Alfred Ehrhardt

In 1928/29 Alfred Ehrhardt studied at the Dessau Bauhaus with Josef Albers and Oskar Schlemmer. He developed a friendship with Vasily Kandinski. In October 1930 Max Sauerlandt appointed Ehrhardt to the Landeskunstschule Hamburg, which was to be reformed in the sense of the Bauhaus, as a lecturer for material studies. In 1931 Ehrhardt exhibited at the Kunstverein Hamburg, which showed a selection of his paintings, drawings and prints and was the only exhibition during Ehrhardt's lifetime. In 1932, his book Gestaltungslehre was published. Ehrhardt was dismissed from his teaching position in 1933 because his proximity to the Bauhaus was classified as communist by the National Socialists.His marriage failed and he moved to a Denmark, where he worked at an art school as a lecturer. In 1934 he found a position as organist and choirmaster in Cuxhaven. There he went on first photo-excursions in the mud between Scharhörn and Neuwerk, later also in the Curonian Spit. From these photographs, the Kunstgewerbe-Verein Hamburg exhibited over 100 prints in several exhibitions in 1936 and 1937; these exhibitions were also shown in various German cities, later also in London, Paris, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

In 1937 he began to make documentary films, first on the Wadden Sea, Iceland, Flanders and Bohemia and Moravia on behalf of government agencies. After Ehrhardt's Hamburg house was destroyed by bombings, he lived in a country house of the manufacturer Georg Hartmann, whose art collection he photographed. He also made photographs of the destroyed Frankfurt. In 1948 he founded the film production company Alfred-Ehrhardt-Film, his first documentary about the Bordesholmer altar was a success at the Venice Biennale. Until 1974 he about sixty further documentary films, which have been awarded numerous prizes.