Research Analysis of Herbert List

About Herbert List

    Herbert List was born into a wealthy Hamburg merchant family. He worked in a coffee business between 1924-1928 and studied literature and art history at Heidelberg University. List met a photographer named Andreas Feininger, who inspired him to photograph still life and pictures of his friends. 

    List was an openly gay Jewish man in Germany in the 1930s. He moved to Paris in 1936, in order to flee from the Nazi police, and worked as a fashion photographer. In the following year, he moved to Greece, which became his favorite spot to take black and white photographs. After the war, List turned his focus towards Italy and captured pictures there. 

    Overall, List combined his love of photography with a fascination for surrealism and classicism. He described his artwork as “composed visions where [my] arrangements try to capture the magical essence inhabiting and animating the world of appearances.”

Formal Analysis 

    This photo was taken in 1936 in Portofino, Italy. Herbert List continuously explored the lives of others, not only on the streets, but also at the beach. Some of his most well known images have been captured on a beach. 

    In this picture, I can tell that Herbert List used a large aperture, because the background is blurrier than the dog. The dalmatian is the main focus in this picture and by using a wider aperture he was successful at creating depth, which is a way of looking for form in an image. Not only did the shallow depth of field create the three-dimensional form of the dog, but the angle that the picture was taken played a role as well. With the dog gazing upwards, and the camera placed low to the ground, it helped the form of the dog stand out.

    The value within this picture is well-balanced. From analyzing this photograph, I notice how the sunlight is beaming onto the dog from the left side. Then, you can identify the shadows on the right side of the dalmatian. When observing the background, it goes from dark at the top and then lighter on the bottom. 

    The next formal element found within this photograph is texture. The first thing that I notice is the soft coat of the dalmatian. The black and white picture makes the coat seem glossy and the irregular black spots stand out. Secondly, the sand on the beach is also detailed and has a known texture to it. Especially towards the front of the image, you can distinguish the smooth and seamless texture of the sand. 

    Next, we see the elements of both positive and negative space. The positive space, which consists of the dog lying next to two legs, takes up a decent amount of space. I thought this photograph that Herbert List took incorporated a perfect amount of negative space. Negative space can also give depth to an image, and it helps with creating the three-dimensional shape of form within the photo. The main negative space I see within this picture is the sky. 

    The final formal element I observed from this photograph is the composition of the image. Herbert List did a well job at cropping out any unimportant details within the picture. There are no distracting objects that take away from the beauty of the photograph. Additionally, the picture is asymmetric, which allows for more negative space that will enhance the main object, the dalmatian, by putting it into better focus.