ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY – ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ART
Over 80 legendary and contemporary photographs at KUNST FÜR ANGELN
September 27 – October 18, 2026
What makes a photograph an icon?
Some images are known all over the world: Steve McQueen in a sports car, Brigitte Bardot with a cigarette at the corner of her mouth, the man jumping over a puddle. Photographs that have become etched into our collective memory—as snapshots of an era, a society, and a particular way of life.
The exhibition “Icons of Photography – Icons of Photograpic Art” explores precisely this phenomenon: What makes an image unforgettable? Why does a snapshot become an iconic photograph? And why does one particular photograph make it onto the cover of a magazine or book and remain present for decades?
More than 80 photographs from the fields of street photography and black-and-white photography take visitors through the cities and worlds of New York, Berlin, Hollywood, and Paris. The exhibition features works by renowned photographic artists alongside discoveries by younger photographers who continue to work with analogue photography and stand for a more immediate, authentic visual language.
“A good image moves you. It gets under your skin, stays in your memory, and often tells us far more than the visible moment itself. Especially in a world filled with artificial images, authentic photography is gaining new significance: it captures something that actually happened.”
Ingrid Roosen-Trinks, photography collector and board member of KUNST FÜR ANGELN.
For the exhibition, Roosen-Trinks has brought together iconic photographs from her collection with new works by young photographic artists. The exhibition was created in close collaboration with curator Timm Vollert, a member of the German Society for Photography (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie), who has worked for many years with international photographers, artists, collections, and archives.
“I have known Ingrid for more than 20 years as a passionate collector with a keen eye for exceptional photography. The fact that her art association has been providing a platform for contemporary art in northern Schleswig-Holstein for almost five years makes it a special place for photographic art as well. This exhibition connects photographic history with contemporary positions—and that is precisely what makes it so appealing.”
Timm Vollert, curator and member of the association Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie.
The exhibition presents photography not only as a document of its time, but as an independent art form: a way of looking at the world that changes our perception. Between famous motifs, urban moments, and quiet black-and-white photographs, a photographic panorama emerges that allows us to see the familiar in a new way—and discover the unknown.
„Icons of Photography – Icons of Photographic Art“
September 27 – October 18, 2026
KUNST FÜR ANGELN , Wittkielhof
Parallel to the solo exhibition featuring works by Henrik Becker.