Toni Schneiders (May 13, 1920 – August 4, 2006) was a German photographer.

Life and career

Toni Schneiders took up an apprenticeship as a photographer at ''Menzel Studio'' in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

in 1935 graduating with a master's certificate in 1938. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was drafted and deployed as war correspondent in France and Italy. After the war, he returned to Koblenz and photographed reportages as well as advertising and landscape photographs. In 1946 he moved to

Meersburg Meersburg () is a town in Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany. It is on Lake Constance. It is known for its medieval city. The lower town ("Unterstadt") and upper town ("Oberstadt") are reserved for pedestrians only, and connected by t ...

, where he opened a photo studio in 1948. In 1949 Schneiders went to Lindau as an independent photojournalist, where he lived and worked with his wife Ingeborg from 1952 until his death in 2006. His archive is housed in the

F. C. Gundlach Franz Christian Gundlach (16 July 1926 – 23 July 2021) was a German photographer, gallery owner, collector, curator and founder. In 2000 Gundlach created the F.C. Gundlach Foundation, and since 2003 he has been founding director of the House ...

Foundation in Hamburg, his war photography in the

German Federal Archive , type = Archive , seal = , seal_size = , seal_caption = , seal_alt = , logo = Bundesarchiv-Logo.svg , logo_size = , logo_caption = , lo ...

in Koblenz. In 1949 Schneiders co-founded the avant-garde photography group

fotoform Fotoform was an avant-garde photography group founded in 1949 by six young German photographers, Siegfried Lauterwasser, Peter Keetman, Wolfgang Reisewitz, Toni Schneiders, Otto Steinert and Ludwig Windstoßer. Emergence After WW2, the photog ...

alongside Siegfried Lauterwasser,

Peter Keetman Peter Keetman (April 27, 1916 – March 8, 2005) was a German photographer. Life and career Peter Keetman was born in 1916 in Elberfeld. He was part of a very wealthy family and his father Alfred Keetman was bank director of the banking hous ...

, Wolfgang Reisewitz,

Otto Steinert Otto Steinert (12 July 1915 – 3 March 1978) was a German photographer. Life and work Born in Saarbrücken, Germany, Steinert was a medical doctor by profession and was self-taught in photography. After World War II, he initially worked for t ...

and Ludwig Windstoßer. With their graphically designed images, the fotoform photographers referred to the photographic trends of the 1920s and early 1930s and drew attention to the creative possibilities of photography. Toni Schneiders was also significantly involved in the development of the so-called subjective photography in the 1950s, which became internationally known through exhibitions and publications under the title ''Subjektive Fotografie''Otto Steinert (Ed.): ''Subjektive Fotografie'', Brüder Auer Verlag, Bonn 1952 compiled by Otto Steinert. Until his death in 2005, Schneiders was in close contact with Peter Keetman. Toni Schneiders' images are distinguished from those of his companions by their sensitive capturing of people in everyday life. Schneiders worked commercially for publishing houses that created photographic picture books on cities, countries and regions. From 1950 he travelled through Germany, Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia for these illustrated books.

Selected exhibitions

* ''Epische Kamera'', Staatliche Landesbildstelle, Hamburg 1962 * ''Bilder des bekannten Lindauer Künslter-Fotografen Toni Schneiders'', Rungesaal, Lindau 1963 * ''Farbfotografien'', Landesbildstelle Stuttgart 1966 * ''Toni Schneiders, GDL – Fotograf'', Fotomuseum im Stadtmuseum, Munich 1982 * ''Toni Schneiders, fotoform'', Kornhaus Galerie, Weingarten 1994 * ''Toni Schneiders, Photographien 1946–1980'', Fotomuseum im Stadtmuseum, Munich 1999 and other locations * ''Ein Klassiker der deutschen Fotografie'', Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig 2004 * ''Toni Schneiders: Fotografie'', Landesmuseum Koblenz 2006 and other locations * ''Tony Schneiders: Fotografie'', Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim 2013

Selected bibliography

Toni Schneiders published more than 100 photobooks, which are completely or partially illustrated with his images, e.g.: * ''Lindau am Bodensee'', Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Lindau 1950 * ''Meersburg'', Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Lindau 1953 (together with Siegfried Lauterwasser) * ''Dänemark'', Hanns Reich Verlag, Munich 1957 * ''Äthiopien'', Hanns Reich Verlag, Munich 1958 * ''Sardinien'', Fretz & Wasmuth, Zürich 1958 etc. * ''Meister der Leica'', in: ''Leica Fotografie'', No 5 1952 * ''Toni Schneiders – German Photo Ace'', in: ''U.S. Camera'' No 11 1956 * ''Über einen Photographen: Toni Schneiders'', in: Photomagazin No 2 1959 * Ute Eskildsen (Ed.): ''Subjektive Fotografie – Bilder der 50er Jahre'', Folkwang Verlag, Essen 1984 * Landesmuseum Koblenz (Ed.): ''Toni Schneiders'', Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2008,

Awards

* 1999 Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie

References

Sources

*
Website of Toni Schneiders

Toni Schneiders in the F. C. Gundlach Foundation

Toni Schneiders in the German Federal Archive

Bilder von Toni Schneiders in the Deutsche Fotothek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneiders, Toni 20th-century German photographers 21st-century German photographers 1920 births 2006 deaths People from Mayen-Koblenz Photographers from Rhineland-Palatinate