Anton Stankowski

(b Gelsenkirchen, 18 Jun 1906). German photographer, designer and painter. He trained (1921-6) as a painter of churches, after which he studied at the Folkwangschule, Essen, under Max Burchart (1887-1961). From 1929 until 1937 he worked in Zurich as a painter and graphic artist, designing for an advertising agency. During this period he began photographic experiments, making photomontages, collages and photograms. He saw photography as an important source for his graphic designs. In 1937 he moved to Stuttgart, where he designed for numerous firms. In the tradition of the Bauhaus and Soviet Constructivism, he saw no separation between fine and applied art. He was influential in many areas of photography. As early as the 1920s he took series of photographs of industrial landscapes, and in the 1940s he experimented with heated layers of gelatine silver. In the 1950s he experimented with Op art and in 1953 made his first 'nudogram' (a variation of the photogram), all of which complemented his design work.

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