Albert Renger-Patzsch transforms a German forest into a woven tapestry of elongated trees and snow-topped, horizontal branches. Devoid of elements beyond dark timber and bright white snow, Renger-Patzsch’s composition locates the treetops and forest edges outside the pictorial frame, placing greater emphasis on its sharply focused textures. Renger-Patzsch was a champion of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), an aesthetic movement popular in Germany between the World Wars. Like modernist photographers in the United States, such as Imogen Cunningham whose work is displayed to the left, Neue Sachlichkeit photographers created focused and precise images that emphasized nature’s essential elements.