Arno Fischer: „Selling dreams“ – fashion photography for ‘Sibylle’

Arno Fischer (1927-2011): Evening dresses | vintage print | 11,4 x 15,4 in | models: Fashion Institute of the GDR | Galerie Berinson, Berlin

Galerie Berinson will be exhibiting about 60 vintage prints from the 1960s and 70s by Arno Fischer (1927-2011) taken for the famous GDR women’s magazine Sibylle.

Arno Fischer (born in Berlin in 1927), was one of the most important photographers in the GDR and continued to enjoy great fame in reunified Germany.

In 1962 Fischer became part of the editorial team of Sibylle. Sibylle was the most popular and almost only lifestyle magazine in the GDR, primarily dedicated to fashion. The magazine was an absolute exception in the GDR, because its photographers could freely develop their artistic activities despite the authoritarian regime.

Fischer’s fashion photographs for Sibylle were style-defining and had a formative influence on the magazine. They are kept in a documentary style and depict fashion in an every day environment, like the streets of Prenzlauer Berg or the industrial area of Bitterfeld.  With this concept, Fischer developed a new kind of photojournalism for fashion which was unique at the time. The readers not only liked the atmosphere of his photos, but they drew inspiration from them. Arno Fischer once said about the relevance of Sibylle on the everyday culture in the GDR that “Often we sold dreams, probably because we dreamed by ourselves.”