Arno Fischer (*1927 inBerlin) is one of Germany's most important photographers. After studying sculpture, he turned to photography in the fifties. He worked in East Berlin during this period, and, as a man who walked the line between East and West, his photographs reflected the situation in the divided city. There he produced seminal works, including fashion photography for the legendary magazine Sibylle-Zeitschrift fur Mode und Kultur. In addition to his expressive portraits of people such as Marlene Dietrich, his haunting travel photos, taken in the German Democratic Republic, Poland, India, New York, and Africa, reveal Fischer's sharp gift for observation and his talent as a sensitive narrator. "Germany's most famous unknown photographer" now lives a reclusive life in the country, where he uses a Polaroid camera to take casual, seemingly random close-ups of his garden.

This monograph, featuring texts by Matthias Flugge and Thomas Martin, is being published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition organized by the Institute for Foreign Relations. It presents Fischer's most important groups of works and provides an impressive overview of the photographer's oeuvre.