Sarah Schumann (1933–2019) is one of the most influential artists in postwar West Germany and is regarded as a key figure in the new women’s movement in 1970s Berlin. At the heart of her work are the “shock collages” she made between 1954 and 1964 using images from magazines, illustrated books, and her own photographs. Typically romanticized at first as a flirtation with Dadaism and surrealism, Schumann’s imagery was soon recognized as tackling feminist, emancipatory themes. This book brings together over 140 extant shock collages and publishes them for the first time as a coherent body of work. Texts by editor Christoph Keller and historian Vojin Saša Vukadinović locate the works in their broader art historical context.

Christoph Keller is an art publisher, book designer, exhibition maker, and distiller. Vojin Saša Vukadinović is a historian, journalist, and gender researcher. He was a personal friend of Sarah Schumann.