"Sylvenstein"

gelatin siver print

titled, artist copyright stamp and archiv number (2922/64) on verso

Nikolai Molodovsky documented everyday life in Bavaria, particularly in Chiemgau and Upper and Lower Bavaria, over several decades. After emigrating from Russia and moving to Prien am Chiemsee in 1933, he worked as a freelance photographer and created an extensive body of work between the 1950s and 1970s. His photographs depict rural work, crafts, customs, festivals, mobility, and social change in the postwar period, as well as landscapes, churches, and portraits of regional artists.
Molodovsky's photographs are characterized by a documentary, yet respectful and empathetic view of people. His pictures capture unspectacular, often fleeting moments and tell of everyday life and living conditions in a time of change. The archive, comprising around 69,000 photographs – consisting of black-and-white negatives, color slides, and prints – is now preserved in the Bavarian State Library and represents an important visual source for Bavarian postwar history.¹
The picture shows a photograph of the Sylvenstein Reservoir, a dam in the Isarwinkel region in the municipality of Lenggries, on the road from Bad Tölz to Lake Achensee. It was built between 1954 and 1959 to protect the Isar Valley from flooding.
(Christoph Fuchs, translated by DeepL)

Notes

1
Summary of the essay (German) by Katharina Wohlfart, “Eisgeher, Glasbläserinnen und zahlreiche VW-Käfer”, Magazin der Bayrischen Staatsbibliothek (BSB), 7/2023, pp. 34–38. https://www.bibliotheksforum-bayern.de/fileadmin/archiv/2023-2/Bibliotheksforum_Bayern_Magazin_2_23_WEB_Metadaten.pdf