Otto Umbehr

Umbo

German, 1902 - 1980

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German photographer and journalist (1902-1980)

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A humanoid form is made of a human head and mechanical parts for the body in this vertical, black and white photomontage. The face appears to be pale skinned with dark hair, and he smokes a cigarette. A camera overlaps one eye, and two gramophone horns extend from the man’s head. A wristwatch reading 10:10 encircles the neck like a choker. The torso is made of a typewriter over a printing press. A biplane extends from the person’s groin to nearly reach the right edge of the composition. The arms are made of up tubes or pipes. One hand is human and the fingers rest on the typewriter. The other hand ends with a fountain pen tip. The humanoid strides across a mountain range toward a city, as cannons and soldiers fire from below. The scale shifts dramatically from the soldiers, who are indistinct and blurry but close to us, to the orderly city blocks in the distance to the right. The artist wrote on the photograph in black ink: “Jarmilence k vánocum 1926” to the left of the figure and “Egon Erwin Kisch” to the right. The photographic negative was inscribed so white letters in the bottom left corner read “Umbher 26.”
Otto Umbehr, Der Rasende Reporter (The Racing Reporter) (Egon Erwin Kisch), 1926, gelatin silver print of photomontage, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2006.61.1

Der Rasende Reporter (The Racing Reporter) (Egon Erwin Kisch)

Otto Umbehr · 1926 · gelatin silver print of photomontage ·  Accession ID  2006.61.1