Fig. 1 Herbert List, 1937. Santorin 1937. [36.3 x 26.0 cm (14 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.), Gelatin Silver Print]

It enfolds, The salt, the spray, the gorgeous undertow, Always, always, always the sea, Brilliantine mortality

Close our eyes, Close our eyes, We’re all in it and we close our eyes

from

Coastguard (British Sea Power 2013)

By 1936 Herbert List had been forced to leave Germany due to the political situation (Bieger-Thielemann 2001: 396) and in the greater cultural context of 1937 fascism was taking its hold across much of the European continent. The cultural context of the time constitutes the backdrop for exploration of List’s image on many levels, whether in terms of the European continent in the greater world, in terms of impending unsettled times, or in personal terms for the photographer.

Two worlds are revealed, the goldfish bowl and the sea, otherwise the microcosm and the macrocosm. The apparent freedom experienced by the viewer contrasts with restricted environment of the fish, the large fish in the small bowl commands its small world, the still waters in the bowl are a counterpoint to the choppy seas.

From a formal analysis the viewers response is found in the play between the symmetry and asymmetry, the straight lines of the wall and the curved lines of the bowl, the smoothness and the roughness, the hardness and softness, the light and dark, that permeate the image.

The fragility of the goldfish’s small world, and the play between the apparent safety of the bowl versus the dangers of freedom in the larger world, provide a sublime tension in an otherwise culturally approachable image.

Sources

Bieger-Thielemann, M. (2001) Herbert List in 20^th Century Photography – Museum Ludwig Cologne. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN-3-8228-5867-6.

BRITISH SEA POWER, 2013. Coastguard. In: From the sea to the land beyond [Vinyl]. RTTRDLP679. Rough Trade Records.

The Metropolitan Museum (2018) Goldfish Bowl, Santorini, Greece. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265321 [Accessed 16 October 2018]