About the Work
As a painter success eluded him, but his photographs were highly praised: following a failed career as an artist, Werner Rohde from Bremen registered for photography courses with Hans Finsler. Instead of following his teacher’s new objective style Rohde experimented with surreal techniques of alienation, such as illusionist trick photography. He used small model figurines and a lit wicker basket for his Fantastic Circus. Rohde first presented his works to a wider public at the international Werkbund exhibition Film und Foto in Stuttgart in 1929, where he also showed this photograph.