Raised in middle-class Blankenese in Hamburg, Arvid Gutschow (1900-1984) came into contact with the medium of photography at a young age. In 1929 he was one of the featured artists in the important New Photography exhibition, Film und Foto (Fifo), in Stuttgart. His images became known to a broad audience in 1930 with the publication of See Sand Sonne (Sea Sand Sun), considered one of the most influential books on style in abstract landscape photography. In this book featuring images of the sea, tidal flats, beach, and coastal plants, Gutschow explored natural structures and formations, such as the reflection of light on the surface of the water or wind blowing across beaches and dunes. The interplay of light and shadow and the divergence of natural forms and abstract imagination are masterfully presented in the autodidact's photographs.