Lot Essay
Keetman, an industrial and advertising photographer, studied photography at the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für das Lichtbildwesen, Munich. He then apprenticed under Gertrud Hesse and later enrolled with the Adolf Lazi Master School in Stuttgart for an advanced degree. In 1949, he became a founding member of the group called Fotoform along with Otto Steinert, Wolfgang Reisewitz and Siegfried Lauterwasser.
In a review of Keetman's work in The New York Times Photography Review of May 28, 1993, Charles Hagen refers to Keetman's striking close-ups for advertising projects that recall the work of Albert Renger-Patzsch, in which formal innovation and elements of graphic design are used, and to the work of Moholy-Nagy and other artists at the Bauhaus who applied avant-garde styles to commercial tasks.
Keetman and his colleagues in the group Fotoform, were intent on reclaiming the lost heritage of technical innovation that had been suppressed during the war.
Keetman's work has been exhibited in a group show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1956, the World Exhibition in Montreal in 1967, and in a one-person show at the Stadtmuseum, Munich in 1981.
In a review of Keetman's work in The New York Times Photography Review of May 28, 1993, Charles Hagen refers to Keetman's striking close-ups for advertising projects that recall the work of Albert Renger-Patzsch, in which formal innovation and elements of graphic design are used, and to the work of Moholy-Nagy and other artists at the Bauhaus who applied avant-garde styles to commercial tasks.
Keetman and his colleagues in the group Fotoform, were intent on reclaiming the lost heritage of technical innovation that had been suppressed during the war.
Keetman's work has been exhibited in a group show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1956, the World Exhibition in Montreal in 1967, and in a one-person show at the Stadtmuseum, Munich in 1981.