So hab ich das gesehen" (That's how I saw it) [31 PUBLISHED ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS]

Berlin: Ernst-Ludwig Bach, No date. Loose leaf. good- to very good condition. Thirty-one original photographs by the photojournalist Ernst-Ludwig Bach housed in plain black cardboard box.

Some of the original photographs in this collection were part of the exhibition "So hab ich das gesehen" (That's how I saw it) which opened on August 28, 2010 at the Gut Geisendorf, a prominent cultural center near Cottbus, East Germany. Gut Weisendorf was supported by the Swedish power company Vattenfall.

The photographers participating in this exhibition were Peter-Heinz Junge, Gerhard Kiesling, Uli Kohls, Peter Leske, Erich Schutt, Horst Sturem and Ernst-Ludwig Bach, all members of the former group "Signum." The exhibition provided insight into half a century of German and international history documenting official, cultural and sport events and, most important and decisively, the regular street life. Many of the photographs were shown in national and international exhibitions, garnering numerous prizes.

The general deinterest in photo-journalism, as evidenced at the 1st Pressefotoschau (Berlin), 1963, and the III. Interpress in Warsaw, had resulted in the founding of the group "Signum" in East Germany in March of 1965. The group was active from 1965 to 1969 and included twenty-one members, nineteen photographers and two photo-editors. The goal of the group was to loosen the rigid way of selecting press photos in the GDR at that time in favor of lively, realistic photojournalism.

Our collection of thirty-one photographs by Ernst-Ludwig Bach is dated between 1977 and 1981 with one photo from 1973. Some photos with Ernst-Ludwig Bach stamp on verso, some with handwritten name. All photographs contain a stamp on verso reading "Veröffentlicht in Nr._____Seite" (Published in No._____Page) which is filled out by hand on each of the photographs. The publication of these photographs as listed on the versos of each photo refer to the East German magazine "Wochenpost," as indicated by printed paper slips attached to some of the photographs. The Wochenpost was considered one of the most influential weeklies in East Germany. Founded in 1953 it reached circulation of 1.2 million copies by 1971 until it was bought by Gruner + Jahr and Robert Maxwell after the reunification and re-launched. The circulation declined and ceased publication in 1996.

The motifs captured in these photographs:

1973 One photograph (11 x 15 3/4") A group of young women conversing with a policeman in front of a fountain.

1977 Five photographs (11 3/4 x 11 1/2" to 15 1/2 x 11 3/4" to 11 1/4 x 15 1/2") Scientist in his office, Biedermeier facade, school class with teacher, Chinese sculpture.

1978 Seven photographs (9 3/8 x 14 3/8" to 15 3/8 x 11 3/8" to 11 3/8 x 15 3/8") Two women launching a large balloon, woman in front of a store shelf with porcelain holding a broken cup, porcelain manufacturer production, a herd of horses in motion led by a man in uniform, scene in an old folk home, a photomontage showing a book by Albrecht Thaer with his profile picture in front of an idyllic panorama at a lake, a group of police men.

1979 Four photographs (9 1/8 x 11 3/8 to 11 7/8 x 11 3/8" to 11 7/8 x 14 3/4") Women with quintuplet in baby carriage, a dance scene with various couples in everyday clothes, young women in an orchestra in the street, a luge scene.

1980 Nine photographs (9 x 11 7/8" to 14 5/8 x 10 5/8" to 11 5/8 x 15 5/8") Cafeteria scene, a young family of four outdoors, a woman in front of the house Friedrich Schiller lived in in 1785, an older man in front of a one family home, a young couple on a park bench, a flower bed, possibly in a garden show or park, three people in the street in front of a horse carriage, a farm worker on his plow, two men standing next to a truck in a field,

1981 Five photographs (8 1/4 x 12" to 11 3/4 x 11" to 11 1/2 x 15 3/4") Field and houses at city limits of "Gunzen," recreation area with men carrying radio equipment, group of parents and children on a playground, group of men in a gravel pit pushing a wheelbarrow with two children in it, woman handling a production switchboard.

Twenty-three of the photographs in this collection contain editor's tape indicating the section to be published. Some photographs with wear along edges, few with tears along corners and some creasing.