John Yau considers the work of Fritz Winter on the occasion of the exhibition Licht-Bilder: Fritz Winter and Abstract Photography at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, on view through February 17, 2013.

Yau writes that "In a number of the 'light pictures,' Winter compresses semi-transparent crystalline forms, a dark gray, depthless space and a moon-like orb, which he overlays with a black, open linear structure. In these works the tension between surface and depth is held by the black linear structure, through which a soft radiant light emanates from the gray depthlessness and amber-colored crystalline forms. A sharper symbolist glow comes from the cold white, moon-like orbs. The palette runs from white to black with grays and browns marking the in-between areas. The coolness of the palette endows the paintings with a chthonic presence, at once mineral-like and otherworldly. Light and materiality coincide, overlap and even switch places."