled on the street, in whose eyes Weltschmerz could be seen.

Alvermann wanted to make a children’s book, but ultimately no publisher could be found. Years later, after he had long since completed the actual photographic work in Düsseldorf, he viewed the negative strips and made prints. He combined these photos into a great collage of images that shows the destruction of the war in Düsseldorf in connection with the puffy Rhenish cheerfulness of the shooting festivals and the carnival. Next to it are photos that give an idea of ​​the political standstill of the Adenauer era. This gave rise to the idea of ​​a book that combines youthful zest for life with the resignation of a worn-out generation of parents in black and white photos, a reflection of post-war Germany that still has to find its way.

Dirk Alvermann kept photos and the book concept in his studio and lost sight of it. In 2010, after finding a publisher, he completed the layout. In the summer of 2011 he personally supervised the printing in the Steidl publishing house in Göttingen.