Intrepid photographer

Erich Lessing

Lessing was one of the earliest Magnum photographers. He manoeuvred himself into the same kind of visually interesting but politically disastrous post-war hotspots as his more famous colleague, Robert Capa.

The ill-fated Hungarian Revolution, the French highest powers waiting for Krushchev (who never showed up), the Krupp armaments factory (a place renowned for its owner's support of the Nazis): Lessing was there, and his photos are of great historical interest even if they rarely attain the aesthetic impact of Capa's.

Best of the bunch are those taken from very high angles: of a Parisian march against De Gaulle, and Poles conducting a beauty contest on a building's roof.

The pictures aren't much helped by the way they are hung, in particular the film and art stills: John Huston, Gregory Peck and other luminaries, snapped in delightfully informal circumstances - splashed with water or mid-scene - are perversely crammed together, a setting that substantially reduces their impact and makes them seem an unimportant adjunct to Lessing's photojournalism.

For an intimate glimpse of postwar Poland's Catholic ritual, De Gaulle's France or bombed-out Dresden (with its ugly concrete blocks rising in seeming mockery of the medieval city that was destroyed) Lessing's carefully composed shots can't be beaten, and he's particularly good when snapping other photographers; whether these pictures work as hangings in a gallery is another matter.