Jans works are reminiscent of original genres of photography and at the same time a renaissance of the old craft of photographic art, which is uniquely able to combine two characteristics - the highest achievable quality and eternal beauty.
“Good photography strikes the heart of the beholder and leaves him changed.”
This statement by Irving Penn, one of the great photographers of the 20th century and re-discoverer of the platinum print in the Sixties, is frequently quoted by Jan C. Schlegel when he speaks about his work.
He explores the boundaries of his medium and asks universal existential questions about identity, beauty and uniqueness of every living thing in all its detail, forms and structures.
He is also a master of slowed down photography - he studies, analyses and dissects, thus creating documentary, nearly surrealistic portraits with the greatest concentration on the essence and with extraordinary depth.
—Immagis Gallery Munich

The pictures of Jan C. Schlegel bear witness of the special encounters of the photographer with unique people on his trips through Africa and Asia. Since 1998 Jan C. Schlegel regularly travels to remote places, which are secluded from the tourism of the western world. On his tours the artist observed the rapid decline of traditions and increasing change of the way of life of the people within their tribes due to globalisation. The inexorable changes woke the urgent wish in the photographer to portrait people, to capture impressions and to preserve traditional life forms in his pictures. Thus Schlegel not only creates artistic photographs, but also documents and preserves unique pieces of art – the people themselves. None of people photographed wear special make-up or were specially dressed before the photographs were taken. Nothing was staged, nothing is fake. They were all captured in their own habitat – at the market, in the village square, or simply on the roadside. The only stylistic device Schlegel uses for each one of his photographs is a simple grey background. With it he concentrates the attention on the people, not on their living conditions. The basic message is the internal and external beauty of the pictured people. Schlegel emphasises their uniqueness, their value and their irreparableness. With his art he fights for the particularity and individuality of the cultures.

During the last years Schlegel visited more then 80 countries, always in search of the distinctive beauty and variety of the people. The picture’s compositions, the highly contrasted play of light and shadow, the inner dynamics and the extraordinary perspectives, open a crack in the door of secret-treasures of this world that are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Schlegel often stays several weeks with the tribes to get to know and understand its way of life. With his assistant Schlegel lives in modest circumstances among the people, which he tries to portray. Step by step the photographer gains their trust, in order to make pictures in the desired nearness and intimacy. With his photographs Jan C. Schlegel gives us a glimpse on foreign cultures and allows us to discover something about the uniqueness of every single person.

Jan C. Schlegel captures the essence of people, animals and objects in an extraordinary way, evidencing his passion for classical photography and his sensitivity towards nature. His work takes us on a journey through unconventional geographies with precise mastery. Respect for the language of the body dwells in the exquisite perfection of the image. In the midst of the digital age we live in, Schlegel opts for the darkroom photographic tradition. His exact knowledge of the instruments and the development process is surprising when the visual result of the positive is obtained.
Modern photography survives contemporary distraction and enhances the slow gesture of the scene. The anthropological gaze moves away from the colonizing interpretation of the exotique and respects human diversity. In "Tribes of our Generation" and "Essence" Schlegel does not create characters but portrays people with the clothes or elements that identify them, he observes them and captures their intimacy. In the series "Private Studies" the artist highlights the equanimity and mystery of Still-Life. The flowers are vulnerable to the vase that holds them, worried (but peaceful) about uncertainty. The appreciation for beauty is dazzled in the photos from "Of Fear and Death“ and „Creatures of the Seven Seas“, where some animals are photographed without distraction around them, only their body, the movement that emanates from it and the forms they create.
Flora, fauna and human beings. As its name implies, the exhibition displays a selection of masterpieces by the prominent German photographer Schlegel. Compositions that respect the value of simplicity to communicate and focus the value of the external contemplation. The aesthetic refinement of the medium reaffirms the connection with individuality. The intense realism does not prevent the dream from looming. Every detail enhances the virtuosity of the composition. The isolated figure looks directly at the observer, as if he/she has nothing to hide or fear. We are not in the presence of a pictorialism style focused only on drawing attention to the beauty of the subject but also on showing the autonomy that defines it.
—Maylin Pérez, Art Curator

Biography:

Jan C. Schlegel was born in 1965 in the Black Forest of Germany. He discovered his passion for photography at the age of 14 with in the scope of a Photo course at school. For his first own camera, the reflex camera Minolta XG9, the 14 year-old saved long. As winner of a AGFA photo competition with focus on portraits, Schlegel took part in a seminar by the photographer Walter Schels in the Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in Munich. Under Walter Schel’s influence Jan C. Schlegel began to ascertain his fervor for black-and-white portraits. Toni Schneiders, a distant neighbour of Schlegel, became the second important mentor for the young photographer.

Note:

At this website you see reproductions (scans and camera made reproductions) of my handmade prints. Unfortunately the digital reproduction and computer screen can not transport the quality, feel and depth of the original print.

All my prints are handmade prints, developed as silver gelatin prints, platinum prints or Polaroids.

This website gives only an overview of my photography and does not show the complete body of my work. To keep my website up to date requires a lot of work that I will do every few months. Please follow me on Instagram, if you want to see more of my works, especially always my newest pictures. That’s the place, where I share about my current projects, my thoughts on photography and art, my darkroom processes, behind the scenes, the equipment I am using and a little bit of my life.

Instagram is my only form of social media and I am using it to inspire, educate and network.