Congratulations to Simone Nieweg, and the wonderful article in Camera Austria featuring her photograph “Kohlfeld, Dusseldorf-Niederkassel, 1990.”
This large-format print is currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, handpicked by Duncan Forbes, the Inaugural Director of Photography, for a fresh presentation of the museum’s extensive collection.
“The scene bears a resemblance to a landscape painting by Jacques-Louis David. Amid nearly impassable terrain, lush red cabbage and dark-green Brussels sprouts thrive. Simone Nieweg captured this Kohlfeld (Cabbage Field, 1990) near the Rhine in the Niederkassel area of Düsseldorf in the year of German reunification. It might have been the first harvest in unified Germany.
There are no special compositional accents either in the domesticated terrain or in the image’s arrangement, and yet it feels as if the photograph had been crafted ni a studio setting. The sunlight models each individual cabbage head with strong contrasts and intricate details. Much like in the work of Bernd Becher, who was Nieweg’s mentor, the photographer imparts a sculptural quality to the objects. However, beyond the edges of the image, the landscape extends endlessly, merging into the artistic tradition of detail that predates even the invention of photography.” – Paul Mellenthin