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Quote by Siegfried Kracauer

“A shudder runs through the viewer of old photographs. For they make visible not the knowledge of the original but the spatial configuration of a moment; what appears in the photograph is not the person but the sum of what can be subtracted from him or her.”

Quote by Siegfried Kracauer

Author

Siegfried Kracauer
Siegfried Kracauer

German writer, sociologist, and film theorist. Born on February 8, 1889, and died on November 26, 1966. Kracauer is known for his profound insights into film and urban culture. more

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“I was repelled by the sleazy reality of the totalitarian countries: politicians were shameless. There were corruption, pollution, shoddy goods, long lines, and suicide everywhere, but the leaders kept boasting about their great achievements and bright tomorrows. I saw all this and tried to show it in my pictures as simply and straightforwardly as I could. All I wanted to do was record how all these poor people adapted to lies and suffering, how they got used to it, how, in fact they were bound to miss it when it was over.”