Rezension zu Edward Bibring Photographs the Psychoanalysts of his Time, 1932-1938
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
Rezension von Moisy Shopper
This small book is obviously a labor of love, infused with respect
and historical sensibility. The photographs were taken by Edward
Bibring with a Rolleiflex small enough to be used unobtrusively and
almost candidly. They were taken at the IPA Congresses of 1932 in
Wiesbaden, 1934 in Lucerne, 1936 in Marienbad, 1937 at the
Vierlandertagung in Budapest, and 1938 in Paris.
I dont think that Edward Bibring had any aspirations to be an
artistic photographer. The photos are strikingly ordinary, the sort
the average tourist might take of friends and traveling companions
when visiting a new city or when finding some interesting
architectural background. Ordinary photographs of extraordinary
people. While we no longer believe we can read personality from the
bumps and irregularities of a persons head, I looked to these
photos to offer specific insight into the character of the person
photographed or some insight into the relationship of those framed
together. I found myself scanning the faces, postures, and clothing
of these icons of analysis, hoping to decipher some greater
knowledge of these people. After this rather futile exercise, I
found it more sensible to first view a photo and then imbue it with
all the qualities of that person as he or she is known from
scientific contributions, biographies, and analytic gossip.
Nevertheless, these photos, perhaps because of their ordinariness,
serve to remind us that these were, in their day and also in ours,
historical persons of great note, psychic adventurers creating
innovative theories, practices, and techniques and ultimately
engendering controversies, some of which continue to this day.
These are people whose lives and articles we have studied intensely
and debated with passion. And in a sense these pictures are our
family album, portraying our family of origin, the grandparents of
us all.
As such we will keep them on our psychological mantelpiece, give
them the veneration that is their due, and then rush to take sides
in our current controversies. Yet to have these venerable ancestors
staring down at us, evaluating and commenting on our analytic lives
and work, can at times be pleasant, though at other times less
so.
The great portrait painters aimed not simply to paint a
recognizable portrait of their patron, but to depict the essential
character of the person. However, what degree of self censorship
was needed when further commissions were often at the whim of the
patron? The more modern portrait photographer gets to know his
subject from research beforehand, as well as during the sitting.
The ensuing portrait, through its use of lighting, composition,
setting, and pose, is meant to convey a distilled essence of the
subjects character and personality. While the photographic exposure
involves but a split second, the portrait aims to convey some
durable truths about the person in front of us. However, does the
viewer see what the photographer sees or even what the photographer
wants to convey? In a sense a portrait is a created black-and-white
Rorschach, occasionally with some color to emphasize emotional
context. The great portrait photographers have a certain signature
to their work that makes it identifiable as quintessentially
theirs. Each has a characteristic way of seeing and framing the
total composition in a clearly identifiable manner as unique as
their written signature.
As we interpret clues about the subject of the photograph, so too
can we hope to interpret clues about the photographer, particularly
if, as in this instance, the photographer is innocent of intent and
desires more to record his subjects than to communicate anything
about himself. But whenever choices are made, the resultant
decisions may well be informative of the photographer himself. If
so, what is revealed? The photos were seldom posed and often
included »unidentified person(s)« who despite archival research
remain so. There are few formally composed photos, and most are
taken in a casual, candid manner. Perhaps much like free
association itself, the shutter button is pushed when it seems it
should be. Complementing the photos are thirty one pages of brief
biographical information detailing who married whom, who was in
analysis with whom, where and how they trained, when they fled the
spreading power of the Nazi regime, where they migrated, and a
brief mention of their contribution to the development of
psychoanalysis both as a body of theory and as an organization
dedicated to the spread of its knowledge and influence. For
analysts with historical inclinations, thirty-one pages may be too
little. For most of us, however, it will serve as part of our
family album, concise notations about this very special cast of
characters. Every institute should have an Edward Bibring to record
the ordinariness of the exceptionally talented and devoted people
who make up our profession, particularly as we parent and
grandparent future generations of analysts.
Quelle: Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Volume
56, No 1, März 2008.