Vintage silver print 23,3 x 17,5 cm (9.2 x 6.9 in)
Photographer’s “DR. PAUL WOLFF, FRANKFURT AM MAIN” stamp with his handwritten order number on the reverse

Looking down from a window, this photograph by Dr. Paul Wolff opens onto a 1928 street scene in Berlin: framed by branches on one side and by the cropped window-sill on the other, the image depicts pedestrians strolling along a sidewalk. A group of five persons moves towards the centre of the photograph, their bodies and shadows indicating a semi-circular line. In front of them and offset, there is a single pedestrian and a couple. Together with the other elements of the image, their silhouettes complete the semi-circle, resulting in a full circle. The chosen perspective makes the cut-out scene appear like a homogeneous composition of light and shadows, lines and diagonals concentrating around the image’s centre, which appears to be empty.
Tension-filled, composed street scenes showing a virtuoso’s ability to handle a miniature camera are typical for Paul Wolff. A passionate hobby photographer since his school days, he won his first Leica at an exhibition in 1926 and became a pioneer of unleashed miniature camera photography. In recognition of his contributions to the advancement of 35 mm images, he was presented with a Leica with the serial number 200,000 in 1936. Apart from his intensive work as a photographer, Wolff published more than 200 photographic volumes during his lifetime, including My Experience with the Leica, which became a standard work fetching high prices today.