“Daniel H. Magilow’s careful translation and thorough annotation of Albert Renger-Patzsch’s writings offer an invaluable invitation: For the very first time, we can discover one of the most influential photographers of the modern era as an eminent theorist and attentive critic. This excellent edition will undoubtedly advance our interest in a period when the art of photography became not just a subject for professionals but an affair for countless amateurs.”

—Steffen Siegel, editor of First Exposures: Writings from the Beginning of Photography

“Albert Renger-Patzsch has long been known as a giant of early twentieth-century photography. Thanks to Daniel Magilow's deft editing and translations, an English-speaking public can now learn what a savvy critic and theorist of photography he was as well.”

—Pepper Stetler, author of Stop Reading! Look!: Modern Vision and the Weimar Photographic Book

“Daniel H. Magilow brings both a wealth of knowledge and precision to The Absolute Realist—qualities that Albert Renger-Patzsch himself prized. In addition to his astute translations, Magilow offers a fresh and nuanced reading of the photographer’s most prominent years. He underscores the tension between consistency and breadth across almost a half century of thought in ways that make this collection of the German modernist’s writings especially relevant for readers today.”

—Matthew S. Witkovsky, Sandor Chair and Curator of Photography, Art Institute of Chicago

“As the first complete collection of Albert Renger-Patzsch’s writings, The Absolute Realist brings one of the twentieth century’s most significant photographers into focus as a writer and theorist. Gorgeously illustrated with Renger-Patzsch’s photographs—which are by turns hauntingly beautiful, sublime, and downright funny—Daniel H. Magilow’s crisp translations and insightful commentary shed new light on Renger-Patzsch’s life and work during Germany’s most tumultuous decades.”

—Elizabeth Otto, Professor of Art History, University at Buffalo (SUNY)